“Yep,” he replies, slightly out of breath. He hands me a piece of paper that looks like it was torn out of a notebook. “Got the address and phone numbers for her parents and brother, her apartment address, and her car license plate. Oh, and my guy who looked into the scrubbed camera footage says that no one hacked the system. The archive was accessed from her account and the feed from yesterday was deleted right from her phone.”
“And now her location is off,” I sigh.
“Yep.”
“What the hell?” Tripp says.
Gage’s eyes harden and I wait for him to say what he’s thinking. I don’t want him to say it because I don’t want it to be true. But he’s seen this sort of thing before with the people that he used to deal with in his past life. He knows what’s going on here.
“She didn’t run away. Someone took her and they obviously have her phone. They texted you from it, deleted camera footage . . . Do you have any idea who it could be?”
“Fuck,I don’t know,” I say with a defeated sigh.
It wasn’t even a year ago that my sister had been taken by some guys who were trying to get to Gage. It was one of the worst days of my life not knowing where she was or if she was safe. Now, I’m dealing with a mix of PTSD and déjà vu with Savannah gone.
At least with Blythe and Gage’s situation, we knew exactly what to do and things escalated quickly. Right now, we’re in the dark with no clear direction and it’s only a matter of time before I lose my mind and start tearing shit up inch by inch until we find something.
This is my fault. I feel like a fucking idiot for not clocking this last night.
The concept of“never let her out of your sight”has never been my style even when I wanted to hog her to myself 24/7. Savannah is a grown woman who knows herself better than anyone, and I thought I was doing the right thing, not freaking out right away like I wanted to.
Now I wish that I had.
“Where’s B?” I ask, trying to refocus on fixing this instead of dwelling on what I could have done.
“In my truck,” Gage answers. “She wants to help but I’m not taking any chances until we know more about what the hell we’re dealing with here. She’s on the phone with your parents trying to keep them in the loop, I think.”
God, I hadn’t even thought about calling my parents with how jumbled my thoughts have been. I nod and look toward the truck over his shoulder, tucking my restless hands in my pockets.
“Cops give you anything?” Heston asks.
“No. I doubt they’re going to know anything soon. Justin pretty much asked me to stay out of the way. If he does learn something though, I feel like he’ll let me know.”
Heston shakes his head and Tripp laughs knowing we will not be able to stay out of the way.
“Alright,” Gage places one hand on his hip and one rubbing the outline of his jaw. “Let’s get a plan together?—”
“Oh, Warren,” a female voice cuts him off. It sounds like she’s crying and as she gets closer, I realize that it’s Emma. “I came as soon as I heard.”
I didn’t expect to have my ex show up with tears in her eyes as she launches herself into a one-sided hug with me.
Heston and I make eye contact above Emma’s head as she clings to my shirt and sniffs dramatically. He rolls his eyes and I try not to look too annoyed.
“We’re going to get through this, and everything is going to be okay,” she cries, trying to console me. Then she moves her hand to rest on my chest, hitting my last nerve.
I pull a hand out of my pocket, grab her wrist, and push her arm away. She takes a few steps back and looks up at me. Her eyes are slightly bloodshot and her pupils are dilated. I scowl at her and cross my arms to keep her from touching me again.
“You’ve got some nerve,” Tripp mumbles. He walks away and Gage and Heston follow closely behind. One thing they can all agree on is not being able to stand a second around this woman.
“Can I be honest?” Emma whispers with a smirk. How she’s gone from crying to a deranged smile in less than ten seconds is scary. I don’t reply to her, but she continues anyway. “We couldboth use some rest after this crazy day. Why don’t we go get some food and take a breather?”
“No,” I shake my head. “Go eat if you want to. Hell, go take a nap for all I care. But I’m not going with you. Come to think of it, Emma, I’m never going to go get food with you or go home with you. I get the feeling that you don’t understand that and I’m sorry, but I’m with Savannah. You’ve got to move on.”
Anger flashes across her face and my head juts back when she fists her hands at her sides and forces air out of her nose like a fucking bull.
“Do you see her anywhere?” she grits out while waving her hands around. “Savannah isgone. Sheleftyou, butI’mright here.I’mthe one you can depend on.”
What the fuck?
