The day I got that call, when my cellphone rang and the screen lit up with the one name I was praying to see for three fucking years, I knew.
It was the second time Leonor Allan dialed my number and completely changed the lives of four men who were wandering aimlessly without her, and I knew in my gut she once again held the fine and fragile missing pieces of our future in her hands. She wielded the limitless and untapped power to alter our fate. She always had, so that day was no different.
Leo had us by the balls, and she didn’t even have to squeeze in order to get whatever the hell it was she wanted from us.
While I knew it was in fact another form of the mostmorbid de ja vu, I didn’t think it would get this far.
This time it went a hell of a lot farther, to be perfectly fucking honest.
When Leo called me I immediately began planning how we would keep her this time, how the future we originally planned was going to be bigger and brighter than we imagined. Once I was past the initial shock, anyway, and seeing her in the flesh, hell, I couldn’t stop the wheels from turning. I wantedeverything we had before but I wanted it multiplied by a hundred thousand, and I was so thrilled to see it slowly playing out that way I chose to stay focused on that.
But that was my mistake.
I had blinders up.
I was blissful in my ignorance.
I ignored Pete’s pessimism in favor of my sunshine and fucking roses.
Which is exactly what led me here.
Wading through the dry and dead fields at the Bissonnette property, hunting through the acreage with the people I love the most in this entire world, looking for the one person we all need more than our next breath.
Leonor has been gone for nearly thirteen hours and not one soul in this godforsaken city has seen hide nor hair from her.
She was pissed when she stormed out of Justine’s house, which might actually be the understatement of the century, and for as angry as I was at her, I knew why things were going the way they were.
We all did.
Leo was in self destruct mode.
Subconsciously self-sabotaging now that everyone’s feelings were known and bodily fluids had been swapped.
It was too good to be true for our girl so she did what she always does; she picked one hell of a fight then took off before anyone could even attempt to reason with her.
Even though that’s been her MO for as long as we’ve known her, this time is different.
She’s never been gone this long, not without making contact withsomeone.
We gave her a few hours, the boys and I know she needs space when she’s like that but the fact that no one, not evenJustine had heard from her and her phone was going straight to voicemail, that’s when I started thinking the worst.
I was able to pull up her last location on my iPhone—thank God for thatFind Myfeature—it wasn’t too long after she left and the thought occurred to me about ten hours into her being MIA, but to McDonald’s we went in hopes of finding an ornery redhead camped out in the parking lot trying not to be found.
Leo wasn’t there, and no one on shift had seen her.
And that cute little fact was enough for the four of us to all but lose our goddamn minds and start a city-wide search that included places Leonor frequented at one point in time all the way to ones I’m sure she’d never dream of visiting.
At the twelve-and-a-half-hour mark, Justine called in a bigger panic than before because Pierre was officially missing as well.
She wasn’t worried that he didn’t come home last night, not when she knew he was working on the books at the mansion. Apparently it isn’t uncommon for him to crash there from time to time if he’s working late because the sweet old guy struggles with driving in the dark, and Justine usually made him stay put until it was light enough for him to see anyway, so she figured that’s what happened. When Pierre didn’t call her this morning or show up at the house, Justine met us in town and we all rode out to the mansion in Pete’s truck.
Seeing my van in the driveway when we got there?
Jesus, the relief that rolled through me was insane.
We all felt it, the boys and I, and Justine found some comfort in that as well because if Leo was here then Pierre must be, too.
Except, we didn’t find either of them.
