21. Chapter 21

Callum walked into the tavern on the main floor of the coaching inn, his fists already curled as he searched the darkened nooks of the large room.

There. A private back area, set apart with a thick stone wall.

That's exactly where the bastard would be.

He stomped past the tables of travelers laughing and drinking, the blood red haze in his eyes blurring the world, but also helping him to focus specifically on his target.

He moved past the stone wall that led to the smaller area—where there was space for ten or so people around a long rectangular table. But there was only one person in the room, sitting by the fireplace, his bleary eyes staring at the drink in front of him as he poured the last drops of a bottle of brandy into the glass.

He dared to get drunk now?

Double the bastard.

"Thomas." His voice a low roar, Callum didn't want to draw attention to the room when he was about to kill the man.

Thomas set the empty brandy bottle down, his clumsy fingers knocking the bottle to the table.

Enough of a distraction that Callum didn't see Thomas lunging at him with his fist flying through the air.

Knuckles slammed into Callum's chin and it actually stung, stumbling him back a step.

Callum was bigger, but Thomas wasn't slight—he was nearly as tall and had plenty of muscle on his frame.

Thomas's feet shifted to swing another blow at him. "What the hell did you do to her?" He swung.

Callum dodged the blow and stood straight, his eyes wide in indignant surprise, his words spitting out through gritted teeth. "Do to her? I didn't do a damn thing to Nemity."

Thomas's missed blow sent him half splayed onto the table, scratching for stability as his look jerked to Callum. "You fucking well did, man." Thomas's words slurred, fast and jumbled together. "The way she came to me—came to me in the middle of the fucking night because of you. I was paying you to protect her—not play with her."

Thomas found his footing and shoved off from the table, his fist pulling back for another blow. Callum wasn't about to let it land on him and he sprang forward, wrapping his hand around Thomas's throat as he shoved him backward until his body slammed into the stone wall. "I wasn't playing with her." His fingers tightened around Thomas's throat. "Where in the hell is she?"

Thomas deflated in front of him, all fight in him evaporated. His look went to the low ceiling as words croaked out of his throat. "She's not here."

Callum yanked him off the wall and slammed him back into it. "I fucking bloody well know that. The stableboy said you were the only one in the carriage when you got into town. But you left London with her and the children, so I ask you again"—he shoved his face into Thomas's, a deadly roar growling from his throat—"where in the hell is she?"

Silent, Thomas's eyes squinted closed, like he was trying to change the past—or not face it.

Real, visceral terror shot through Callum's chest. He tried to remain calm in situations like this—when he didn't know what the hell was happening. But Thomas's silence pointed in only one direction. Nemity was dead.

Somehow, between London and here, she'd died.

Everything within him dissolved into a black void with that thought.

But no. He wouldn't accept it. Didn't know it.

He dragged Thomas from the wall by his throat and slammed him back into it again, this time with more force. "Where is she?"

Thomas clawed at his hand around his throat, searching for breath. Breath he needed to talk.

Callum relaxed his grip enough for a trickle of air to make it into Thomas's lungs.

Thomas wheezed a breath. "I—I sent my driver back for her. I got here and I sent the driver. He should have been back with her by now. He should have."

Callum sucked in a breath. She was alive. He was ready to throttle the life out of Thomas's eyes, but that wouldn't get him anywhere nearer to finding Nemity.

One of the hardest things he ever had to do, he dropped his grip from Thomas's neck and took a step back. "Explain."

Thomas spewed out a brandy-soaked cough, still trying to catch his breath. "I couldn't be in the same coach with her. Not with her and those children. The children were crying and I—I…" Thomas lifted a hand and smacked the heel of his palm against his own temple. Hard. So hard Thomas stumbled to the side. "Something snapped in my head and I couldn't control it and all I could see was red and black and rage and I couldn't find my way out of it. I tried to stay calm, but then Nemity started arguing with me." His eyes closed as he collapsed back against the stone wall.

"So you fucking kicked her out of the carriage?"

"In the middle of nowhere." Thomas's eyes stayed closed, his head shaking, his dark hair falling in front of his eyes. "Not my finest moment."

Callum couldn't keep his voice steady, the fury seizing him making him choke out every word. "What the hell are you thinking, man?"

Thomas opened his bloodshot eyes and his look lifted, haunted, to Callum. "I'm thinking I didn't want to hurt her. Didn't want to hurt those children." His eyes closed and his chin dropped down, his voice a whisper. "They should have been back by now. They should already be here. It was an hour back and I sent my driver right away. He dropped me off and he went back. They should be here. They should…"

Callum slammed his fist into a stone next to Thomas's head. His knuckles split, bloody. But better his skin than Thomas's skull. He didn't have time to murder the bastard right now. "You fucking asshole. If any one of them is hurt in the slightest way I am going to hunt you down and flay you alive."

Not willing to split his opposite knuckles with another punch at the rocks, Callum settled for kicking a fat stone low on the wall. The pain vibrating up his leg was worth it.

He turned to stomp out of the private dining room.

"You're fired, Callum." Thomas's voice cut weakly into the air behind him.

Callum stopped at the entrance and looked back to Thomas. "No. I quit. Find someone else to save your ass."

He stormed out of the coaching inn and grabbed his horse's reins from the stableboy who he'd had water his horse for him.

An hour back.

He mounted and set the horse on a quick pace, his mind frantic.

It had been near dark, but he hadn't seen anything on the entire length of that barren stretch of road. Though he had been pushing his horse hard.

Nor had he seen Thomas's carriage and driver. That, he would have noticed, for he'd been searching for it since he'd convinced the scullery maid at the Hedstrom townhouse to tell him that Thomas had left abruptly with Miss Wheldon and two children days ago.

The only place they would be going was back to Springfell Manor or Ravenstone Castle, both of which veered off of this stretch of road another half day north.

Dusk had settled and he was fuming, not able to see what he needed to along the roadside in order to find Nemity and the children.

And there was nothing, not another soul on the road until twenty minutes had gone by.

Lanterns on a coach. A coach moving slowly.

Callum kicked his heels into his horse and sped to meet the coach. Thomas's coach—he already recognized it in the distance.

The carriage slowed as he approached, and he came to a stop next to it. The curtain in the carriage was drawn.

"Perry, tell me you found them," Callum said, looking up at Thomas's driver.

Perry heaved out a sigh. "No, sir. No, I did not. I dinnae ken where they would go. I even went down the stretch on the three roads that branched, but I couldnae find them. I'm sorry, sir. I never should have left them."

"No, you damn well shouldn't have. How in the hell do you lose a woman with two wee ones in tow?"

"I'm sorry, sir, I tried to stop three times to go back but his lordship widnae have it—said he'd drive the rig himself and leave me as well—then I'd be no help to anyone."

Callum ran his hand down his face, growling to himself. "It wasn't your fault. Keep looking. I'll double back."

"Yes, sir."

"If you find them, deliver them to the coaching inn, get them in a room, and tell them not to step one foot outside that room until I'm there—no, hell"—he shook his head to himself, realizing Nemity would never stay in a coaching inn waiting for him, of all people—"tell her not to leave there until Charley comes for them. Tell Miss Wheldon that Charley is coming. She'll stay in one place if she thinks he's coming. Tell her that and then come and get me. I'll get them safely home."

Perry nodded, tipping his hat. "Yes, sir."

"Wait—where exactly did you leave them?"

"That area with the forest on the southern side and the sheep pastures opposite. There is that hill, the tallest in the area—it was near there."

His gut sinking as the chill air around him settled in with darkness, Callum nodded and flicked his reins, taking off into the darkness.

His eyes had better adjust to the darkness soon, for he needed to find her.

Had to find her.