Alexander & Rebecca (Royals of Valleria #1)

Chapter 16

When Alex pulled up to the Campo's residence on the palace grounds, he jumped from the car while it was still moving. Though his security agents tried to hold him back, one look from their future king had them moving aside.

Alex stepped over the dead guards near the door and began to shout. "Rebecca," he called and coughed as he strode through the small house, fear growing each second he did not hear a response. When he reached the kitchen, he found her parents unconscious on the floor and, with the help of his agents, carried them outside.

Their pulses were weak, but a weak pulse was better than none at all. As his agents took care of them, he swept through the house once more, opening windows as he went. She wasn't there.

Where is she? God, help me, where is she?

He spied her purse on a table and carried it out, hoping for some clue, something, anything. While he searched, he called Marcello.

"I'm still negotiating with the authorities. I don't have an update yet," Marcello said immediately. It was not the first time Alex had called him that morning.

"Something's happened." Alex recovered Rebecca's personal phone, but not the one he'd given her.

"If you mean the leak about you and Rebecca, I've already heard about it. I've got my people on it."

"No." Alex threw the purse down, finding nothing else of use. "I'm standing in the home of Rebecca's parents and something's happened. Her parents are near death and Rebecca's missing."

Marcello cursed. "How do you know she's missing? Start at the beginning."

"We don't have time for the beginning. She came here this morning to see them, and I followed her here. When I arrived, the house was full of smoke. Her parents were unconscious in the kitchen and her purse was abandoned in the house."

"Where did the smoke come from?"

"We don't know yet, but the stove was off and none of the fireplaces are lit."

"Sir," one of the agents said to Alex.

"Wait, one of your guys has something." Alex put the phone on speaker.

The agent held out a small, circular, silver disc in his gloved hand. "We'd need to test to be sure, Sir, but it looks like knockout gas of some kind. They killed the guards, my guess by hiding in the woods nearby then just waiting for the right moment. Then the perpetrator entered the building, slid the device into the room, and just waited for everyone else to pass out.

"We did a preliminary search of the nearby woods and found one set of distinct footprints. No others were nearby."

"Have you done a more thorough search yet?" Marcello asked.

"We're on it now. We called in extra agents to assist, but we haven't found anything else yet."

"Why didn't they kill or take her parents?" Alex asked.

"Might have been simpler this way, Sir," the agent said. "If they were all in the kitchen and they only wanted Rebecca alive."

"How are her parents?" Marcello asked.

"Alive, but weak and unconscious. Ambulance is on its way. We'll question them when they wake up."

"I want guards on them 24/7," Alex said fiercely. If only there had been more guards on both them and Rebecca. If only. If only.

"Yes, Sir," the agent said as the sounds of the ambulance grew nearer.

Alex nodded and took the phone off speaker. "What is going on, Marcello?"