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He’d damn near sprinted to the homestead.
His mother’s SUV was not parked out front.
The pit of Duke’s stomach dropped further. And he knew it then, that Anastasia was gone. It took him too fuckin’ long to look all over the ranch, even with his father, brother and mother there. They didn’t ask questions, likely because of Duke’s demeanor. He knew he scared his mother, but he couldn’t help it. He had to turn everything off, had to prepare himself for finding the woman he loved dead.
There was no relief when they didn’t find her, especially when he realized what she’d done, who she’d done it with.
Rosie was the only one brave enough and stupid enough to pull this shit off. Duke had offered his family little to no explanation, banned his father and brother from coming with him.
Or he thought he had.
Until, after he pulled out from the ranch, a truck came up behind him, kept pace with him for the entire drive.
He’d planned on slashing their tires at the first gas station. But his father had approached him first. “Anastasia is family, son,” he said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “You’re my son. And I’ll be damned if I let you do this alone. We’re getting our girl back. No arguments.”
“Tanner needs to be with Maggie, his kid,” he said to his father.
“I need my kid to have an aunt and uncle,” Tanner said from behind him. “I’m not lettin’ you fight this battle alone, brother.”
Fighting wasted time. So instead he got in the truck. His father and Tanner did the same.
Neither of them said a word when they arrived at the Sons’ compound. They just followed his lead.
Killian was the first one they’d seen. Duke was surprised that the man was not out on the mission, but seeing Lexie on the sofa with a child bouncing on her knee, he figured he understood why.
That didn’t dampen his fury.
Killian glanced to his wife and then jerked his chin toward church.
Duke only went out of respect for Lexie, their friendship. She gave him a kind look he couldn’t return right now, which said something about his state of mind. She was one of his closest friends, and generally one of the best people he knew.
He could find kindness for that woman on the darkest of days.
But this wasn’t dark. This was something fucking deeper than that.
No sooner had the door closed, he advanced on the man he considered a brother.
Duke felt his father and brother at his back, either readying themselves to jump in, or pull him off Killian.
Killian didn’t move, because Killian was a hard fucker and it would take nothing short of a nuclear blast to send him into retreat.
“Where is she?” Duke demanded.
Killian’s gaze was blank as it always was. Duke had known him for years, known that he’d had that blank, deadly look since the moment they’d met. It was unnerving, even for someone like Duke, to see that on someone so young. It wasn’t a farce either. The fucker was deadly.
To everyone but his wife, children, and people he considered family.
Despite that, Duke wanted to wipe that fucking look off his face with his fists.
“We got word on the location,” Killian said. “Boys rode out less than ten minutes ago. She was taken from a bathroom of the bar downtown. Rosie raised the alarm immediately. She’d slipped a tracker into a pair of shoes Anastasia was wearing. Sons rode out within twenty to thirty minutes after she was taken. Kitsch has had her less than an hour.”
None of this did shit for Duke, not a fucking thing. Acid still ate away at his tissue, his bone. He wouldn’t be able to move right, wouldn’t be able to breathe right if he found Anastasia in the state they’d found Polly, in the state Lance had found Caroline, nor if he was like fucking Keltan, who’d had Lucy bleed out in his arms. Same with Killian. He’d fucking watched his woman be shot and heard doctors tell him she wouldn’t make it.
They’d all defied the odds and gotten their women back. Whatever was controlling this world was looking out for it. But they were well overdue for their luck to run out, for Duke to find a corpse of the woman he’d been too much of a fucking asshole to tell her he loved.
“We both know you need less than a fuckin’ minute to kill someone, Killian,” Duke bit out.
Killian didn’t respond, because he knew that all too well. He’d never technically ever been with Greenstone, but he’d been protecting Lexie ever since she’d been targeted by a murderous stalker. He was part of the Sons of Templar but his wife came first. He was with her every moment she was on tour, because he knew that all he needed was a second of absence to lose her.
