He wipes away my tears. “I know you don’t want to believe Callum has played a part in this. Especially, after everything you learned about your father.”
“Callum isn’t my father.”
Something like pity flashes in Ronan’s eyes, and I can almost read the thoughts playing in his mind.
I thought I knew who my father was, and I turned out to be wrong.
What if I turn out to be wrong about Callum, too? But in this case I have proof he wasn’t there. Why can’t he just listen to me?
“I’ll do everything I can to find Mila,Tine Bhaeg.” He bends down to press a soft kiss to my forehead. “I promise.”
Then he walks out of the study, leaving me with nothing but a hollow ache in my chest.
I siton the edge of the couch, my legs bouncing as I stare blankly at the opposite wall. My hands are clenched into fists in my lap, but I can barely feel the sting of my nails as they dig into my palms.
I’m completely numb, and the silence in the room feels suffocating.
I should be doing something,anything, to find Mila. But instead, I’m just sitting in this gilded cage because Ronan thinks he knows best.
But he’s wrong, and not just about what I need, but about Callum.
There’s no way in hell my brother played any part in Max’s death or taking Mila. He knows that she’s more than just my best friend. She’s like a sister to me.
Callum and I might have our differences, but he would never want to hurt me by taking her.
I screw my eyes shut as I try not to let Ronan’s misconceptions about Callum creep into my head.
I know my brother. He’s far from perfect, but he isn’t a murderer. There has to be something else going on here, something that Ronan and his brothers aren’t seeing.
Or maybe they just don’t want to see it…
My phone buzzes on the couch beside me, and I jump at the sound as it cuts through the silence.
Ignoring my racing pulse, I snatch it up, and my stomach bottoms out at the name on the screen.
Mila.
My fingers shake as I open the message.
Ciara,please. Help me.
My heart poundsas I dial her number. I’ve already tried calling at least twenty times since Ronan left, but each time it rang out. I’d begun to lose hope that she even had her phone with her, but this message is real. I know deep in my bones that she was the one who wrote it, so I won’t stop calling until she answers.
“Come on.”
My thumb trembles as I hit redial, but this time it doesn’t even ring.
“Oh, god.” I could have just made everything worse.
Sure, her phone could have died in the seconds between calls, but it’s more likely that whoever took her heard the call and realized that she had a phone on her, a link to the outside world.
And because of me, she doesn’t anymore.
It feels as if someone is sitting on my chest as I stare at my phone, trying to fight the panic rising inside me.
There’s no time for me to fall apart.
I need to think.
