“Talk to me,” he ordered.
“Your… your father, Ka… Katrina, Marcello and um… I don’t know his name but there were four vampires here. They busted through the door. They –”
Fuck. No. Oh f**k, no.
“Leah?” he barked.
“She’s gone,” Edwina whispered and Lucien’s gut twisted as his free hand curled into a fist and his chest started to burn.
“Gone?” he whispered back, stunned at their audacity as well as livid. “They took her?”
“No, no… she left. They, your father that is, he said the most awful things to her, Lucien. You wouldn’t… I couldn’t even believe it. He told her such awful things. And he told her about some woman named Maggie.”
Lucien closed his eyes as his fist tightened. He put it to his desk and leaned into it.
Edwina kept talking.
“He… he… oh Lucien, I’m sorry to tell you this about your own father but… he touched her.”
Lucien opened his eyes but he saw nothing but red.
“He touched Leah?”
“Oh f**k.” He heard Stephanie whisper but Edwina was again talking.
“He touched her and he spoke to her, such vile things. She was… she was crying, Lucien. It was… oh goodness, the look on her face. I’ll never forget it. I tried to explain but she… I’m sorry, she packed her things and left. She was so desperate to get away, she left me tied up but called the police to come get me. They’re here now. They got here just minutes ago. I called you as soon as I –”
“Do not leave. Do not make a complaint to the police but keep them there until I’m home. I’ll bring others with me so you’ll be safe.”
“All right, Lucien,” she whispered. “I, uh… you should know, your father said they would be prepared for your response.”
Fuck.
“Did they harm you?” he asked belatedly.
“They scared me and taped me to a chair. It hurt when they ripped the tape off but I’m fine.”
They would burn for the hurt Edwina endured when the tape was ripped off.
They would scream before they burned for attacking Leah.
And his father would beg for his life to end.
And he’d do this for a long f**king time.
“I’ll be home in twenty minutes,” Lucien told her.
“All right.”
He put the phone down and turned to see Avery and the three vampires all on their feet.
“What do you need from us?” Cosmo asked immediately.
“You hunt Katrina,” Lucien ordered, Cosmo’s face went hard but he nodded.
Lucien looked to Stephanie. “You bring me Marcello.”
Stephanie smiled a humorless smile before she nodded.
Lucien looked to Gregor. “There was another vampire there. I want to know who he was.”
Gregor simply nodded.
Lucien looked to Avery. “Gregor finds out, he tells you. You send Rafe.”
Avery tipped up his chin.
“They’re expecting you,” Lucien warned all of them.
“We heard,” Cosmo replied.
Lucien nodded and looked at Avery. “I’ll need you to follow me. Guard Edwina.”
Avery lifted his chin.
“Lucien moved to the door.
“Are you hunting your father?” Stephanie asked his back.
“No, he can wait,” he turned, hand on the doorknob and looked at Stephanie, “I’m hunting Leah.”
He heard her indrawn breath but he walked out the door.
Chapter Twenty-Three
The Vow
My eyes on the television set, I pulled the two scrunched pillows I was holding deeper into my body. I was curled tight around them, my neck bent, my cheek resting on the rough material.
The TV wasn’t set to loud. This was because I wanted to hear what was happening outside. Not that I could get away if Lucien caught up with me. I just wanted the half a second I’d have to prepare myself to die.
But my mind wasn’t on the TV.
My mind, as it had been for days, was on everything.
Would I be able to sleep that night, alone in a bed in a hotel room after spending weeks sleeping every night curled into a vampire?
Where would I go tomorrow? North, south, east, west? Canada? Mexico?
Should I take the chance to phone my family? I’d left nine days ago and it was likely they’d been informed I’d escaped and they were probably worried about me. Not to mention, it would be my last chance to speak to them if Lucien was enraged when he caught up with me, went the way of the vampire and took my life. I clearly didn’t know him (at all) but what I now knew of him, I convinced myself he would go the way of the vamp.
And lastly, wondering how much time I had and if I should just stop moving, let him catch me and be done with it.
I was ready to die and this was messing with my head too. It was sick and crazy but I was tired, hungry, heartbroken, on the run and I knew to my soul my future was f**ked. I’d fallen hard for a vampire who’d spent months playing me against me. And I was just so done with it.
But weirdly, considering what Lucien had done to me, I had to admit that a lot of my headspace was taken up with worry about things his father had said. Things that meant Lucien was in danger in a variety of ways. I shouldn’t care, I knew it.
But I did.
I was totally messed up.
And then there was the incessant beating myself up. Asking myself why I was so stupid. Asking myself when would I learn.
I tried to cut myself some slack. He was Lucien and there weren’t a lot of men like him (in fact, none). He’d worked hard at it, vowed to break me. And a vampire vow was a bond. So, obviously, he pulled out all the stops to succeed.
But I couldn’t cut myself any slack. My decisions were my own. My capitulation was on me. My flight and the consequences of it were mine to bear. I knew it would hurt my family which made it harder for me not to call them. But I told myself, if what Etienne said was true, it might be time for the Buchanan women to get out of the concubine business.
I stared unseeing at the TV. This was the ninth hotel room I’d been in. I splurged this time. I’d stayed in crappy places off the beaten track the last eight nights. But I was tired. I’d had little sleep. This place wasn’t great and it certainly wasn’t the luxury I’d grown accustomed to. It was old but at least it was clean. I needed clean. I needed sleep.
Hunger pains gnawed at my gut but I knew I couldn’t eat. I’d tried. The thought of it made me nauseous and the one time I tried to eat something it made me flat out sick. So I stopped trying.