Chapter Twelve

By the time I arrive back at the cabin, it”s after midnight and I”m fucking exhausted. The only thing on my mind is crawling into bed with Thalia and making her scream my name until her sweet voice breaks.

Her father knows she”s with me, though I adamantly refused to tell him where. I wouldn”t tell my father, either. I”m not taking any chances on either of them trying to locate her. I don”t trust either of the bastards as far as I can throw them.

Phillip Rosewood seemed relieved to know that she”s with me, however. Apparently, he”s been frantic with worry about his daughter. Or so he says. He wasn”t frantic enough to tell my father she”s been missing for two weeks. He was too busy trying to hide that fact to save the contract.

He and I got a few things straight. If he wants to see his daughter ever again, he”ll treat her with the fucking respect she deserves. If he ever threatens her again, it”ll be the last mistake he makes.

My father and I got a few things straight too. I”m not his goddamn puppet and I won”t be. He claims he was only trying to do me a favor—that he wants me to find what he had with my mother. I”m not entirely sure I believe that. I still believe this was about merging the Stonehaven and Rosewood dynasties. But at the end of the day, regardless of what he wants, I still end up with Thalia.

And the marriage contracts have been renegotiated. The Rosewood Kingdom stays the Rosewood Kingdom. The Stonehaven Kingdom stays the Stonehaven Kingdom. Thalia will be protected, no matter what. We rule both only until our children are old enough and then pass them on—the Rosewood Kingdom goes to our eldest daughter. The Stonehaven Kingdom will go to our eldest son.

I don”t have to ask Thalia to know it”s what she”d want. She has no desire to rule. She simply wants her freedom. I know because it”s precisely what I want. Our fathers thought they could force our hands but they woke a sleeping giant instead. No one threatens my princess. No one.

Since they have no other heirs, they have fewer choices than we do. We can simply walk away. I”m prepared to do it. Thalia already has.

That reminder was all it took for them to see it my way. They had the new contracts drawn up for my approval before I left the castle.

I swung by Samson”s after to let him know, but of course, he was out—undoubtedly bedding whatever woman he”s talked into his bed this week. I left him a note, telling him to call off his search. I know what my princess has been hiding now.

As soon as I have my way with her, I intend to tell her everything. She won”t sleep another night with those worries clouding her mind. When the sun rises tomorrow, she”ll know beyond a shadow of a doubt that she”s mine permanently and nothing will ever take her from me.

I slip inside the cabin, shoving the door closed behind me loud enough to ensure she hears it. I kick my boots off, my cock already hard and throbbing in anticipation.

Aside from the fire burning in the grate, the cabin is dark. The floor shines where she scrubbed it. The scent of cleaner lingers in the air.

I stride down the hall, making no attempt to be quiet. If she”s awake, I want her to hear me coming. I want her writhing in anticipation, her mind racing with thoughts of what I”m going to do to her tonight. I hope she”s squirming on the bed, desperately trying not to slip her fingers between her legs to touch her pretty little pussy.

And if she isn”t awake—well, she will be eventually.

A frown tugs at my lips when I see the bedroom door standing open. She always closes it so she hears me coming—no matter how loud or how quiet I”ve been. I step into the room and see the sheet on the floor.

”What the fuck?” I scan the shadows, thinking maybe she”s trying to hide from me, that she”s playing some new game.

My gaze lands on the small hole over the bed and my blood freezes in my veins. My hand slams against the light switch. Panic surges through my veins like raging fire.

No.

I sprint across the room, heart pounding against my chest with each step. It”s a bullet hole. A fucking bullet hole.

I scream her name, tearing apart the bed in a frenzy, searching for any trace of blood. But there is none.

”Thalia!”

My hands shake as I grab the sheet off the floor, frantically scanning it for signs of blood.

I fucking sob when I don”t find any.

Where is she?

Where the fuck is she?

”Thalia!” I charge out of the room like a wounded bear, shouting for her at the top of my lungs. ”Thalia!”

But there is no response.

”Goddammit, angel! Answer me!”

Still, nothing.

Terror claws at my insides, quickly morphing to ferocious anger. The pendulum immediately swings back, terror swiftly overtaking anger.

I rip the front door open, stumbling out onto the porch.

”Thalia!” My voice bounces back from the trees in distorted echoes. ”Answer me, angel. Please!”

Seconds crawl by, each one feeling like an eternity. The silence is overwhelming. There”s no answering shout, there are no animals scurrying through the underbrush. There isn”t even any wind. It”s as if the entire fucking forest has gone mute.

She isn”t here.

Or, worse, she”s out there somewhere, hurt, unable to answer me.

I crash to the ground, choking on a groan as the thought sends a wave of pain through me. It hits like a fucking bomb blast detonating inside my skin—wreaking devastation over and over.

”Thalia. Fuck, angel. Please, you have to be okay. You have to,” I whisper. My hands shake as I grab my phone from my pocket. I never even use the goddamn thing. When I first came, I left it at the castle. I”ve only started bringing it so Thalia could call me when I was in Stonehaven. But she didn”t call.

She needed me, and she didn”t call.

Christ, I have to find her.

The realization that someone did this—that someone took her from me—has rage boiling in my veins like scorching lava. When I find them, I hope God has mercy on their fucking souls because I won”t. I”m going to rip them apart, limb from fucking limb.

I drag myself back to my feet, cold fury beating in place of my heart.

I dial my father”s number.

He doesn”t answer so I hang up and call right back.

”Troy?” he asks on my third call, his voice thick with sleep. ”Do you have any idea what time it is?”

”Do you have her?” I growl, storming back inside the cabin to shove my feet into my boots. ”Tell me you fucking have her.”

I”ll kill him if he does, but at least I”ll know where she is. At least I”ll know she”s safe.

”What are you talking about, son?”

”Thalia!” I roar, another wave of pain blasting through me when I say her name. ”Tell me you have Thalia.”

”No, of course I don”t have her.”

I groan, collapsing against the wall.

”What”s wrong, Troy? Talk to me.”

”Someone…Christ,” I rasp, trying not to fucking lose my mind. ”There was someone in the woods earlier, watching us. I thought maybe you or her father sent him. But there”s a bullet hole over our bed, and she”s not fucking here.”

”I didn”t send anyone for her, son,” my father says quietly. ”I wouldn”t. Phillip wouldn”t send anyone to hurt her, either. He may be a bastard, but he wouldn”t try to kill her.”

”She”s not here. Someone took her.” The words shake on my lips. Or maybe I”m shaking. I don”t fucking know. ”She”s not fucking here.”

”Come home, son. We”ll find her,” my father promises, his voice soft. For the first time in two decades, he sounds like the man who held my hand when my mother was dying and promised me that we”d be okay. We haven”t been okay—not a single day since then. But back then, I believed him. I desperately want to believe him now, too.

”Even if we have to tear the kingdoms apart, we”ll find her,” he swears.

”We have to find her. I promised her, Dad. I fucking promised I”d protect her.”

”You will.”

Except…I didn”t.

She needed me, and I wasn”t fucking here.

She”s the light in my life, the peace, the one damn thing I”ve done right in thirty-four years—and she doesn”t even know it.

I have to find her. I won”t rest again until I do.