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The room fills with my men, and their silence is deafening. I glare at them one by one. Some of them stare back while others avoid my gaze. It quickly tells me everything I need to know about the situation at hand.
They don’t have Tallulah.
She’s somewhere out there, without me. And it pisses me off. I’m more upset about her being out of my reach than I am about her trying to kill me. I shake my head to get the fucking thought out. That little bitch deservesnoneof my mercy.
“Tell me what happened,” I hiss. “Start at the beginning and don’t leave any fucking details out.”
Phoenix and Saul exchange glances. Saul sighs, pissing me off even more, then explains what happened.
“We found you the day after Tallulah’s birthday, in the late afternoon,” he begins. “No one checked before because we figured you wanted some alone time with the girl. But the dogs were anxious, barking their heads off and scratching at the door, so I sent Phoenix in.”
“When I walked in, I knew something was wrong right away,” Phoenix mutters without meeting my eyes. “You were unmoving on the bed. I called out for the girl and got some men in to help with the situation. The dogs were licking you, jumping on the bed and just being fucking menaces.”
“Get to the meat of it,” I growl.
“We saw you had a knife wound in your shoulder, where you’d been injured previously,” Saul continues, and I wince when I remember Tallulah stabbing me after I took the antidote. “But the poison was worse. You were unconscious. The docs pumped your stomach, but told us it might be too late already.”
“We also sent out a search party for the girl,” Phoenix adds. “She was long gone by then, and we assumed she’d ran off after trying to kill you.”
“What have you done to find her?” I demand.
“I knew you’d want her brought back, so I had patrols on every road within a fifty-mile radius,” Saul grunts. “No luck so far. Currently, there are fifteen men looking for her all over the country, a few abroad too. No results yet.”
“And her parents?” I hiss. “They surely had something to do with this.”
Saul and Phoenix exchange uncomfortable looks.
“Get on with it,” I demand, feeling rage pumping through my veins. “Why the fuck are you wasting my time?”
“Heath and Rain, along with their daughter, are no longer in their home,” Saul admits. “But we don’t think they’re with Tallulah. They likely know you’ll be going after her, so they must be aware it’s wiser for them to be apart.”
My jaw tics and sets into a firm line. “The dogs are still here?”
Phoenix nods. “She left them.”
I nod. It’s a slight consolation, but it makes me feel good in a brutal way, knowing Tallulah had to leave her beloved pups behind. I’ll make them prove their loyalty to me now. They always belonged here, anyway.
“Serves her fucking right,” I mutter under my breath, making sure no one can hear me. Goddamn, my angel is upsetting. And I need to stop calling her that, because she’s the opposite. A little fucking devil.
“You need to do everything to track her down,” I hiss at Saul. “And I meanevery-fucking thing.”
He nods. “We’ll make sure of it,padron. But…”
“But what?” I demand, fixing him with my steely glare. “Something you got to add? Going to get all up in my personal business again, Saul?”
“You’ll have to forgive me for doubting you, padron,” Saul gets out through gritted teeth. “I’ve seen this girl take enough of your time and focus. It’s time you realize the cartel needs you.”
“Seems like you’ve been doing just fine running it,” I throw back. “And you’re sure as fine pocketing the cash, aren’t you, Saul?”
We stare at each other while several men in the room prepare for a fight. I can feel the tension and smell the blood I want to spill. I laugh out loud, standing up and slapping Saul’s back.
“Relax,cabron. I’m fucking with you.” I grab him by the shoulders and glare into his eyes. “Listen to me, Saul. I need you to bring the girl back to me. I don’t give a fuck what you have to do, but I want her back here tomorrow.”
“Padron, I-”
“And before you ask,” I hiss irritably. “I’m not bringing her back so I can kiss and coddle her. I’m bringing her back so I can be the one that kills her. But not before I get sick of watching the fear in her eyes every time she’s forced to look into mine.”
Mymenhaveassuredme there are people working on finding Tallulah. But that didn’t stop me. I spoke to every person on the team and offered luxurious rewards to the person who brought her in. And now I just have to sit and fucking wait. It’s beneath me to look for Tallulah Gunn.
