Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 164263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 821(@200wpm)___ 657(@250wpm)___ 548(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 164263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 821(@200wpm)___ 657(@250wpm)___ 548(@300wpm)
“We have forensics checking everything now and I’m sure she’s going to turn up fine.”
I glance into the kitchen to see them combing the space with dusting powder.
Thomas is out the front with the guards, they are calling everyone in search of her.
“Is there anyone who may know where she is?” he asks. “Anyone who may have a grudge against her?” He is scribbling down notes. “Anyone that may have an idea of what has happened here?”
“I don’t think—” I cut myself off.
“Who?”
“Um….” My hands are shaking, my mind is fried. “I’m….”
“I know who you can ask,” Thomas says from behind me.
“Who’s that?” the policeman asks.
“Edward’s ex-girlfriend, Princess Hermione of Switzerland.”
The policeman’s eyes come to me. “Anybody else?”
“Her father, King Volter.”
Three days, seventy-two hours, 4,320 minutes….
It’s a long time to hold your breath, to pray with every cell in your body for a miracle. To miss someone so much that it physically hurts.
Alora hasn’t accessed any bank accounts; my worst fear is coming true.
I stare through the window and out over the marina down below.
Where are you, my love?
We’ve exhausted every lead possible, every person who’s ever hated me. Every business deal gone bad. Pascal, Hermione, and Isadora…. Checked the video footage from their homes.
Nothing.
Not even a scent of a lead. Every one of them can be accounted for.
Alora’s father and brother are downstairs, along with my brother and father. Theodore, Sinclair, and Thomas. It’s all hands on deck and even with all our resources pooled, we still have no idea how she just vanished without a trace.
The marina blurs and I swallow the lump in my throat. As the hours tick by, my dread grows. A twisted dark vine taking over my soul.
Where is she?
I haven’t slept, I haven’t eaten…. I’m barely able to function. Clinging to hope is the only thing keeping me sane.
“Alora,” I whisper into the silence, her name an ethereal prayer.
From the corner of my eye I see the post delivery truck, he pulls up at the marina and begins to walk along the yachts as he hands out the mail.
“You okay, man?” Thomas says softly from behind me.
I nod, unable to push a lie through my lips.
I’m as far from okay as physically possible but I won’t rest until I bring her home.
Where are you, Doe?
“Thank you,” I hear someone say from down below.
“Can I get you anything?” Thomas asks.
“No.”
“I’m worried about you,” he replies.
“I’m worried about me,” I murmur, my gaze still out the window.
“Mr. Prescott.” I hear someone walking up the stairs. “You have a delivery from the casino, sir.”
“Put it in my office.”
“It’s marked urgent.”
“Just leave it here,” Thomas tells him. He puts it on the table and disappears down the stairs. “Do you want me to open this?” Thomas asks.
I keep staring out the window, battling to find the will to breathe.
I hear packaging unwrap. “Huh?” Thomas frowns. “What is this?”
I turn and see him unwrapping a box, inside it another box and inside that another box.
The hairs on the back of my neck stand to attention and I walk over to the table and take over from him. I open the final box and plastic wrap sits on top, I peel it back to see a lump of meat covered in blood, there’s a vine wrapped around it.
“What the fuck?” There’s a laminated card sitting within it and I pick it up, blood drops off it onto the floor.
The Heart You Kept
“Oh my god,” Thomas gasps. “No.”
“I don’t understand,” I whisper. “What…is this….”
“It’s a human heart.” He cuts me off. My eyes flick up to him. Thomas is a doctor, he would know this.
I stare at it as I connect the dots.
My eyes widen, dear god.
The heart I kept was Alora’s….
The earth moves beneath me as I stare at the card, my hand covered in blood…her blood, and I grab the table to stop myself from falling.
She’s dead.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
THOMAS
Edward sways and I reach out to steady him on his feet. “It’s okay,” I whisper, but it’s not. It’s as far from okay as it can possibly get. “William,” I call.
Silence.
Edward looks down at the blood dripping off his hand and sways again.
Our eyes both float to the heart in the box and I too become unstable.
Dear god.
“William,” I scream. “Philippe, somebody get up here.” I hold Edward up with all of my strength. “I’ve got you.”
The sound of footsteps comes running up the stairs, the room spins hard.
A million dark thoughts race through my mind at speed.
Who would do such a thing?
William appears first, his eyes immediately drop to the blood on the floor. “What happened? Are you injured?”
“I….” Edward’s eyes flutter as he fights shock.
“What’s wrong?” William’s eyes dart between us in question.
“Somebody sent that,” I whisper. I point at the box as I step back from it.
He peers into the box. “I don’t understand, what is it?”