I’ve done that enough.
“In that case, I don’t think we’ll uncover her location unless she decides she wants you to find her, my man.”
Damn.
And judging by the total silence, even more than twelve hours after I unleashed the hounds on Harry’s ass, that’s unlikely.
I scowl at my computer screen, the satisfaction of destroying Harry Jay running through my fingers like fine sand.
I need to find Lena ASAP.
“I hate to add insult to injury, but your mother’s been asking about her too,” Luis says. “She’s wondering when you’ll bring her around thehouse to talk wedding plans. She couldn’t believe your father sang her praises after that charity thing.”
“Fuck me, I know.” I rake a hand through my hair, clenching my jaw. “But what the hell do I say? That she dumped me and ran off into the sunset?”
Luis goes quiet. “You want to give them the truth?”
“Absolutely not. Shit, I need to find her and make this right.” Even if it’ll take her time to understand why I hit Harry Jay the way I did, and a miracle to ever fall in love with me again.
I’m ready to become a praying man for the first time in my life if she’ll talk to me.
If I can prove that her devil ex is gone for good.
“Did you send the article to Dr. Ezzie?” Luis asks after a second.
“Yeah. She said she passed it along.”
“Damn. I guess we’ll just have to wait until she comes back. Hopefully a few more days. She didn’t quit her job, right?”
“Not likely.”
I believe that, but I shrug because I just don’t fucking know, and that’s infuriating.
A few daysmight be an eternity. That’s what Lena said originally when I asked about her plans to run off with a friend and escape from me.
“I don’t want to wait, Luis. I need hernow.”
“Don’t know what to tell you. If I could summon her back in a maid outfit and a cloud of sparkles, I would’ve by now.”
“Fuck you.”
“Fuck you too! Respectfully.”
“I could have you fired.”
“But you never will,” he says, a grin in his voice. “Do you want me to go digging? You figured she’s off with that Elle Marshall girl, and there’s a lot of material there. A lot of places they could be with her money, unfortunately.”
“I’ve got a better idea,” I say as it crystallizes in my head. “Hold tight. I’ll let you know if it works.”
“What are you thinking?”
“We’re going to do this the right way, respecting her boundaries. You know, unlike what happened before and put me in a world of shit. I’m talking to the only person who might tell me anything.”
Grandma Lark’s late-summer garden is bursting with color. Bright flowers, bulging tomatoes and cucumbers, little wooden gnomes, and lush ivy crawling over everything.
I’m no expert on this stuff, but it’s a testament to how sharp and active the old lady is.
It’s also my first time plodding over to her little house just up the street from Lena’s deserted house. When she opens the door and sees me standing on the step, her face creases into a mischievous smile.
