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Raising a hand to her cheek, Raine brushed away her tears. She turned slightly, tossing her suitcase into the back seat. Hammer caught a glimpse of her eyes, swollen and red, along with her nose. He swore to himself this wouldn’t be his last image of her.
Liam stared at the screen, barely breathing. “Bloody hell.”
Zooming back out, he noted the name of the taxi company, then jotted down the cab’s ID number before he snatched up the phone and began barking at the dispatcher.
Two minutes later, he was absolutely nowhere with the woman and her twang.
“Put your supervisor on,” Hammer barked. He didn’t give a shit about company policy; he needed answers. Every second spent listening to excuses furthered the distance between him and Raine. The clerk put him on hold.
“When did you last see Raine?” Hammer asked Liam. “What time was it?”
“Not long ago, maybe thirty minutes. I left to make coffee and give her a few minutes to get herself together,” Liam ranted. “I didn’t think she could pack up and flee that fast.”
“You don’t know her like I do,” Hammer growled.
“You’re happy as Larry to keep reminding me of that, aren’t you?” Liam looked ready to climb the walls—or beat the hell out of him. “I told her I’d be here to help her—always. She didn’t hear a bloody word I said.”
Hammer couldn’t resist baiting him again. “I have no idea why that’s a shock.”
Liam paced furiously. “Why the hell didn’t she come to you if you’re so important to her?”
The question brutalized Hammer, along with an avalanche of other crap. Sadness that neither of them had broken through to reach her wounded soul. Fear that Liam might be right. Anger that Raine didn’t love either of them enough to stay and heal herself. Just like Juliet.
“Because you ran her off first,” Hammer snarled.
“I literally made coffee, then went to the bar to take a breather and gather my wits before I returned to talk to her,” Liam explained. “I had every intention of keeping an eye on her so that she wouldn’t run. I meant to make sure she understood.”
“Understood what? I still don’t know what the fuck you thought you were doing.”
Liam waved him off. “I should have tied her to the fucking bed.”
“She’d have chewed through the restraints. Once her mind is made up…” Hammer let out a shuddering sigh. If he never heard Raine’s sassy remarks or saw fiery challenge light up her blue eyes again, he’d lose it.
“I needed her to commit to me, to us. She’s so damn broken. Removing her collar was the only way I could think of to jar her enough to dig deep.”
Hammer clenched his jaw, but before he could rail at Liam again, the supervisor came on the line. After wasting precious minutes listening to a guy who barely spoke English, Hammer’s patience ran out.
“Look, your driver picked her up at nine forty-three. Either give me the address, or I’ll call the mayor,” he blustered. “He’s a good friend, and I’ll have every one of your cabs red tagged for inspection with one phone call. Now give me the fucking address, you sniveling piece of—”
Liam grabbed the phone. “Excuse my friend. He’s distraught. Do you have the address, please? This girl is in terrible danger. We’re frantic.”
Hammer heard the man on the other end talking. Liam scrambled for a pen and wrote down the information.
“Thank you so much.” Liam ended the call, then whirled on Hammer. “What were you doing, threatening the only man who can help us? Keep your head screwed on straight.” Then Liam shoved the paper in his direction. “The cabbie dropped her here. Where is this?”
Bringing up a map of the city, Hammer nearly choked when he spied the familiar cross streets.
“Motherfucker!” he roared, jumping to his feet. His entire body trembled as he turned to face his friend. “It looks like she’s gone back home.”
Liam blanched. “Where she lived with her father?”
“No, but close. A drugstore near her old neighborhood.” Hammer’s blood ran cold. He shoved the desk chair away and marched to the safe in his office, withdrawing an envelope. He turned to find Liam standing there. “We’ll start searching there. On the way, you can tell me exactly what you said to Raine when you removed her collar. It might give me some clue where she’d have run.” He pulled his keys from his pocket, anxious to follow her trail.
“Don’t order me about like I’m one of your bloody subs.”
“I’m going out of my fucking head, in case you haven’t noticed.” Hammer raked a hand through his hair. “We’ve got to find her.”
“Then let’s go.”
They raced to Hammer’s car. When Liam slid into the seat next to him, he peeled out of Shadows’ parking lot.
As he watched the busy traffic crawling down the road, Liam buckled up. “Over the past week, Raine has crawled deeper into her shell. Even on a good day, she didn’t communicate, she isn’t honest, and she doesn’t trust. None of that is news to you.”
