Page 63 of Daddy’s Hunted Bride

“I’m sorry,” I whisper, tears clogging my throat as I stumble backward. “I can’t do this. I can’t stay.”

“Nessie, wait!”

Ignoring Lanie’s cry, I turn on my heel and do what I know in my heart I should have been doing all along.

I run.

CHAPTER 27

DANE

Iknow something is wrong the second I pull into the driveway. Half of my family is outside on the front deck, their expressions pinched with worry.

Nessie.

Climbing out of the truck, I slam the door behind me and race for the front steps. “Where is she? Where’s Vanessa?”

Gray steps forward, doing her best to look calm despite the worry I can see in her eyes. “Axel took her and Lanie out to play and Nessie ran off. He and Ford are in the woods looking for her now.”

“Goddammit.” Spinning on my heel, I dart toward the woods, pulling my phone from my pocket as I run. The tracker under her skin will alert me not only to her location, but to any changes in her heart rate, along with several other biometrics I don’t really understand.

“Vanessa!” I call as I go crashing into the woods, too worried about finding her safe and sound to care about stealth. “Vanessa, baby, where are you?”

Silence.

Forcing myself to stop, to think, I look down at the app I pulled up on my phone. It says she’s less than a quarter mile to my east, and all her metrics look good other than her heart rate being through the roof. But if she’s been running, that would make sense, so I try to tell myself not to freak out.

I swear to god that Little girl is never going to sit comfortably again when I find her.

If I find her.

No. Nope. Not even going there. I will find my babygirl and I will bring her back home. And then I am going to give her a spanking she will never, ever forget.

Vanessa

I’m so fucking lost.

I don’t even know how it happened. One minute I was running in what I could have sworn was the right direction to get to my car and the next thing I know, I’m standing at the top of the steepest hill I’ve ever seen with no clue which way is up.

Fuck.

Maybe I should stop moving. Isn’t that what they say to do if you get lost in the woods? Stop moving and give the people looking for you the best chance at finding you?

What if they aren’t searching, though? What if they’ve just written me off as a lost cause? What if I die here in these woods, and nobody finds me or my remains and I just turn into another cold case people talk about on true crime podcasts? What if I never see Josie or my other cousins again?

What if I never see Daddy again?

The thought of never laying eyes on Dane, of never seeing that look in his eye right before he punishes me, of never being cradled in his arms while he feeds me a bottle ever again breaks me. Back pressed against a large tree I slide down to the ground and pull my knees up to my chest as a sob bursts out of me.

“Vanessa! Vanessa, where are you baby?”

“Daddy!” Oh please, oh please don’t let him be a hallucination.

“Vanessa! Stay right where you are, baby, Daddy’s coming!”

“Daddy! I’m right here!”

In my excitement, I jump up—and slip on a pile of damp leaves beneath my feet. I barely have time to scream before I go tumbling backward, straight down the giant hill. My head cracks against something hard, and all I know is sharp, blinding pain before the world goes dark.