Chapter 226

Logan

“I don’t know who they were, but they took her!”

The news of Ella’s sudden disappearance hit me like a freight train, sending a rush of adrenaline and fear coursing through my veins. Without a moment’s hesitation, I quickly picked my phone back up, where Hartman was waiting.

“Hartman, I gotta go.”

“Is everything—”

“I’ll explain later.”

Without waiting for a response, I hung up the phone and jumped up from my chair. With Mrs. Wentworth in the lead, the two of us bolted through the house. My heart was pounding in my chest the entire time, hoping it was some kind of mistake. Even Mrs. Wentworth was moving at a speed that I had never seen her move before.

“You’re sure she didn’t just step out?” I asked, hoping beyond all hope that that was the case. “Maybe she went for a walk, or—”

“Logan, I swear I heard a commotion,” she said. “And by the time I got into the room and looked out the window, there was a car speeding down the road. Now, unless Miss Ella has a penchant for going on late-night joyrides, I don’t think it was a casual outing.”

I cursed under my breath. Mrs. Wentworth was right; Ella didn’t even really drive, aside from the couple of times I had driven with her recently. She never would have just… taken one of my cars and sped off without telling me, and if she had, the security guards would have alerted me.

A few moments later, Mrs. Wentworth and I burst into the bedroom, and the scene that laid in front of me only served to confirm my worst fears: the open window, the chaotic state of her room, the unmade bed.

It was all just as Mrs. Wentworth had described. Ella was gone, and something about this scene told me that it wasn’t by choice.

“See?” Mrs. Wentworth said, gesturing to the open window. “Do you think that Miss Ella would have climbed out on her own, in the middle of the night?”

Taking a shuddering breath, I inhaled the scent of the room; there was Ella’s scent, of course, clear as day and tantalizing as ever. But there was something else, too. It was the scent of rubber and gasoline, out of place in this quiet room.

Following the two scents, I walked over to the window, peering out into the now-silent night. Feeling something soft beneath my shoe, I knelt, picking up a small scrap of fabric from the floor—a piece of a black and red bandana.

“Huh. That’s familiar,” I whispered, turning the fabric over in my hands. My mind raced as I tried to place where I had seen this before. Then it hit me; Jet, my racing rival who had never said more than a few words to me over the years, wore a bandana just like this one.

My hands clenched the fabric as the realization dawned on me. It couldn’t be; why would Jet, of all people, do something like this? It made no sense. It had to be a coincidence, nothing more.

But then again…

Standing, I turned to face Mrs. Wentworth. She was standing in the doorway, still tightly gripping the hem of her shirt.

“You said you saw a car speed away?” I asked, holding up the scrap of fabric. “Did you see what it looked like? And which direction it went in?”

Mrs. Wentworth furrowed her brow, thinking for a moment before she nodded. “Yes, I think I do remember. It… It was black with red racing stripes. Yes, I’m sure of it now. And they went towards the east side,” she replied, her voice trembling as she pointed in the direction they had gone.

The east side. It made sense. The racetrack was that way, and if Jet had taken Ella, then perhaps that would have been the first place he would have taken her.

But it still made no sense; Jet had no reason to do something like this. He had only met Ella once, and as far as I knew, he had no connections to us in any way outside of the races.

Besides, sure, he could be a bit of a jackass, but he wasn’t a kidnapper. Right?

No, there had to be another explanation. Maybe the security footage would have picked something up that Mrs. Wentworth’s eyes had missed. And besides, I wasn’t about to run off on a wild goose chase without solid proof, although time was ticking.

“Thank you, Mrs. Wentworth,” I said quickly, already moving towards the door. “Stay here and lock everything down, and call the police.”

Without another word, I rushed downstairs to the security room, where the guard was—to my chagrin—fast asleep at his desk.

“Show me the footage from the perimeter cameras, now, you lazy sack of shit!” I barked, causing him to jump up out of his sleep with a wild look in his eyes.

“What—What did I—” he stammered, but I wasn’t wasting any time.

“I said, pull up the security footage of the perimeters,” I hissed. “And you’re fired, by the way.”

“Yes, Mr. Logan,” he responded, his fingers flying over the keyboard. The screens flickered as he rewound the footage. After flipping through the different cameras, we finally picked up movement. And there it was—a black car with red stripes, a figure in a hat and bandana carrying a limp Ella through a hole in the fence.

“Freeze that! Enhance it,” I commanded, leaning closer to the screen.

The guard zoomed in, but the figure’s face remained obscured. “I’m sorry, Mr. Logan, but we can’t get a clear shot of his face.”

“Damn it,” I cursed under my breath, although I could tell from the bandana, the hat, and the man’s stature who it was. It had to be Jet.

“Mr. Logan, what’s happening?” the security guard asked, his face pale.

“Just… wait here until the police arrive,” I growled as I turned on my heel and made for the door. “And after that, pack up your shit and go home. I’m not paying you to sleep on the job and let intruders walk right into my home.”

Without so much as waiting for his response, I raced out to my car, my mind a whirlwind of anger and fear. Jet had taken Ella, but why? Was he working for Marina and Harry? Had they somehow found out about our plans?

The roads blurred past me as I drove, my thoughts solely on Ella. I had to find her, had to save her. At the very least, I think I had a pretty good idea as to where he had taken her.

“This feels like a trap,” my wolf said. “Like they want you to go to the racetrack.”

“Yeah,” I muttered out loud as I sped down the winding roads toward the city. “Of course it’s a trap.”

“And you’re walking right into it?”

“What other choice do I have?” I asked. “I can’t just leave Ella to the wolves. I don’t know what those fuckers are doing with her.”

“So even if it means getting yourself killed,” my wolf said softly, “you’ll go after her.”

I scoffed. “Of course I will. I’d willingly walk through the front gates of Hell if it meant saving her.”

My wolf paused, then began to bristle with anticipation. “Good,” he murmured. “Let’s find Ella.”