And when she looks up, pure fear is running rampant in her features. “Cal! Where’s Becca?!”
It takes me a second to even process why she could possibly be this upset. But when I look up and see Cade looking like he’s about to punch someone, I gather myself quickly. Brooke’s eyes are so wide that they might pop as she stares impatiently at me.
“What’s going on?” I demand, and poison seems to seep into my stomach.
“Callum,whereis Becca? We need to know right now.”
I take a step back at the fear in Cade’s voice.
“She just took off with her guards and Sophie and Rose. Now, tell me, what in the FUCK is going on?” My chest is rising faster and faster with every breath.
“Let’s go. I’ll explain in the car.”
We take off for the exit, practically running.
“We need to make sure she’s okay. We’ve been trying to call the girls, but no one is answering. And we don’t have Keanu’s or Max’s number.”
Something’s wrong. Something is so very wrong.
We fly out the front doors, and the limo is already waiting.
Cade whips out his wallet and hands the man a stack of hundreds. “Get us back to the hotel as fast as you possibly can.”
The driver stutters, “Yes, sir. Right away.”
We clamber in one after the other, and the driver slams on the gas.
My patience runs out. “Talk. Now.”
A thousand scenarios run through my head. But one keeps coming back to the forefront.
Brady. Brady is somehow out.
Cade sits up and gives me a hesitant look. “Becca asked me to check into the guy she is seeing. Says he interns with our firm and just moved here. So, I asked my dad to check our intern roster for any Austins. And there are none. Not a single one. So, either he lied about being an intern or his name isn’t Austin.”
I’m going to kill him. But I don’t get why they’re freaking out so bad. “Is that it?”
This time, Stella scoots forward in her seat and lifts her chin up, and I see her eyes for the first time since we got in here.
They are so red that they are starting to swell.
Her trembling lips open. “Callum …” When she speaks, she sounds weak and absolutely horrified. She sounds a lot like she did when I first met her, when she was still scared of the world and everyone in it.
The use of my full name is already enough to rake fear down my spine.
“When Becca asked to bring a plus-one, I wanted to know who it was. I tried to get info from her, but she wouldn’t budge. When I saw her name pop up on Cade’s phone, I was nosy and forced him to tell me what Becca had messaged him. At first, I thought it was a huge coincidence because it would be nearly impossible for it to behim.”
That pit of fear in my stomach is growing bigger and bigger with each word. And I’m begging and praying to any god who will listen to not let the words I think she is about to say form on her lips.
“But then I started asking Sophie and Rose if they’d met him. Trying to seem calm, I asked what he looked like. And when they started to describe him to me, it was like I was living it all over again. Then, I asked if he had a dark freckle right underneath his right eye. And I wish … I wish I had never asked. Because when Sophie nodded her head and said, ‘Yes. How’d you know?’I told her I would never forget the face of the person who raped me.”
Anger floods me.
But it’s not red. It’s hotter. Searing white clouds my vision.
The fire erupts in my fingertips and burns every cell as it travels up my arms and spreads to every inch of my body.
“I’m going to kill him. I’m going to strangle him with my bare hands.” My jaw is clenched, the words barely passing through.
