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I didn’t know where it came from, but it was there, like an annoying writhing sensation that just wouldn’t release. My thoughts became chaotic. Something was very wrong.
Lisa.
I immediately reached for my cell phone, calling her. It rang and rang with no answer while my tension ticked up a few more notches. I didn’t think she was simply ignoring my call. We’d talked for hours last night and a little bit this morning. I knew she was still reluctant to accept my feelings. She probably still didn’t trust me, and I didn’t blame her. I’d shattered her trust five years ago, so it might take at least that long to get it back. Either way, I would fight for her. I hadn’t gotten this far by giving up easily, especially not when it was something this important.Someonethis important.
The only woman I’d ever loved.
I wasn’t going to let her go without a fight. I would show her that I did know her and loved every part of her, all her quirks and edges. I was in this for the long haul.
When her cell phone dial tone redirected to voicemail, I decided to call her landline instead. The phone rang for only a few seconds before someone picked up. “Hello?”
The voice didn’t sound like Lisa’s.
“Hi,” I said with a frown. “Who’s this?”
“I’m Amy. I’m the babysitter.”
“Oh.” Yeah, I remembered the teenager who came to babysit Violet. “Is Lisa there?”
“No. She just stepped out, actually.”
Of course. The babysitter wouldn’t be there if she were home. “Right. Do you know where she went?”
“She said she would be visiting her mother’s place. I’m not sure where it is, though. That’s about all I know.”
Her mother?I was instantly alarmed. The abusive one? Now frustration lined every part of my body. Why on earth was she going to see the woman? Why did she insist on putting herself in harm’s way and putting up with abuse? For what? Because she was her mother?
“Thanks,” I said to Amy and hung up, immediately trying to figure out where Lisa’s mother's place was. Lisa wasn’t answering her phone, and a strong feeling informed me that she might be in trouble again. Call it intuition or paranoia. Either way, I was going to follow it.
What if the woman had done something to my Lisa, like used a beer bottle and slashed her across the chest? What if Lisa was bleeding out on the floor right now as we spoke?
My heart thundered in my chest.
Fuck, I needed to find her.
I suddenly remembered that our phones were synced up, so I could probably find her with that. I immediately turned on the app, trying to remain calm as her GPS calculated.
Man, stop thinking all those dark shit, okay. That’s trauma talking. She’s probably fine.
I told myself all these things, but it didn’t stop me from speeding out to the parking lot anyway with urgency beating at me.
Her mother’s home was about fifteen minutes away from me, but it was on the side of town I had never ventured into. And the further I went, the angrier I got. Straight roads bled into crooked backroads surrounded by grasslands with spare houses miles apart. There was nothing else as far as the eye could see except grassland, the prime place for highway robbers. This was no place for a woman to be driving alone. Damn it, even if the highway robbers didn’t get her first, she could have been attacked by a coyote or something similarly dangerous. There was absolutely no reason for her to even be here.
And the minute I caught up to her, I was going to spank her pretty little butt for endangering herself yet again.
As I got to the trailer park, I saw cars roughly parked in the lot, including Lisa’s. I immediately got out, surveying the area and noting the eerie feeling of being watched. Theywereprobably watching me, but they weren’t my concern right now. For all I cared, they could steal my car. All I worried about right now was making sure Lisa was okay and then getting her the hell out of this place.
I started to hear sounds when I began walking down the dirt street. I was still following the map to Lisa. And then I saw something that set my entire mind ablaze.
It was Lisa. She was struggling in the hands of a man who had his hand around her mouth and a knife at her throat. He didn’t see me yet, which was good. With a low growl, I charged into action, moving faster than any linebacker on the field.
Then, a roar ripped out of me as I attacked, tearing him away from Lisa before tackling him to the ground. Once his body was no longer touching her, I sent my fist into his face. He screamed as his nose crunched beneath my fist, and it satisfied some of the blood lust raging through me. But it wasn’t enough. It wouldn’t be enough until he was sobbing and bleeding at my feet. He touched her,myLisa. He wanted to hurt her.
And I wanted to kill him.
“Wait, Nick.” I heard Lisa gasping and coughing as her hand touched my arm. I glanced back at her. She was kneeling on the floor, one hand around the red marks on her throat as she shook her head at me. “Stop, you’re going to kill him.”
“That’s the idea.” Those marks alone spiked my fury, and I turned back to continue my vengeance, to pay for the hurt he caused in blood. I hit him again and again until he was wheezing and coughing up blood, his face turning into a mask of red under my fists.
