Page 96 of Dragon Charmed

“I’ve learned some things. How are we going to find her? She doesn’t have a phone with her.”

“No. But Connor gave us Nadia’s number. We can track her phone instead.”

“Jonas is on his way,” Marcus said. “But I have a call out to Carl. He can track her through the sheriff’s department.”

“I have the license number for the white panel van that she’s in that Carl can look up. I’ll text them to you,” Eric said.

“I have several guards already heading your way so they’re close by when we get an idea of where they’ve taken her.”

Ben had never felt so helpless. “What do we do?”

“I doubt she would take Tessa to her house, but we can check her address to see if we can find anything.”

Ben slammed his hand on the steering wheel. “There has to be something we can do!”

“We have to wait,” Eric said.

Up to this point he’d thought he understood what feeling helpless meant. But that was nothing compared to what he was experiencing right now, when he couldn’t help Tessa.

She had put herself in danger for him and for the clan. She had to be okay.

He wouldn’t accept any other outcome.

Chapter 37

Tessa opened her eyes, and the unfamiliar room spun around her. Slamming her eyes shut, she took a deep breath, but that only made her gag at the metallic taste in her mouth. She opened her eyes again, slowly this time, and the room came into focus. It was a huge empty room with a concrete floor and cinder-block walls. A breeze to her right had her turning. The air was coming from a large floor-to-ceiling window with the glass broken out. From what she could see, she was in some sort of abandoned building several stories up.

She blinked again to try and push the fuzzy thoughts from her brain so she could figure out what was going on. Why she was sitting in a rickety chair with her hands tied in front of her. She willed her legs to stand, but they refused and she coughed again at the gritty coating in her mouth.

“That’s the sedative. It leaves a nasty aftertaste,” Nadia said as she walked into Tessa’s line of sight.

Acrid fear surged up her throat, warring with the sedative. “What am I doing here?”

“I told you. We need to talk. You have been asking a lot of questions.”

Lie, lie, lie. “So? That’s my job. I find art for my client.”

“Bull, Sydney. If that’s even your name. You’re going to answer my questions.”

“Or what?” She looked around and saw they were alone. “Where’s your backup? Having his balls checked?”

Nadia smiled but it didn’t reach her eyes. “You have been asleep for quite a while, and he had things to do.”

Show no fear. “Other people to kidnap?”

Nadia didn’t rise to the bait. “Plus I wanted to have some one-on-one time with you. Didn’t want anyone to overhear us. Now I’m going to ask you again. What game are you playing?”

Tessa wanted to throw up, but she had to keep this going as long as possible. Once Nadia got whatever answers she wanted, it wouldn’t end well for Tessa. So she needed to do what she did best. Fake it till you make it. “I play all kinds of games. Darts, corn hole, poker, Monopoly.”

Nadia frowned. “Stop it!”

Tessa blinked and hoped she looked confused. “Stop what? This is a mistake. I’m not who you think I am.”

Nadia’s eyes narrowed. “I know who Megan Campbell is. Or should I say Megan Simonson now?”

Tessa’s heart was beating so hard it thrummed in her ears, threatening to block out what she was saying. “And?”

“How is dear old Eric doing? He was a bit forgetful the last time I saw him.”