Dread spiraled.
Fuck.
Cory should have already been hauled away in chains. A fucking millstone around his neck.
“No. The team we sent to apprehend him was unable to locate him. Are you sure he was here?”
“Positive.”
A low-sounding alarm started to thrum in the back of my mind, growing louder by the second. I sucked it down, tried to ignore the fear that dripped, a slow filter that trickled trepidation into my bloodstream.
“Fuck . . . he might have caught wind and slipped out while we were arresting Fitzgerald.”
My head shook. “No, he’s here.”
I could feel it.
“Spread out. We need to get him. Now.”
Shoving away, I rushed out into the main part of the house. Here, the house was packed. A throng that had missed the memo that cops were on the scene. Bodies pulsed and throbbed to the rhythm of the DJ that had set up outside by the pool. The accordion glass walls at the back of the massive house had been drawn back to create one huge free-flowing space.
My attention darted around the faces. Over the outright famous and semi-celebrities. Others that had snagged VIP tickets, so much awe in their eyes that I was pretty sure they thought they were floating on actual clouds.
But the two faces I was desperate to see were nowhere to be found.
I started to shove through the crowd, growing more frantic by the second.
My chest tightened.
Emily.
Fuck.
Emily.
I had to get to her.
Heart rate ratcheting up a few thousand notches, a fear unlike anything I’d ever felt crashed over me.
Wave after wave.
Surging higher and growing darker.
I nearly jumped out of my skin when a hand landed on my forearm. My attention jerked that way.
Acid pooled in my mouth.
Nadia.
Hatred and disgust billowed free, and my spirit seized in a clutch of pain. In old memories and old hopes and a lifetime of injury. She looked at me with those dark eyes that I thought I’d known. Looked at me like she still knew me. Like we still meant something to the other and she hadn’t been a part of my demise.
“What do you want, Nadia? Aren’t you terrified of me? Scared I might come unglued? Pose a threat?” I couldn’t keep the venom from my tone, the hurt that bled and blistered. “You have a restraining order against me, remember?”
Regret passed through her eyes. “Royce.” My name was a petition.
I ignored it.
Shocked by the fact that I didn’t want to wrap her up. Hold her. My goal. My destination. Yeah, I wanted her safe. But the end game had shifted. The love I’d had for her a pale, pathetic comparison to what I felt for Emily.
“Where is he?” I gritted out.
Worry moved through her expression. “I . . . I don’t know. I’ve been looking for him for the last twenty minutes. He was acting strange.”
Like that fucker acted like a normal human being?
Was real?
Whole?
My mouth twisted in a sneer. “Where the fuck is he, Nadia? I’m not fucking around. If you’re covering for him—”
“I . . . I told you I don’t know.” The words trembled from the woman’s lips—this woman I’d once committed everything to.
Her face pinched. “I’m scared, Royce. I . . . I made a huge mistake.”
Anger blistered, but I shoved it down. “You don’t need to worry. He won’t hurt you again.”
“I’m sorry,” she whimpered.
I couldn’t take the time to listen to her apology.
I tossed my attention across the roiling crowd. Knew how to pinpoint the action. The hotspots.
Sunder was out on the left side of the patio, surrounded by a horde of people who were vying to get a touch. To brush up against greatness.
Reuben Carmichael and his entourage were just inside.
Cory wasn’t in the midst of either of them, and I knew well enough that he was powerful enough to create his own. That where he was, something wild would be going down.
Nothing.
On a silent roar, I roughed a hand over my face to break up the sickness I could feel taking over.
Panic racing.
Terror clotting the flow of blood through my body.
I pushed back through the crowd. When I broke free at the edge, I pointed at Detective Casile, who was giving some sort of instruction to one of the officers in a secluded area of the hall. “Spread out. He’s somewhere here. His wife confirmed it.”
Had the sinking feeling that he wasn’t alone.
Without slowing, I burst through the doors of the kitchen. Blinding lights shone from the huge chandeliers dangling over the massive island, this room completely lit.
My eyes hunted through the faces.
Only one in mind.
Emily.
Soulshine.
Knew immediately that she wouldn’t have sought refuge in the riot. Unless she was onstage, she was always on the sidelines. Slinking through the shadows. Feasting on the beauty of others, of music and hearts and hope, quietly adding her own into the mix.
Pushing out of the kitchen, I raced back down the hall toward the room where she’d left me. When she’d turned her back and walked away because she couldn’t remain standing in the same room.