AllFreeNovel
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She was brilliant. Brilliant and in danger.
“Zoom in on that background behind her. What are we looking at?”
McCoy clicked a button on his mouse and magnified the stilled video. The frame of Belle’s face had Declan’s heart catching.
He stared at her for a long beat, his heart hurling itself at his ribs. Her stunning face, even under the stress of what was happening to her, lit up his entire goddamn world.
He was falling for her—hard. As hard as an old oak uprooted by a gale-force wind. That wind was Belle.
“We can’t tell where she is, Declan. We’ve been trying to figure it out since the video popped up.”
He whirled for the door and stopped with his hand on the knob. Jabbing a finger at McCoy and Boone, he barked out, “You. And you. Come with me. We’re going to find her the old-fashioned way. By searching every single vehicle, RV and bunk on this goddamn ranch.”
Belle’s entire body felt bruised. First, the cables dug into her flesh and left marks. Then her asshole ex and his fiancée jumped into the front of the RV and took off driving with Belle in the back.
Being tossed around all the way down the bumpy drive from the Wynton Ranch was bad enough. But when they hit the mountains, she couldn’t find a way to stabilize herself, which had her smashing off everything that didn’t move inside the RV.
When she felt the vehicle start to tilt down the next slope, she bit off a cry of pain that hadn’t even hit yet. Bracing her legs against the built-in sofa did nothing, and she skidded into the hard steel leg of the table.
“When I get out of here, I’m going to slit both your throats!” she screamed, but it only came out muffled from behind the damn gag Haileigh had taken pleasure in knotting too tightly around her head.
Who could even help her now? Only Declan had kept any tabs on her during the Christmas on the Ranch event and she hadn’t exactly been warm over the past day, ever since she saw him pull his weapon and began to question who he really was or why he needed a weapon. Sure, he’d kissed her into a boneless, soaking wet state on the dance floor, but she wasn’t over what happened by any means.
Still…if anyonemightbe looking for her…it would be Declan. Her fake boyfriend.
Since they’d slept together—several times—did that make him a real boyfriend? Nah. They’d only hooked up.
Except he knew things about her. That she preferred whiskey to champagne. How much horses scared her. And that she had a tendency toward streaks of bad luck. What was happening right now was proof enough of that truth.
He also knew how to get her hot and bothered to the point of madness.
She knew things about him too. He could be such a caring gentleman, like when he swept her off her feet after she broke a heel. Hell, there was so much about Declan that she really, really liked.
Given a few more hours with him, she was pretty sure she’d slip into loving him as easily as she slipped into those goofy Christmas PJs.
He’d missed the movie and the late-night cookies for Santa buffet. He’d never explained why, but looking back now…she understood something was up.
Could he…
Could he be…
No. He couldnotbe involved with Ethan. The two had faced off like two predators prepared to rip each other to shreds. Of course Declan could out-alpha her ex inallways.
She was thrown into the sofa again. This time she couldn’t stop the grunt of pain tearing up her throat.
Please be looking for me, Declan. Please find me!
The drive seemed endless. It might just be her perception of time because every small jostle caused her pain. She had no clue if they’d been gone ten minutes or ten hours. She was terrified of how far her ex would go.
She’d left that video encoded in the patch she created to get Ethan into the secure files. How long before the security team discovered it?
Surely the cameras dotted around the ranch would capture the footage of her being carried unconscious to the RV. Then that very same RV driving away—very fast, in her opinion.
The road leveled out, and Belle curled into a tight ball. What a way to spend the end of her holiday. The trip she hadn’t asked for and honestly dreaded attending had turned out to be…great.
Declan had made it great.
Tears filled her eyes and escaped through her closed lids. If she survived this, she wanted to talk to Declan, to learn what he was hiding from her all along.
