Page 68 of Unmasking Her Shadow

“When you finally let someone into that guarded heart of yours, Ryk, you’ll understand.”

I almost miss the grin he hides too quickly as he sits at his desk next to mine.

“She’s digging her way through, isn’t she?”

“Don’t know what you’re talking about,” he brushes me off, and I roll my eyes. He’s fighting it like he always does.

When she begins her last class of the evening, I change and make my way to the gym. I’ll monitor the time and cameras so that I can leave here as soon as she finishes to meet her at home. We’ll shower together, cook dinner together, maybe eat each other for dessert after…I love this couple shit when it’s with her.

“I bet I can run a mile faster than you,” Ryker taunts when he finishes his reps.

I glance at the time and put my dumbbells back on the rack. She’s more than likely getting ready to head home now, but this will only take a few extra minutes.

“You’re on,” I challenge, taking the treadmill right next to his.

We never actually wagered anything. It’s purely for bragging rights. All I have to do is imagine Sam in front of me running through the woods with me trailing a step behind, and I finish one second before him. He lets out a frustrated “Ugh” with his hands on top of his head when he compares our times. Our abs are glistening with sweat along with every other part of our body. The wins alternate between us about every other time, and they’re always only a couple of seconds apart. A few times we tied.

I grab my phone expecting to read an on my way message from Sam on my lock screen, but there’s nothing. She must be running behind. Wiping the sweat from my forehead with my discarded shirt, I check the cameras, and they show her car gone from the parking lot. My jaw clenches. Punishment is in her near future. My fingers type out getting a quick shower then I’m coming for you but I delete it and throw my uniform back on, leaving my top unbuttoned.

The wind whips my shirt behind me like a cape. I drive straight to her house in case she’s still there getting Nyx. When I don’t see her car in the driveway, I turn right around and speed home. This fucking woman. She’s not here either.

“Where are you, pup?” I speak out loud to myself, pulling up her location, only to discover her phone is off. Sickness churns in my stomach at the thought of her in a car accident. It’s possible she forgot something and went back to the studio. Her phone could have died, or she stopped somewhere on the way.

Ryker pulls into the driveway next to me and removes his helmet. The visor is up on mine so I can see my phone. I haven’t gotten off my bike yet.

“Where’s Sam?”

“I don’t fucking know,” I snap at him, worry coursing through me at rapid speed. Logging back into the studio cameras, I focus on the parking lot, rewinding the footage to see if she had driven back for something. I keep going backward until I spot her car pulling out of the parking lot, watching everything happen in reverse. My heart explodes into millions of crimson fragments when I bear witness to her abduction. By someone dressed an awful lot like myself in the same fucking mask as Shadow.

The memory of Nyx waking us in the middle of the night punches me in the gut with full force. There was someone out there, and she knew it. When Sam told me she loved me this morning, all other thoughts ceased to exist in my mind. How could I be so fucking stupid?

I send Captain the video clip and call him. How I gained access to their cameras will be something I’ll deal with later. I provide him with her license plate number to be run through traffic cameras and her phone number to be traced by our techs. He dispatches officers to the studio to search the area for evidence. Everything is in motion so fast, but yet not quick enough.

Ryker’s eyes widen as he absorbs each word. I end the call and hold out my phone to him with the video frozen on the screen. Reality slices into me like a fiery blade, searing through my heart and lungs. Someone took Sam from me, and for the first time since I laid eyes on her, I don’t know where she is.

It’s as if the air is too thick to enter my lungs, and the world tilts as I dismount my bike.

She’s gone.

My fingers shake as I grab my helmet, ripping it off and dropping it next to me. A raw, aching sob tears through me as I collapse onto my hands and knees.

My love.

In the next heartbeat, Ryker is there, pulling me into him, his chest muffling the sound. She needs me. I have to find her. I will find her. My fists cling to his shirt, and I force air into my aching lungs until the tears stop flowing and a thought rings out in my mind. I snatch my phone off the ground and call Chloe, the new hire known for her hacking skills.

He’s the only suspect I have.

“What’s up, peanut butter cup?” She answers cheerfully, unaware of the devastation happening around me.

“Chloe, I need you to dig into Tyler Hillard,” I command and give her his address. “Do that thing you do the Captain doesn’t know about and dig.”

“Like a digital archaeologist. Call you back in just a few minutes, Ki Ki.”

“We need to go get Nyx and bring her back here,” I tell Ryker, my voice cracking. My future wife is missing and I’m worried about her fucking dog. It’s because Sam would want me to. She would want me to make sure her baby was okay until she gets back. Because she will be back. I’ll make sure of it. “We will bring Nyx back here and then tear the fucking city apart until we find my girl. Or maybe Nyx can come with us and fucking eat everyone while we set it ablaze to smoke out the motherfucker who took her.”

Ryker’s movements mirror mine as we rush to move our bikes to retrieve his car from the garage.

I’ll get your baby and then I’ll find you, love.