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How many hours head start had she had on me? If I stood up here I’d have a perfect vantage point and would hopefully see the two of them and be able to pinpoint where exactly to find her.

“I can’t believe I haven’t seen them by now,” I snapped impatiently. “I need to find her to undo the shit I did. Look out the window, asshole.”

Mano was leaning against the side of the car, stroking his chin.

“You really think she’s going to forgive you?”

“Of course. Once I explain myself.”

He tapped his hands on the side mirror.

“Maybe not. The way her tongue felt in my mouth didn’t feel like she missed you.”

“Her tongue in your what?”

“Yeah, why else do you think I went into the basement with her like an idiot? I’d do anything to feel that tongue on my prick.”

Red rage flooded my vision, and without warning, I grabbed my brother by the nape of the neck and dragged him across the seat. Then with one boot I kicked him out the window, driving along the mountain roads with my grip the only thing between him and a thousand-foot drop.

“What the hell?” Mano yelled, as I slammed his head against the side of the car.

“Don’t you fucking talk to me about her tongue on anything of yours again, asshole, or I swear I’ll strangle you with that stupid ponytail.”

“You were the fucking idiot who said that shit to her!”

His feet were desperately reaching back for the narrow gravel road as I swung the SUV even closer to the edge.

“You think I need you, shithead? I don’t. I’m only keeping you around so you can help me find my wife. What else did you say to her?”

“You’re a goddamn lunatic! I told her you had moved on, but I still wanted her.”

With a growl, I dragged Mano back into the SUV and threw him on the passenger seat.

“Moved on? You think I could ever move on from my wife?”

“Well, you sure acted like you didn’t care about her,” he said angrily. “All I did was say she didn’t have to worry. I would take care of her after you married Faustine.”

“Faustine?” I barked in disbelief. “Why the hell would I chase down third-rate pussy? That was a waste of your damn tiny-dick breath, because I would never let another man take care of her!”

My jaw was clenched so hard it was aching.

“Have you been selling information to the Pinoteaux about us?”

His jaw dropped as I kicked out with my boot, landing a blow on his kneecap.

But even as he sputtered in denial, I realized I had been the one in denial. I thought Léonie would be waiting for me to forgive her. But she had freed herself.

We scoured every inch of Bastide territory. All that long day and through the night.

But there was no sign of them. Not one sighting. Not one clue which way they had gone.

When we uncovered not one trace of them, I sent my men farther afield, made incursions into Pinoteaux territory, outrunning their guards to scour the landscape.

The thought of her going there for safety, where they would so happily barter her life for a little security and a better social status, made me want to vomit.

Where had a nine-months-pregnant woman and a man with a cane gone? How had they vanished without a trace?

As the next day dawn my panic spiked harder.