A Vow Of Hate by Lylah James

CHAPTER THIRTY

 

Killian

 

I realized one thing in the last month. Loving Julianna was easy. Trying to hate her with no more apparent reason was difficult and pure torture.

I tried to find a reason to be angry at her, but I had long forgiven her lies and deception. It was that I never knew how to tell her that.

I was in love with my wife.

Recklessly and irrevocably in love with her.

It was a mad, mad love – and sometimes, I worried that I might scare her away with how intense my feelings were for her.

My gaze darted to the bouquet of ranunculi in my hand. It was time to put the past behind us and to start anew. Julianna wanted to re-write our story and I was going to grant her that wish.

I took the stairs to my room, my palms sweating and my heart racing. Why the fuck was I so nervous, acting like an amorous teenager who was about to go on his first date?

Goddamn it, I was whipped for my wife.

A grin spread across my lips as I stalked into our bedroom. “Julianna?” I called out, when I found the room empty.

The bathroom lights were on and the door was ajar, so I took a peek inside. But Julianna wasn’t there either. I turned to leave when something unusual caught my eye.

I slowly blinked and walked further into the bathroom, toward the counter.

A pregnancy test.

I peered closer at it and my heart leaped to my throat.

A positive pregnancy test.

Dumbfounded, this took a second to sink in.

Julianna was… pregnant.

I didn’t know why I was so shocked. We never used any protection, because the sole purpose of our marriage was to provide an heir. Though, everything changed when Julianna’s truth was revealed.

Our marriage was more than that now.

My legs shook and the room swayed for a moment before I quickly regained my composure. Julianna was pregnant with my baby.

Jesus Christ.

I was going to be a father.

But where the fuck was my woman?

I clenched the bouquet in my hand and rushed out of the room and down the stairs, calling out for her. Malay came forward, her hands fluttering to her chest. “Killian, is something amiss?”

I looked around, as if my wife would somehow materialize into thin air. “Where’s Julianna?”

“She has been in her room all this time,” Malay said, her brows furrowing. “I brought her breakfast in bed, like you instructed.”

Though I had rushed out of the room, I remembered seeing the breakfast tray on the coffee table. It was untouched.

My blood ran cold. “When did you bring her breakfast?”

Malay looked thoughtful for a second before nodding. “About three hours ago.”

“She’s not in the room,” I said, swallowing past the lump in my throat. My mind raced. “I want every single staff looking for her. Right now!”

Thirty minutes later, the search party was unsuccessful. Julianna was nowhere to be found and apparently no one had seen her.

I scrubbed a shaky hand over my face. “Samuel, I need you to check all the security footage,” I ordered, trying to remain calm, except I felt anything but.

My insides churned and it felt like acid was flowing through my veins. I followed Samuel into the basement, where our security room was. He ran through all the video footage that surrounded the premises of Spencer Manor and my stomach dropped when he rewound through one specific piece of footage. The balcony outside my room – three hours ago.

Terror gripped me when I saw a masked man carrying Julianna over his shoulders. He climbed down from my balcony, almost expertly, as if he had done such a thing many times.

Bile rose in my throat when I saw Julianna’s precarious position. She was limp, hanging dangerously over her captor’s shoulders. She was absolutely helpless to prevent herself from a deadly fall.

My fists clenched at my sides. Samuel rewound through different footage, this one showing the masked man dumping an unconscious Julianna into a black car, with tinted windows.

“Fuck,” Samuel swore. “How did he get through our security?”

“It doesn’t matter how,” I growled, fury burning through my veins. “Too bad for him, I’m one step ahead.”

I fished out my phone and opened the tracking app.

It was her ring. The one I put back on her finger last night. Once I found out that someone was hunting Julianna, I knew I had to take drastic steps.

Which included putting a tracking device on her.

And what better way to hide a tracking device than in a diamond ring?

But it was sheer luck that I replaced her rings last night and she was kidnapped today. What were the odds?

If I were one day later…

I shook my head, refusing to think of the outcome.

Right now, my priority was saving Julianna and my unborn baby. From now on, they were my sole focus.

Two hours later, the car slowed in front of a two-story house, in quite an old neighborhood. I lunged out of the car before it even came to a complete stop and took a quick peek at the tracking app. We were right over the red mark. Julianna had to be here.

“That’s the car,” Samuel barked. “The one from the video footage. I recognize it.”

I was already stalking to the front door, my men following closely behind me. Not bothering to knock, Samuel and I used our combined strength to kick the door open.

A man, with spiky hair and a scarred face, came running at the sound of his door crashing open. His eyes widened at the sight of me and ten more bulky men standing behind me.

“What–”

I lunged forward, not even giving him a chance to finish his thoughts. My fingers wrapped around his throat and I slammed him into the wall.

“Where is Julianna?” I snarled. “What. Did. You. Do. To. Her?”

His face turned purple as he struggled to breathe. My thumbs pressed deeper into his throat, feeling the fragile pulsing veins under my fingertips.

I brought my face closer, staring him down. He watched me with dark, frightened eyes.

“If anything happened to my wife, if she and my baby were harmed in any way possible, I’ll make sure you regret the day you were born,” I hissed into his purple chocking face. “I’ll make your life a living hell. And that’s a Spencer’s vow.”

I released him and he stumbled back, gasping for breath. “I don’t… know what… you’re talking about.”

Samuel rushed back down the stairs. “She’s not here. We looked everywhere. But we checked all the footage carefully. That’s the same car that she was taken away in and the tracking device…”

“Boss,” George called, cutting off Samuel. My head snapped toward him and he was holding…Julianna’s ring between his fingers.

My blood ran cold.

“I found it in the car, under the seat.”

“My car?” the man choked, his face white as a ghost. He slumped against the wall, falling onto his ass. “That doesn’t make any sense. I don’t know what you’re taking about.”

His face paled and then he stuttered, looking both panicked and fearful. “W-wait. My brother used… my car today.”

“Who is your brother?” I barked, glaring down at him.

“Simon Jones? He used to work for Bishop Romano, as a bodyguard.”

Simon…

The name was familiar and when realization dawned on me, my heart rate sped up.

Gracelynn’s lover?

He did have a motive for wanting to harm Julianna – an act of vengeance. But was he also behind the accident that night?

That didn’t make any fucking sense.

“Where’s your brother right now?” I asked, my voice cold and low with warning.

“I don’t know,” he cried.

I slammed my foot over his knee, hearing the bone crack. He howled, his face twisting in agony. “That’s not the right answer. Try again. Where’s your brother right now?”

“I don’t… know…” he chattered. “We used to live… together, up until last week. It was unlike him, but he suddenly said that he was moving out. He’s been renting… this place. It’s up north, an hour from here.”

That was all the information I needed. After he gave us the address, I silently motioned for George to stay behind. To keep an eye on Simon’s brother so there would be no communication between the two.

We broke all traffic laws, cutting the driving time from one hour to thirty-five minutes.

Please be okay, Princess. I’m coming for you.

As soon as I pulled into the driveaway of the address that was given to me, my gut churned with a sick sense of dread. The house was in the middle of nowhere, lonely and looking practically deserted. The closest neighbor was probably twenty miles away from here.

As much as I hated it, this was the perfect place to hold someone captive.

Instead of going through the front door, we entered the house through the side door, which was real fucking easy to crash open. The house was eerily quiet. My men rushed inside, checking every corner of every room.

I made my way upstairs, gun in one hand. After checking the bedrooms and finding them all empty, I went to the last door at the end of the hallway. It was closed and locked from the outside.

My chest squeezed as I opened the latch. Julianna had to be in here.

Please be in here. Please let this be the room.

I pushed the door open, eyes darting around the room – only to find it empty. I walked inside, fist clenching and my heart dropping to my stomach in dread.

She wasn’t in here…

SLAM!

Pain exploded inside my head.

I turned around, my head pounding. I blinked several times. It fucking hurt and I staggered on my feet. The world spun and my vision blurred. I was bleeding. I had to be.

My gaze caught Julianna’s wild hair and feral grey eyes, before drifting down to the metal rod she was holding in her hands.

Blood dripped down my temple.

“Jules…” my lips parted to say her name before my knees buckled and my world went dark.