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“Round the back,” Rafe says, and we take off running again, finding an alley and diving inside.
There’s a door, but when I pull on it, I find it locked.
But that means nothing, because if this Jessica gave Jeff Adams the key in case he needed a midnight snack or maybe to meet her after closing hours for a quick fuck, then…
“We’ll break the door down,” Zane says.
“Or we wait for your good friend the cop to come unlock for us,” Rafe says, reasonably. “Besides, if we start kicking in the door, the fucker could panic and hurt your girl.”
Fuck, didn’t think of that.
So I call John directly.
“Hansen, where the hell are you?” he barks into the phone. “Don’t do anything, you hear me? Wait for me.”
“You got the keys to the place?”
“We’re looking for the owner, but she’s not answering the phone. Wait—”
I disconnect. “We’re breaking the door down.”
“Now we’re talking.” Zane rubs his hands together, a wicked gleam in his eye.
The sunlight reaching us over the rooftops strikes the door, blinds me for a moment.
Then Rafe lifts his booted foot and delivers a thunderous kick to the door, right below the lock. And another. He switches feet, and does it again.
My pulse is drumming in my ears, humming in my throat. My heart is beating so fast my head is spinning.
Is she here? Is she okay? What will I do if she’s not?
Zane shoves Rafe aside, takes his place and delivers a flurry of kicks to the handle and lock, until in my turn I pull him to the side, and slam my boot into the door.
Two more kicks and the fucking lock breaks with a loud crack. The door swings inward, and we burst inside.
Stacks of craters, a freezer, and another door. I shove it open, and it crashes against the wall.
And I see her. Bound and gagged in the corner of the storage room, her eyes closed.
She doesn’t stir, not even when I fall to my knees beside her and gather her in my arms. But I feel the beating of her heart, and I know she’s alive.
Here, with me.
Chapter Forty-Two
Octavia
Through the dark haze that’s pressed all around me, I hear sounds. Voices.
Matt’s voice.
I strain toward it but can’t move. I’ve been caught in this oppressing web since… I don’t know when.
And I’m slipping back into the black pit before I find out if Matt is really here.
I dream. I dream he’s here, I dream of Mom, and Gigi, and Merc, of sunlit afternoons in the garden.
Of a kiss that never ends.
