“What?” Alex asked as he rose to stand.
“Yeah, I’m not going to be the one who tells Ava you thought she panicked. I literally do not even want to see her reaction to that statement.”
Alex heaved a sigh. “You know what I mean…she didn’t want him to die. She says we need him. So, if she thought he was close to death, she’d do what she had to do.”
Alex fished his phone from inside his pocket. “I’ll solve this. I’ll call her.”
After a few rings, the call went to a generic voicemail. He growled as he pulled the device away from his ear. “Voicemail. That’s not making me feel any better.”
He tried again twice, still not getting a hold of her. His stomach turned over as he stared down at the phone. Couldhe find the location of the burner? “Did you see if his laptop is still here?”
“Didn’t notice. Why?”
“I want to track her phone. This isn’t sitting well for me.” Alex retreated from the bedroom, hurrying downstairs to search for the laptop. He scoured the entire living room, but couldn’t find it. With a curse under his breath, he shook his head. “I’ll have to use my phone.”
Before he could begin, the device rang in his hand. He nearly dropped it taking the call. “Hello,” he said, his voice breathless with anticipation.
“Put it on speaker,” Kyle hissed.
“Ace, hey.”
“Ava!” Alex shouted, toggling on the speakerphone. “Where are you?”
“Don’t ask.”
“Is Sebastian bleeding? Are you at the hospital?” Kyle interjected.
“No. He’s fine. But someone found the cabin. Someone from The Board.”
“Ava, are you okay?” Alex’s heart rose into his throat as he waited for the answer.
“I’m fine. We’re all fine. Well, except for the guy from The Board. He’s dead. I had to kill him. It was me or him.”
Alex recognized the guilt in her voice. “You did what you had to do, Avs.”
“Yeah,” she answered. “Anyway, we obviously had to abandon the cabin. I’m at a new location, but we may not be safe here either. Our assassin friend from The Board had a tracker on his car. We ditched the car, but I’m afraid we’re dangerously close to being found out. Tell me you made some progress with Chris.”
“Not yet. We decided to bring the car up to you first, then hit Chris first thing in the morning.”
“You’re at the cabin now?” Ava asked.
“Yeah,” Alex answered. “And panicked when we found it empty with a pool of blood on the floor.”
She cursed under her breath before she responded. “You need to get out of there. Take both cars. Concentrate on getting Chris out of the way so I can make my triumphant return. Hiding out is getting old.”
“Got it,” Alex said. “We’re all over it, babe.”
“Thanks. Alex, I love you.”
“I love you too, Sparky. And I miss you.”
“He may love you, but he also thought you panicked,” Kyle interjected.
Alex flung a hand in the air as he screwed up his face.
“I didnotpanic. But I’m going to go stir crazy soon. Go guilt Chris into admitting he killed me.”
“All over it, babe,” Alex said with a nod as they made their way to the door. “One guilty ex coming right up.”
