He doesn’t flinch. He walks closer instead, stepping into the light like a man unafraid of the consequences.
“Tony,” he says tightly, and him using my name throws me off. “this is about Tiffany.”
Cold hits my bloodstream instantly. “What about her?”
He studies me. Really studies me. “You mean she didn’t tell you she was meeting up with Holley to go into town?”
“She did,” I snap. “She left here two hours ago.”
Smoke shakes his head once. Slow. Controlled.
“They didn’t make it back.”
A cold, electric silence descends.
I don’t hear the tools anymore.
Or the radio.
Or the voices outside.
Just that sentence.
“They’re missing,” Smoke adds.
I step forward until we’re chest to chest. “Say that again.”
His jaw flexes. “She’s gone, Stud.”
“Gone how?”
“You know how. You brought the problem here.”
My heart slams against my ribs. A roar fills my skull.
“Don’t play games with me.” My voice is barely human. “Where. Are. They?”
Smoke’s expression isn’t challenging now. It’s stripped bare, all the bravado burned off. Fear lingers under those icy eyes.
“Tiff sent one text,” he says. “Half-mangled by autocorrect and panic.”
He pulls out his phone and shoves it toward me.
The screen shows a text from Tiffany:
Dad—smth wrong road blocked blue car HELP
That’s it.
No follow-up. No pin drop. No call.
Nothing.
My chest hollows out.
“They didn’t come home when Key was expecting them. She called me and said she couldn’t reach her mom.” Smoke explains. “I tracked her phone to a dead zone northwest of town. Then it cut off. I rode the perimeter twice, found her Jeep, but no Tiff and no Holley. I assume you know Holley. Keyleigh told me you did and she was with Tiffany. But there are no signs of them. Nothing.”
I shove a hand through my hair, pacing hard enough to leave grooves in the concrete.
