Besotted: An Enemies-to-Lovers Small-town Romance (Carmel Cove Book 3)

by Dr. Rebecca Sharp

  I shook my head slowly and rasped, “What?”

  He couldn’t have said that. Why would Eve be kidnapped? It made no sense. It wasn’t right.

  It wasn’t true.

  “About forty minutes ago, that guy from the bar the other night—the one whose face you smashed his face into the bar—” Oh God. No.

  “I’ll kill him,” I broke in and swore. It was all my fault. “Why? Why now? It’s been fuckin’ four goddamn weeks,” I spewed, rage punching each thought through my mouth without much else behind it. “When I find that motherfucker, he’ll wish I’d slammed his head right through the damn bar. I swear to God, I’ll—”

  “Miles.” Ace gripped my shoulders and I blinked and focused on the half-shaved, half-tattooed head in my face. “It wasn’t because of that. If you’d just let me fuckin’ finish.” He grunted and went on. “That guy… Trent… he was harassing Cambria. Eve stepped in and, according to Cam, there was an awkward truce where she thought the guy was going to walk away. Then he dropped his card case and Cam’s pretty sure that Eve saw a license fall out. She wasn’t close enough to see the name and even if she was, I doubt with how traumatized she is, she’d remember.”

  My blood pounded in my ears, demanding more.

  “As soon as she saw it, Eve told Cam to run right before Trent grabbed her. Apparently, Eve took him down long enough to shove Cammie away but last she saw, he had her pinned against the car.”

  Every word felt like a knife in my chest. Over and over again.

  “The car is gone, and no one saw where it went.”

  “How the fuck did no one see?” I roared. “And what about a license plate? Did she get part of the number at least?” My eyes flicked to where Addison still held the quaking girl.

  Ace shook his head.

  “You’re telling me that my woman just saved her life.” My hand shot out and pointed in Cambria’s direction, and for the first time, I caught her eyes sliding up. “And she couldn’t take one fuckin’ second to look at the goddamn plate—”

  Like a cloud blotting out the sun, Ace gripped my arm and pushed it down as he stepped between me and Cambria, shielding her from my hot, misguided wrath.

  “I understand where you’re coming from, Madison, I sure as fuck do. But that girl over there has been through something that no one here knows. That girl over there isn’t even a ghost. She’s a goddamn shell. And you pointing fingers and blaming her isn’t going to do shit to get Eve back.”

  I growled and plowed both hands through my hair. “So what is? What the fuck is being done to get Eve back?” My chest heaved with every breath.

  His voice lowered. “I have Dex checking traffic cams through town as well as all security system footage that shows any of these streets.”

  “And the police?”

  His face hardened. “They’re trying to find a witness to confirm Cambria’s story before they send their resources out—”

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” I turned and slammed my fist into the metal street-lamp post. “Are. You. Fucking. Kidding? I swear—”

  There was a hand on my shoulder, and I knew only one person who would attempt to touch me when I was like this. And when I spun to look at my twin, I saw the dangerous glint in his eyes—the kind that doesn’t end well for whoever it’s aimed at because Mick Madison was sometimes too big for his own good.

  “We’ll find her, Miles,” he promised me with his words. But his eyes swore that whoever did this was going to pay.

  “How long?” My head jerked back to Ace.

  “What?”

  “How long has Dex been looking?”

  Each minute that we stood here felt like the air was getting thinner and thinner, knowing that while we waited, God only knew what was happening to Eve.

  “We were out when Addy called, so he dropped me off here maybe fifteen ago, and headed back to the office. Should be calling any min—” He broke off and jerked his hand up to look at his cell. It only took a second before he accepted the called and I heard him answer, “Please tell me you found the car.”

  Ace began to pace but my feet felt like they were cemented right into the sidewalk. I couldn’t move. I could hardly think straight. Eve was gone. Kidnapped. Pregnant with my child.

  “Miles…” My brother’s voice echoed, but I only shook my head. It felt unsteady with too many emotions rolling around in it.

  Fear. Anger. Love.

  What if I never got to apologize?

  What if I never got to tell her I believed her?

  When if I never got to tell her that I loved her?

  “Dex found the car.” My eyes shot up to Ace as he stepped in front of me again, his phone still on his ear. “Mick, if I could ride—”

  “You’ll ride with me,” I commanded, my skin buzzing like a live wire.

  “Miles.” His mouth thinned. “I know you want to help, but I don’t think in your state of mind—”

  I pointed a finger at him and stepped into his personal space—which, for a guy like Ace, was about as confining as it was for my brother.

  “That was my woman they took. My woman and my child.” His eyes widened a fraction. “If you think I’m just goin’ to stay here while you go find her, then you better shoot me fuckin’ dead right now because that’s the only way my body isn’t goin’ to leave this spot.”

  His jaw hardened, but it was no match for mine. I didn’t care what kind of Special Ops training Ace had, I would take on anyone who stood between me and findin’ Eve.

  “Alright, you’re driving.” The tension cracked like ice as we headed for my Jeep and Mick jogged for his truck, leaving Jules behind to help with Cambria.

  Kona jumped in the back and I slammed the door shut as I cranked the ignition to life.

  I’m coming, Evie. I swear, I won’t let our forever end like this.

  Ace held up his finger as we sat stalled at an intersection.

  Dex had found the car that took Eve but Trent knew how to avoid the traffic cams in town, so following its path that seemed specifically constructed to avoid sight was proving to be difficult. Every few blocks, we’d had to pull over and pause while the middle Covington brother scanned other cameras that Trent couldn’t have accounted for to see where the blacked-out sedan went next.

  “Turn right.”

  Grunting, I gassed the Jeep, sailing us around the corner and onto one of the smaller avenues. Each turn took us a little more outside of Carmel. Wherever he’d taken Eve, it wasn’t in town.

  “Still nothing on her cell?” I demanded.

  Ace glared at me before mumbling to his brother and then returning a few seconds later with.

  “Trust me, Miles, if he located her cell, he wouldn’t have to be scanning footage right now.” The tires screeched as we came to another stop, this time at a stop sign. “I wish it fuckin’ worked like it does on Law and Order or NCIS, but tracing a cell without NSA capabilities takes longer than a few minutes.”

  “Why did he do this? Why did he take her?” I rasped, staring blankly in front of me and wondering while I waited for more directions.

  “The Crown,” Ace rumbled beside me. His eyes flicked observantly over the street and sidewalks, like he was always looking for any sign of disorder.

  “What?”

  “We think the Crown has moved their trafficking operation up here to the Cove,” he gritted out. “The last couple weeks, a few women have gone missing. I stopped by to warn Addy about it because of her girls, and Eve was there.” He cleared his throat. “Got a feeling Eve saw something that belonged to one of them and made the connection.”

  My fingers tightened around the steering wheel, my sweat making my skin stick and pull against the leather. Human trafficking. Sex trafficking. Never in all the times I’d been so shitfaced over this past year had I wanted to vomit this badly.

  “What?” My head whipped to the side as Ace listened to whatever his brother was saying. “Are you sure? Tell Pyle and the guys to get over there as f
ast as they can.” He hung up and bit out. “Cove Lane. Now.”

  The tires squealed as I floored it through the intersection, heading for the famous drive littered with multi-million-dollar mansions.

  “Did he find her phone?”

  His slight pause felt like a fucking eternity. “Yeah.”

  “Which house?” I demanded.

  “Not in a house.”

  I ignored the Mercedes that blared its horn as I cut in front of him onto Cove Lane. “What do you mean not in a house? Where the fuck is it?”

  “According to Dex, it just pinged once before the signal dropped, and when it did it was in the ocean.”

  “What?” I roared, fighting to stay focused on the road that wound around the coast. “How is that fucking possible?”

  In the ocean.

  Fear tightened its already crazy-strong hold over my heart. Each beat feeling like it had to shove a two-hundred-pound weight aside just to keep my blood pumping.

  “Signal could be off. Sometimes, it gets messy along the coast.” He paused. “But if it’s submerged, the signal normally disappears.”

  “And the signal disappeared… so that means it is… that she is… ” I couldn’t even finish my question. I needed to know but I couldn’t say the words.

  “It means the phone is no longer sending a signal. Whether it was turned off or thrown in the ocean. It doesn’t mean anything. It doesn’t guarantee anything.”

  I didn’t think I could hurt any more than I was knowing my woman was hurt and taken, possibly by traffickers, and it was all because I hadn’t been there to protect her. But I was proven wrong, and all I could think was that Eve and our baby were drowning in the ocean because I’d failed.

  “Up another half a mile.” Ace stared at his phone, and I realized that Dex must have sent him the location to track from here.

  That last stretch of road passed in the kind of silence that lurks in horror movies where nothing is happening because everything is about to happen.

  “Stop here.”

  Whipping the Jeep to the side of the road, I threw it in park and got out.

  We were between two houses, the drive to the next one still several yards ahead.

  Mick pulled up behind my car and stepped down from the cab and adjusted his shirt. I knew he had his gun tucked into the back of his jeans. The same gun that was illegal for him to have in this state but not in Texas. The same gun it had been illegal for him to use to save Laurel’s life.

  “Dex, I need more info. We’re between two houses. Which fucking one?” Ace ground out, back on his cell again.

  I couldn’t stand still. Jogging across the road, I scanned the coast for any sign of Eve or the fucker that took her.

  “He says the signal is here.”

  “Between the two?” I snapped. “That makes no fucking sense.”

  “Right, well, I fucking told you this isn’t a goddamn TV show. Sometimes, things don’t work out just as perfectly,” Ace growled at me. “I’ll take the house up the road. The first girl was taken closer to that one. Mick.” He eyed my brother sternly. “Take Miles with you to the house we passed. That was where two girls disappeared at a party a few weeks ago.”

  Mick nodded.

  “Dex is still on overwatch, and I’ve got our new guy, Jackson Pyle, on his way with Rocco and Dante. Call as soon as you see something. Don’t do anything fucking stupid.” He beat us both down with a harsh, white-green stare. And as he turned to walk away, he shot over his shoulder, “It’s gated. I’d approach from the side and take a look around and just apologize with that nice accent of yours if you get caught.”

  Eve

  I couldn’t stop the tears that leaked from the corners of my eyes, but I did manage to stop myself from making a sound even as my head thumped with pain and my body thrummed with fear.

  Not that much sound was possible with the duct tape that I’d woken up with over my mouth.

  I remembered being up against the hot black car, but I remembered nothing of the ride to where I was or how long it had taken me to get here. Nothing until I woke up with my arms bound behind me to the metal bedframe and my mouth taped shut.

  “Sleeping Beauty finally decides to wake.” His words clicked like each one loaded an invisible gun.

  Trent stepped in front of me, but I refused to look up at him, instead scanning my surroundings hoping for any clue to where I was, but there was none. The room was decorated with a modern, sterile feel. Almost like it was an expensively dressed cell—the furnishings pricey but sheer enough to reveal everything this room was used for.

  He crouched in front of me and I was forced to meet his gaze with rough fingers on my chin. “Should’ve just walked away with your mousey little friend when you had the chance,” he singsonged with a cold smile, the melody ominous and off-key. “She would’ve been perfect though,” he tsked. “I have so many buyers wanting the shy ones.”

  My stomach rolled, and I thought I might vomit into the tape.

  I knew as soon as I saw the license what he was involved in. He was the one luring the girls out here where they were taken and sold for sex—or worse.

  I shuddered, and he just chuckled.

  “Someone will take you though.” He trailed a finger down my cheek before ripping my glasses roughly from my face and whipping them across the room. I winced when I heard their thud and crack somewhere off to my left.

  My pulse fractured as the room turned into a fog in a single blink. An ominous wash of white and shadow marred by the dark figure in front of me.

  True fear is having danger sitting right in front of you and not being able to see it.

  My heart was running, but it was running in circles, desperate to escape my chest but with nowhere to go.

  “Much better without four eyes staring,” he sneered and a cry lodged in my throat as his finger moved lower. “But they won’t take you until later.” I could hear his smile grow, like ivy tightening and suffocating around me. “And that means we have some time together now.”

  I refused to move. Refused to flinch. Even though I couldn’t exactly see his eyes, I stared at them, facing the monster that was in front of me. I stayed still as his fingers drifted lower down my neck and over my collarbone. I wanted him to know I was made of stone. That no matter what he did, he wouldn’t—couldn’t—break me.

  My only fear now was for the baby—just barely a few weeks old. Small. Fragile. I would do anything—withstand any assault to keep my baby safe.

  “Time to make up for how your boyfriend treated me,” he snarled.

  I heard the tearing of fabric before I felt how my tank loosened and fell away from my chest. Goose bumps rose like an army over my skin, ready to fight whatever came next.

  His groan of twisted approval revolted me, and I was glad he took my glasses because I knew if I could see him looking at my breasts, I would’ve choked on my own vomit.

  “Let’s see if these tits were worth having my face slammed into the bar, shall we?”

  I held my breath and steeled my senses. I would survive this. I let my eyes drift shut, and my mind take me to the cove. The one where there was no one but Miles and me. The one where I would always be safe.

  The cruel touch I was waiting for never came. Instead, I heard the faint hum of a phone buzzing just before the muttered curse as Trent’s giant black blob rose and stepped away from me.

  “Sir.” I heard him answer. “I ran into a little problem, but I’m handling it.”

  His voice got farther and farther away and when I chanced to look, I saw his blob-like form slip from the room, locking the door behind him.

  He answered whoever was on the phone—and whoever it was, wasn’t happy I was here.

  Closing my eyes, a small tear of relief slipped down my cheek. I hoped Cammie got help. I hoped they were looking for me.

  And I hoped someone had called Miles.

  Miles

  I didn’t wait for him to leave or my brother to say a word before
stepping into the coastal weeded stretch that lay between the two pristinely kept properties. There was a good breeze picking up but the ocean stilled underneath a sky that had quickly turned gray—a sure sign that we were in for a storm tonight.

  “You should leave Kona in the Jeep,” Mick spoke from behind me, his heavy footfalls crunching loudly over the dried foliage.

  I looked down at the dog who was jogging next to me to keep up with my pace. “He won’t stay. Too damn stubborn.”

  “Wonder where he gets that from,” I heard him mutter.

  Several more feet put the mansion to our left in view. Modern and rectangular, it jutted out into the sand like a giant battleship. The outside was covered in flat gray stones lined with harsh precision and broke up by sharp lines and crystal-clear windows.

  “We should cut over,” Mick said, drifting toward the house.

  We should.

  Still, my feet carried me straight like there was an invisible line that was pulling me to where I needed to go—to where Eve was.

  “Miles—”

  “I heard you,” I growled at him as I looked along the coast one last time, but there was nothing except for an expanse of pure white sand and a small wooden dock that had nothing tethered to it.

  Veering toward the house, my path curved through the brush as I tried to find an angle where the sun wasn’t glaring off the windows so I could try to see inside.

  The wind picked up as we got closer, like the house was creating tides in the air to try to drive us away.

  When the structure loomed over us, Miles nodded toward the back deck as where we should start. But two steps later, a low voice had us both freezing. My hand shot down to stay Kona but my stubborn dog was also smart and immediately sat down like a perfect statue.

  “I had to. She saw the fucking license.” I recognized the voice. Mother-fucking-Trent. “They’re coming for her tonight.”

  Inching closer, I peered around the corner of the house and locked on that slick sonofabitch, pacing on the plateau of a deck that could easily have been the foundation for a whole separate house.

  Every molecule in my body wanted to charge him, to take him to the ground and beat him until he was as close to dying as I felt like I was.