My breaths start coming faster, and Dad instantly senses my distress. Taking hold of my arm, he pulls me out of the room where Tristan and Alexei have been working non-stop to find Dash.
Dad pulls me to the bathroom and shutting the door behind us, his arms wrap around me. He doesn’t say anything because there are no words to comfort me.
“I just want her back,” I groan, my body shaking. “How am I supposed to process this? What if we don’t find her?”
Dad’s hold on me tightens. “We’ll find her.”
Not knowing what’s happening to her is the killer.
What if she’s dead, buried in a shallow grave of dirt.
My Dash. My life.
How am I supposed to face tomorrow without her?
I grind my teeth as I pull back, locking eyes with my father. “The not knowing is killing me, Dad.”
He brings his hands to the sides of my neck, his stare intense and filled with the strength I don’t have. “Dash is a fighter. She’s clever. She’ll survive. You have to believe in her.”
Dad’s right.
Dash might find a way to escape.
I have to focus on the hope, or I won’t be worth shit to her.
Nodding, I murmur, “I’m okay.” Walking back to the room, I take a seat next to Tristan, and I begin to go through everything they found on Sullivan. The properties he owns, where he’s been, and who he’s been in contact with. I inspect every inch of his life, trying to find a clue.
After thirty minutes, I get up, and when I walk out of the room, Uncle Jax falls into step next to me, asking, “Where are we going?”
“To speak with Sullivan. All this guessing isn’t getting us any closer to finding Dash.”
I might be grasping at nothing, but Sullivan is the only lead I have right now.
We pay Sullivan a visit, but learning that he’s on a business trip for the past week, leaves our hands tied when it comes to him.
Chapter 17
DASH
A wave of dizziness washes over me, making me feel sick.
“Why did you do it, Dash?” Josh suddenly asks. “We were so good together.”
He returned a while ago, only to stare at me. I feel the atmosphere tensing around me. I gulp in some air, my stomach coiling with fear. “You’re insane,” I mumble, lifting my eyes to his.
“That’s all you have to say to me?” He raises an annoyed eyebrow.
“It’s been five years,” I cry out of desperation. “Who freaking kidnaps their ex-girlfriend?”
“I never said things were over between us. I had a private detective watch you. Discretely, of course. I patiently waited for the day you would betray me. I have to admit, I expected it to happen much sooner.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” I cry, my desperation and fear growing rapidly. “We weren’t together. How did I betray you?”
“Don’t act stupid with me,” he snaps. “I told you it’s only a matter of time before you cheated on me. How do you think it makes me feel to be right? It pains me to see you like this, but if I don’t punish you, you’ll just do it again. You’ll keep spiraling out of control. This is for the best.” Josh sighs as if he’s losing his patience with me, then he hisses, “By the time I’m done with you, you’ll know your place.”
“You’re insane,” I cry again as my panic and fear spiral into a brutal storm in my chest.
Shaking his head, his voice is deceptively calm as he says, “Tell me you’re sorry for what you’ve done and that you love me, and I’ll consider letting you eat.”
What the hell?
“No,” I grind the word out.
His features tighten until he looks murderous. My heart begins to race, and my muscles instantly tense up.
“Do you really want to play this game with me?” He laughs humorlessly. “If you really don’t love me, you’re worth nothing to me. Why would I keep you alive then?”
Before I can register any movement from him, a dreadful pain spreads across my face. His fist slams hard into my jaw, knocking my head back. An intense copper taste fills my mouth. Heaving, I force myself to swallow the blood.
The next punch is harder, splitting my lip again. I don’t bother swallowing the blood this time. Instead, I spit it at him. I quickly realize it was a stupid thing to do when Josh begins to take off his belt.
Josh moves behind me, and I try to keep my eyes on him, but I can’t. When I lose sight of him, my fear spirals out of control.
God. No.
I hear something fall to the floor, and my stomach coils into a hard knot.
No. No. No. Anything but this.
My whole body is wound so tightly, I’m shivering uncontrollably. I hear the belt buckle being dragged across the floor, and then the leather snaps. It’s a horrible sound, and as the belt cracks through the air, I cringe.