“How’d you know something was wrong? You came here when Iwas really upset.”
“I can sense you. When you hurt your ankle, when the mountain lion was there. I can sense it and find you.”
She props her chin on her hand to look at him.
“Why’s that? Why can you sense me?”
His eyes flit over her face, his mouth opens and closes a couple of times like he’s trying to work out what to say.
“Because you’re special. Because I care about you.”
The ‘because I love you’ isn’t there, and she wishes it was. Her heart thumps a little harder knowing he cares about her.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Axel
Axel slipped quietly from Chloe’s bed and went downstairs to his office. It was nice being with her, great even. It made his heart full and his bear content in a way it hadn’t ever been. But she was leaving. In three days, she’d be gone from his life forever. He could suggest they stay in touch, that they visit and call, and do whatever people in long-distance relationships do. But it wouldn’t matter, not really, he would have lost his mate and be broken forever.
In the office, he tries to focus on his work. Figuring out the right amounts to pay for taxes as opposed to what Maury had told him. When Axel and Raif had left Maury at the trailer, they immediately called Detective Donovan and let him know what had happened. He said he would get a team over to the trailer that morning, but he had yet to hear any new information. He had been trying not to think about it before he felt Chloe’s panic through the bond andwent to her in her room. It had been a much-needed distraction from everything involving Maury.
A knock on his door startles him, and he sees Gunner standing there with Detective Donovan behind him.
“Detective,” Axel says, shaking his hand as he enters.
“You might want to get your brothers here. I have some news.”
Axel quickly sends off a text to Jack and Raif telling them to get to his office immediately, while he grabs the detective a bottle of water. When his brothers come in, it’s clear how small his office is, as there isn’t enough room for everyone to sit.
Detective Donovan clears his throat.
“At approximately seven a.m. this morning, a team went to the location you specified where you had seen Maury Polis. His trailer had been ransacked, and he’s missing.”
Axel heaves out a big breath he didn’t know he was holding. Maury is missing, again.
“Are we suspects?” Raif asks. Axel hadn’t even thought of that.
“As of this time, no. We were able to get a video of a vehicle going down the road to his trailer and then coming back about an hour later. The two men in the vehicle were visible but not anyone that we have so far included in this investigation. We’ve put out an APB on the vehicle, not sure if we’ll get anything back.”
“Maury talked about two guys, bodyguard types, that had come to him in the past. Roughed him up, got him to do things. Didn’t give us any names, though. He did, however, identify one of the men from Harvey Development Group who’s staying here right now.”
“You’ve told me. Just because he confirmed a man in a photo doesn’t allow me to arrest anyone. I will talk to those men from Harvey before I leave here today. But I can tell you, with Maury missing, any case you may have had against Harvey Group is basically gone.”
Axel shuts down at that point. He lets the rest of the words from the detective run over him. Maury is fucking gone. They should have stayed at the trailer and waited for the police. He should have tried to hold Raif off while they waited for them. They could have taken Maury with them for fucks sake. But they didn’t. That’s the truth of it. If things had been different, they could have helped Maury. But now he’s missing, and so is all the knowledge he carried. They’re good and fucked now.
It’s a while before he realizes the office is empty. Only realizes everyone is gone when he hears a sharp knock on his door.
“You ok, bro?”
Jack stands at the door with his arms crossed. He’s frowning, and Axel feels a stab of guilt that again this whole thing is his fault.
“Stop that self-deprecating bullshit, man. So Maury’s missing. He could have decided not to flip on the Harvey guys, and we’d still be in the same position we’re in now.”
“But he is dead, and we’re fucked. We’re also now out $20,000.”
“Yeah, Raif told me about that,” Jack scratches the back of his neck.
“I don’t know what to do, Jack. I don’t know how to fix this.”
