“She’s gone.” His voice was ragged. My heart skipped a beat, thinking she wasgone. But he added immediately, “Claudette. She left a note, but her phone’s off, and Mom found it in her room, and she’s out there alone somewhere?—”
“Slow down. Did you call her friends?” I asked, already thinking of who to ask.
“No one’s heard from her. I tried tracking her phone, but it’s off.”
There was exactly a second of silence when he said, “Wait—Mom just got a credit card alert.” I heard muffled conversation in the background. “She bought a plane ticket. To Vegas.”
Everything stopped. “You’re there for meetings, right?” Jack asked. “Can you?—”
“I’ll find her.”
“Thank you.” He sounded like he was barely holding together. “Just… keep her safe. She’s probably scared, and I can’t lose her yet.”
“I’ll find her tonight.”
I hung up and stood there, trying to process. Claudette was coming here. Landing in a few hours. Running toward something or away from something—and either option scared the hell out of me.
“I have to go,” I said to Hannah.
She stood, grabbed her purse. “Then go. At least one of us should be with someone we actually love.”
I smiled at her. “I really am sorry, Hannah.”
“Shut up, just go.” She chuckled, but I could sense the hurt in her eyes about her situation. I took one last look at her, then I took off. I was already dialing my assistant as I walked out of the restaurant. I needed everything she could pull on Claudette Specter. Anything that might help me locate one woman in a city of millions.
I didn’t let myself think about what I’d say when I found her.
I focused on the immediate problem: finding Claudette before she did something reckless in a city designed for exactly that kind of mistake.
If she was in Vegas making terrible decisions, I was going to find her.
And then I’d figure out what the hell to say to the woman I’d loved for two years and never had the guts to tell.
CHAPTER 3
Claudette
Pauline was waitingoutside her hotel when I pulled up in the rideshare, and the second she saw me, her face lit up with that particular brand of surprised delight only best friends could pull off.
“You actually came!” She pulled me into a hug that smelled like jasmine perfume and hairspray. “I can’t believe you’re here.”
“Believe it.”
She pulled back, hands on my shoulders, grinning. “This is so unlike you. Spontaneous Claudette? Who are you and what have you done with my responsible best friend?”
“She had a moment of clarity and booked a plane ticket.”
“Come on, let’s get you inside before you change your mind and fly back home.”
Her hotel room was small but cozy—the kind of place where the ice machine hummed too loud and you could hear people walking in the hallway. Two double beds with floral bedspreads, a window overlooking the strip, and that particular Vegas glow filtering through the curtains.
I dropped my bag and collapsed onto the nearest bed with a groan.
Pauline flopped onto the other bed and turned to face me. “God, I’ve missed you. We don’t do this enough anymore. Remember when we used to have sleepovers every weekend?”
“Yeah, but we’re adults now. Responsible. It’s different.”
“We don’t have to be responsible adults this week.” She sat up, eyes bright with mischief.
