Just what I needed.
Snow.
On top of everything else.
Thank God I’d rushed her on the phone.
Because while she didn’t get to fully tell me her location, there was only oneCentralthat meant anything to someone in the city.
Central Park.
She was in Central Park.
While Central Park was over eight hundred acres, two and a half miles long and half a mile wide, I was back in my home turf.
I knew where she would have entered.
And she couldn’t have gotten very far.
I was going to find her.
And if it was the last fucking thing I did, I would get her safe.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Stephanie
The tears stayed in until the second I closed my apartment door and leaned against it.
Only then did the dam break, and the tears flooded relentlessly down my cheeks as a loud, embarrassingly pathetic sob escaped me.
Sure, I was in pain.
Yes, I was absolutely in shock.
But I knew it was neither of those things that made my heart feel like it was cracking clear down the middle.
Nope.
That was because of the man who’d just given me the best night of my life, the bestsexof my life, only to tell me that—surprise!—he’d been using me all along.
“Dammit,” I grumbled, wiping my cheeks and forcing myself to stand up, to walk on aching, wobbly legs into my kitchen to brew some tea before I went into the bathroom.
I was almost afraid to free my aching feet from the heels. My soles burned all over with specific spots that felt like stabbing.
I was relieved to find no blood in them even as I tossed the blasted things right into the trash. Honestly, the gown might goin there too. The last thing I wanted was something to remember Venezio by.
I slid my aching feet into my slippers for some cushion, then made my way into my bedroom to fish out some pajamas for after a long, hot shower.
My moves were robotic as I pretended not to notice the tears that kept dripping down my cheeks. I’d just gotten a fresh towel out of the linen cabinet and placed it on the holder when I heard the buzzer.
I glanced up at myself, seeing the mess the tears had made of me, and quickly wiped them away before turning off the water.
I was only halfway through my living room, not sure what I was going to do if it was Venezio.
Did I want to speak to him? Allow him to offer explanations? Excuses? Or did I just want to ignore him?
My phone buzzed in my clutch.
