Chapter 34

Jolting awake,I find the space beside me empty. Instant alarm wakes me up completely when I don't see or hear her in the shower.

"Eriu?" I rush out of the room, thinking she's probably in the kitchen getting something to eat.

But the place is empty, and she's nowhere to be found.

The rain falls from the sky, pummeling the ground below, and I start to wonder if she's out there. But what reason would she have to go out?

I grab my phone, intending to text her, when I find a note she wrote lying beside it.

Just went to the store on 75th to get some stuff for us. And I can already see you worrying. Don't. I love you. I'll be back in thirty.

With a growl, I text her.

Devlin

I'm coming to pick you up. Stay at the store.

Luckily, Patrick had my car sent over after the wedding. He just didn't want me driving on our wedding day.

I slip into my shoes and rush out and into the elevator. When I make it down, I ask the doorman if he's seen her. He confirms she left an hour ago.

Something stirs in my gut. That's too long. She should've been back by now.

Getting in my car, I press a few keys on my cell and try locating her phone. But nothing comes up. Breaths burst in and out from my constricted chest.

Something happened to her.

Something bad.

"Feck!" I start the car and speed down toward the store I know she went to, calling Iseult as I do.

"Hey, what's up? Everything okay?"

"Listen. I'm afraid something happened to Eriu."

"What?" Alarm lines her voice. "What do you mean?"

"She left me a note an hour ago saying she was heading for the grocery store, but the GPS on her cell has been tampered with."

"God damn it! We're on our way to you." She takes a long, ominous pause. "Do you think… Do you think they got to her?"

My hand clamps around the steering wheel. I don't want to admit it to myself, but what else would it be?

"Aye."

"I won't lose my sister. You hear me, Devlin?! I won't lose her."

"Can't lose her either." My adrenaline spikes.

"Then we figure out how to find her. Call the Russians. I don't care! Find her!"

She drops the call, and with a growl, I pound the wheel with a fist. How do I constantly keep failing her?!

"Feck!" I can't lose her too.

I knew I shouldn't have married her. I put her at risk even more.

Taking Iseult's advice, I call Konstantin.

He immediately answers. "Hello, friend. I received the money you owed me. Much appreciated. What can I do for you?"

"Look, I need your help. Someone took Eriu. Someone from my past. This gang run by Francis Palmer from California."

"And why would they want to hurt you or the lovely Ms. Quinn?"

"Actually, it's Mrs. McHale now."

He chuckles with a twinge of shock. "Well, well. Pozdravleyu. You finally wised up. I guess you have me to thank for my part in it."

"Maybe not. Now that she's my wife, they're going to kill her just to hurt me."

"Did you betray them?"

I can't exactly tell Konstantin everything, so I give him a little bit of the truth.

"I left, and they didn't approve. Killed my brother for it, and now they're gonna kill her."

"Nu da. You have a problem. Let me get some people on it, and I'll call you if I have something."

"Thanks."

He ends the call, and I drop the cell into the cup holder, turning left on a street with some construction going on.

Muttering a curse, I turn onto another block, but this time, something else stops me.

Ambulance lights flash, a fire truck in front of it.

My heart stills as I parallel park and jump out, running toward the scene, needing to make sure she isn't hurt…or dead.

The cops have the area taped off, a car flipped onto the passenger side. I recognize one of the officers who works for Patrick and get his attention.

"Devlin, hey," he whispers. "You shouldn't be here."

"What happened here?" I glance at the car, the front windows smashed like someone broke it.

"Car accident and possible abduction. Witness said someone went straight into it."

Feck.

"Who was inside?"

"No one that we saw when we got here." He glances at the other cops as he continues, like he doesn't want them to overhear. "Witness said he saw a man in a ski mask heading for the car, and he dragged two women out, then brought them into a black SUV."

"Bloody hell!" I grab the back of my neck and squeeze. "What did they look like? Did he say?"

"One was in jeans and had darker hair, maybe black. The other had long brown hair and light pink sneakers. That's all I know for now. We're waiting on cameras."

His voice trails. There's a ringing in my ear, so loud I can barely hear him.

Light pink sneakers…

It's her. It's the shoes I got her.

They have her. The Palmers have her. But whose car was she in and why? They wouldn't hesitate to kill an innocent bystander if they had to.

"Which way?"

"What?"

"Which way did they go?!" I snap, and the other officers all turn to me.

He gives them a quick nod and waves off their concern like I'm some nosy citizen. "Shut up before you make a scene."

"Just tell me what I need to know."

"They headed down that way." He points to his left. "That's all we have so far. We have people looking at nearby cameras for the SUV."

They won't find it. I'm sure they've had the car destroyed by now.

"You know my number if you find out anything else."

Running back to my car, I intend to call Patrick. He must be going insane right now.

As soon as I start to dial, it rings. And it's a number I don't recognize.

"Yeah?"

"You'll get an address," says a man. "Come alone."

"Is she alive?"

"Devlin!" she screams, and relief and rage take hold of me simultaneously.

"Don't you feckin' touch my wife!"

"You're not the one making demands here. Now shut up and hurry. Or the boss will get trigger-happy."

"Tell Palmer I'm coming."

The line goes dead, and a text immediately comes through with an address.

I don't know that area. Somewhere in Queens, outside the city, probably commercial with not much foot traffic.

Ignoring his threat, I give Iseult the info. I know she's gonna be smart about it. The Messinas and the Quinns will have the place, and the arseholes inside won't even know it.

I just hope they keep her alive long enough for me to save her the way I couldn't save my brother.