Page 82 of Recovering Ivy

“You’re not.”

“How do you know? Maybe Sarah didn’t take her.”

“Because you’re never wrong.”

“I was wrong about you being dead,” I reminded him. I had argued with Jasmin when she refused to believe Lincoln had died in Mexico when a tunnel he was in exploded. I’d flat out told her she was wrong and had to accept the fact her husband, my brother, was dead. I had never been so happy to be wrong in all my life when she found intel that Linc was still alive. Because of my stubbornness, my brother was beaten and tortured. We barely got there in time to save him. I still couldn’t understand how he’d forgiven me. Hell, maybe he hadn’t. He refused to talk to me about it.

“Don’t go there. Trust your gut. It's kept you alive this long.”

I went back to staring out the window and prayed I was right and we were close to finding Ivy. There was no way God could be so cruel to give me the woman I was meant to love to only rip her from my life. I wouldn’t survive if Ivy was taken from me permanently. I was hanging on by hope alone. I needed her to be alright.

My phone vibrated in my pocket and I hurried to pull it out, hoping it was Tex with more information.

Ivy.

My finger shook as I answered.

“Ivy.”

It was so loud in the cabin I could hardly hear her. It didn’t help she was crying and speaking in a hushed voice.

Linc had pulled his phone out and his fingers were moving faster than I’d ever seen him try to text. Dec had pulled his phone out as well and had removed his headphones, placing his phone to his ear so I couldn’t hear what he was saying as I tried to concentrate on Ivy’s voice.

“Zane. Please. Drugs.”

The helicopter banked hard right and descended at a high rate of speed, making my already clenched stomach drop.

“Baby, don’t hang up. I’m coming for you, but you can’t hang up.”

The pilot put the helicopter down and Linc threw the side door open, allowing me to exit and run from the loud engines so I could hear what Ivy was telling me.

“Please hurry. He’s gonna. He said he’s gonna hurt me.”

“No one’s gonna hurt you, Ivy. Do you know where you are?”

“No. I woke up in a room. I don’t know. He’s gonna give me drugs, Zane. He said he wants me to be his whore.”

My blood boiled, but instead of trying to control my rage I allowed it to grow into a ball of fury and hate.

“Where is he?”

“He thought I was still asleep. He left the room. I don’t know when he’s gonna be back. I need you. Please. Lance is serious, he’s gonna rape me when he gets back. I’m so sorry, Zane. I’m so sorry. I’ll try to fight him. I promise.”

“Ivy. Listen to me. I am coming for you. All you need to do is stay alive. Everything else we’ll deal with. Nothing is your fault. Nothing, baby.”

“The door.”

“Put your phone face down so he can’t see the screen but keep it on. I’m coming. I love you.”

I waited for her to talk again, but she went silent. I strained to hear voices, anything that would tell me where she was. The rest of the team ran toward me and I quickly put my phone on mute.

“Garrett got a lock. The first motel he told us about,” Declan called out. Not waiting for an answer, he jogged to the SUVs Tex had arranged and hopped in the driver’s seat. Once Linc and I piled in, he took off. Jaxon and Leo followed in the second vehicle.

I put my phone on speaker and continued to listen to mostly silence.

Please hold on, baby.

“Two minutes out,” Declan announced.