The man smirks evilly. “Most call me Felix, but you can call me your keeper. At least until I get you sold. I would’ve gotten more foryou if you had still been a virgin, but with your age and how pretty you are, no doubt I’ll get what’s owed to me.”
Before I can scream, my head pulses and an electric current flows through my body. The trunk begins to close, slowly taking the light with it, but it doesn’t matter, because my entire body begins to spasm and my vision is lost. I try to focus on what’s happening, but my brain and body aren’t computing, and before I can figure out what’s wrong, my body gives out and everything in me shuts down.
THIRTY
ETHAN
“Ethan, wake the fuck up,”Rosco booms. His voice has me jumping out of bed.
“What?” I glance around. “What happened?”
“I’ve been calling you! Where the fuck is your phone?”
“Right here.” I grab it off the nightstand. It clicks on from my touch and displays forty-five missed calls. “Fuck, I had it on silent and fell back asleep.” After Nevaeh left, I crashed, all the hours of missing sleep hitting me hard.
“Nevaeh is gone.”
“What?” My eyes lock with his. “What the fuck do you mean she’s gone?”
“She texted me she was leaving her dad’s office and to meet her out front, but she never showed up. I searched everywhere. It’s like she just vanished.”
I pull up the tracking app I have on her phone and it shows it’soff network. “Fuck, it’s shut off.”
I scroll through my missed calls and see several are from Dan Wade. My chest clenches, and a sinking feeling comes over me. His first call was a couple hours earlier—the call I ignored while saying bye to Nevaeh.
I hit call and he picks up on the first ring. “About damn time.”
“I didn’t see your call until now. Nevaeh is missing.”
“Damn it,” he curses. “Felix got out on a technicality. We tried to hold him while we worked to clear it up, but his lawyer fought it and he got out. I had my men try to follow him, but he got away.”
“He. Got. Out?” I Growl. “Fuck!” I glance over at Rosco, who by the look of horror in his eyes, tells me he heard what the U.S. Attorney said. “Call Nevaeh’s dad, Edward, and find out who owns the building. We need to get access to the cameras in and surrounding it. If he took her from the building, he had to have parked close.”
Rosco nods and starts typing on his phone.
“Text me the address and I’ll get my guys on it,” Dan says.
I rattle off the address, and he tells me he’ll be in touch. I’m about to call Blaire to make sure this isn’t a mix-up—even though I know deep down it isn’t—when her name pops up on my screen.
“Is Nevaeh with you?” I ask, not giving her time to even say hello.
“She’s at Atlantic General,” she cries.
“What?” I ask, confused as hell.
“A man found her on the side of the road and called the ambulance. She was brought in and the only reason they were able to identify her was because she had her bank card in her back pocket. They’ve put her in a medically-induced coma. From the tests they’verun, they believe she suffered from a seizure and has a concussion.”
Fuck, no, fuck. This can’t be happening again. My head is spinning from everything she’s saying. “Where was she found?” I throw on a pair of pants and a shirt, then grabbing my keys, nod to Rosco that we’re leaving.
“I don’t know the details, but the police have been by to ask her questions, but I told them she’s not awake. Apparently the guy who found her also called the police.”
“Did you call her parents?”
“The hospital did. I was her emergency contact, but I was in class and didn’t answer right away, so they called her mom. When I called back, they told me what happened and I rushed over. I tried to call you, but you didn’t pick up.”
Fuck! I want to punch my fist through something. “My phone was on silent and I was asleep.”
“Don’t do that,” Blaire says. “Don’t beat yourself over it.”
