“Well, she was. We were just leaving the restaurant when ayoung woman showed up, and Natalie left with her. She wanted me to tell you.”
I reach for my phone, for a missed call, a message, anything, but there’s nothing.
A ball of tension forms in the pit of my stomach. She would have called me. She would have let me know.
“Did she have her phone on her?” I demand.
“I believe so.” My mother looks troubled.
“Who was the girl? What else did she say?”
“Hey Mom—Woah, what’s going on?” Jake enters the room and pauses at the palpable tension.
“Natalie took off with some woman,” I mutter. “What did she look like, Mom?”
“I didn’t get a good look at her,” my mother murmurs. “But I heard Natalie call her Rose. She said she was her brother’s ex.”
“Rose?” My blood turns cold as I exchange a look with Jake.
“Rose Carrington?” Jake nearly chokes.
“I’m sorry, boys.” Our mother looks between the two of us. “Am I missing something here?”
“Rose is—” I try to temper the ugly fear beginning to choke me. “—Rose was Lucas’s ex-girlfriend. She was obsessed with me. She dated Lucas for years, but it was a ploy to get to me. I rejected her multiple times. She broke up with Lucas when she realized I wasn’t falling for it.”
Rose was a special kind of crazy.
In college, when I had tried to date briefly, she had attacked one of the girls I had been seeing and cut her face viciously. Her uncle had been on the board of regents, so she hadn’t been expelled. The girl she had attacked, however, had been. Aside from Jake and me, nobody knew this. I had told Lucas, but he hadn’t believed me.
The room tilts.
It actually tilts, like the floor shifts sideways and the walls lean in, closing me off from oxygen and logic and every bit ofcontrol I’ve ever pretended to have. I can hear Roland in the background but I can’t focus.
Rose.
Rose has her.
Natalie.
I can’t think. I can’t breathe. I can’t move—and then I do, suddenly and violently, knocking over the chair behind me as I reach for my phone again. Useless. Straight to voicemail.
My fingers tremble.
I never tremble.
Jake is talking to someone on his Bluetooth, rapid-fire commands to Caleb or security, I don’t know which. My mother is asking me what’s going on, what Rose wants—but her voice is distant, like I’m underwater and nothing can break the surface.
Frantically, I press my hands against the edge of the desk to steady myself, but it doesn’t work. Natalie’s name pulses behind my eyes like a warning siren.
She’s pregnant. She’s vulnerable. And she left with her. She justleft.
What the hell did Rose say to make her go?
No. No, Natalie wouldn’t just go. She’s not reckless, especially not now. She must’ve thought it was safe, or necessary. Maybe she wanted to avoid making a scene. Maybe?—
“Ethan.” Jake grabs my shoulder. “We’re tracking down traffic cams. Caleb’s pulling footage from the restaurant’s parking lot. I already pinged her phone. It’s off, but we’ll get a last-known location.”
“Her phone’s off,” I repeat, numb.
