Page 84 of Secrets Bared
“Luke?” Swinging the door open, Virginia wrapped her robe around herself. “What is it?”
“Maggie’s been taken!”
“Maggie’s been faking?” She cupped her hand around her ear. Damn, she must have her hearing aids out.
“No. Taken! Kidnapped!” He gripped his hair.
“Have you checked her room?”
“Yes, it’s destroyed.” He took a deep breath, but trying to remember his training when the love of his life had disappeared was easily the most difficult thing he’d done. “When did she get home?”
Virginia shrugged. “About six or so? I was dusting, so I wasn’t paying much attention.”
Shit. That meant Maggie had gone straight home from the diner, just as he’d feared.
He couldn’t stay a second longer. “Call the police. I have to go.” Luke nearly took a header running back down the old servant’s staircase, then he bolted for the front door.
After looking at the map again, he realized the cabin was outside of Hawthorn Hills, so he called the person who he knew would have his back. “Delgado.”
“Gabe, I just got back to the Haven and Maggie’s been taken.”
“Taken? By who?”
“Her husband. She’s been on the run but he stalked her here. I went up to her room, and it’s a disaster. She left her phone and purse behind.” He put the phone on speaker as he slid it into the holder on the dash.
Gabe whistled. “Could he have taken her back to Oklahoma?”
“No, he left a message on the mirror. The coordinates lead to an old hunting cabin outside of town.”
“Send them to me. I’m on the way.” Luke typed furiously into a text message, then set up his GPS.
“Luke… you know this is a trap, right?”
His academy training had taught him to make logical decisions in the face of danger. Scenarios he’d never had issues with before. But the cool head he always entered assignments with was nowhere to be found. “He hurt her, Gabe. She hasn’t said it outright, but she has old scars and injuries that didn’t heal correctly.”
“Mierda,” his old teammate swore in Spanish. “Who’s handling the stalking case?”
“Marigold MacDonald.”
“Alright, I’ll call her while I get on the road. What’s your ETA?”
Luke checked the phone and swore. “GPS says forty minutes. I’m calling it thirty.”
Gabe muttered something about calling ahead so he didn’t get pulled over. “Don’t go in there until I get there!”
He peeled out of the gravel driveway, waving at Virginia, who’d come down to the front door, her phone to her ear. “I can’t make that promise.”
“Don’t be stupid, Luke!” The wail of a siren told him his friend was en route.
“Call Marigold. I’ll see you there.” He hung up the call and sped off into the night.Hold on, baby, I’m coming for you.
Chapter 24
Maggiewashavinganightmare. In it, Sean had shown up in Hawthorn Hills, in her room at the Hawthorn Haven Bed and Breakfast. He’d destroyed everything she’d bought since she left him, including all the pretty things she’d worn for Luke, and the laptop she’d bought to run her new business. Then he’d kidnapped her at gunpoint.
“Why’d you make me hit you, Margaret?”
Maggie groaned. Her neck ached from her head hanging down her chest, and her temple throbbed.
