-Logan-
04:0
35 vouchers
* I’m sorry. I have to do this. Please don’t follow me. You can punish me all you want when I get home. I love you. *
Hailey’s handwriting was seared into the backs of my eyelids. A tattoo I didn’t ask for. But I’d earned it.
“Clever girl,” River yelled beside me. We were looking up at my old riding jacket, still hanging on the fence where she left it. There was a layer of admiration in his voice that made me wanna hit him.
“She’s a fucking idiot,” I snarled. “She’s out there alone.”
Or not alone.
We turned and rode up the alley I’d watched her disappear down. She was on foot. She couldn’t have gotten far.
I rode slow at first, scanning. The alley was empty. It fed onto aside street, also deserted.
“Split up,” I yelled over the engine rumble. “You go left, circle the block. I’ll go right. Meet at the intersection of Seventh and Maple.”
River gave me a sharp nod and peeled away. I gunned it and took the right turn. The bike leaned hard and the pegs scraped the road for a second before I straightened out.
My head swiveled, searching every doorway, every gap between buildings.
Nothing.
The shops were dark. A cat darted across the street and vanished into an alley. My heart was pounding against my ribs.
Where are you, Ace? Where’d you go?
The suspicion was eating at me. She had called Andrews. Andrews shows up right before she runs.
That wasn’t a coincidence. That was a plan. Had the cop helped her? Given her a ride? Were they working together? I almost gagged.
But another thought crawled through my head. What if it wasn’t Andrews? What if the call was a cry for help? What if Anatoly had something on her? Picked her up?
I actually gagged trying to swallow that thought.
I reached the meeting point and River was already there. He shook his head as I pulled up next to him.
“Nothin,” he said. “Not a sign. Checked three alleys, behind the diner. Empty,”
“Fuck.” I killed my engine.
She was on foot. We had bikes. We would’ve found her.
“Someone picked her up,” I muttered.
River’s eyes met mine in the gloom. “You think he got her?”
1/4
3:35 pm
Chapter 152
It was the same logical endpoint my rage had already reached, but I wasn’t ready to accept it yet.
I pulled out my phone and called the Riverstone PD’s non–emergency line. It rang twice.
“Riverstone Police Department, how can I direct your call?” A woman’s voice, bored and professional.
0:20
15 vouchers
“Is Officer Samantha Andrews on duty tonight?” I asked, keeping my tone flat, trying to sound like a concerned citizen, a lawyer, anything but a sorry fuck whose world was collapsing out from under him.
I heard the click of a keyboard. “No, sir. Officer Andrews is not on the schedule this evening. Can someone else help you?”
“No.” I ended the call and stared at the ground.
Not on duty. That didn’t mean shit. It meant she wasn’t in uniform, answering calls. It meant she could be anywhere, doing anything. Like driving my woman to a meeting with a Russian psychopath.
I shoved the phone back in my pocket. The feeling in my gut turned to lead. “Let’s go.”
We rode with no destination. We carved through a residential neighborhood. Passed shuttered auto body shops, warehouses.
We rode past the docks. No movement. No sign of her.
Every empty street was a taunt. Every dark window felt like it was hiding something. The rage was still burning in me, but it was turning into dread.
She was out here. Somewhere. And I didn’t know if she was sitting in some cop car spilling club secrets, or if she was knocked out in the trunk of Anatoly’s.
My knuckles were white on the grips. I pushed the bike harder and took a corner too fast. The rear tire skidded for a second before it caught.
River kept pace next to me.
We were on the north side of the city now. The streets were wider and emptier. Broken glass glittered in my headlight. We were running out of city. Running out of places to look.
I was starting to spiral. That tight, choking feeling where your thoughts race so fast they just become noise.
I needed a direction. A scent. A fucking clue. Ledger was supposed to be digging into her phone. He should have called me with something by now. Anything.
My phone vibrated in my pocket. Like it was summoned by my desperation.
I held up a hand to River and swerved to the curb, killing the engine. My heart was still trying to beat its way out of my chest. This was it. Ledger with a location. A ping from her cell. Something.
But I fumbled the phone out and it wasn’t Ledger calling.
It was Talon.
I thumbed the answer button. “Tell me Ledger got something.”
“Where are you?” Talon asked.
I squeezed my eyes shut. “North side. Near the old mills. Nothing. She’s not on foot. Pops She got into a vehicle. We’re just…
2/4
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
