Confusion furrows his brow. “She was with someone, a man, broad shoulders…his back was to me, but I assumed it was one of you or one of the team.”
“But you didn’t see his face?”
He shakes his head. “No. She was talking casually with him. There wasn’t any reason to believe she was in any danger. I?—”
“Fuck.” I shove my hands through my hair. “What did the man look like?”
“Dark suit, maybe a tux, light hair, blond maybe.”
My blood immediately runs cold. “Could it have been silver?”
He tilts his head as if considering my question for a moment and then nods. “Maybe. It was dark and I couldn’t see much from where I was standing. But yeah, could have been white or silver.”
Fuck.
I race around them into the open grassy space that is less a garden and more an empty side lot that serves as additional space for wedding receptions and other events and scan the entire area, but it’s deserted. If Astrid was here, she’s gone now.
Maybe she was just with Gabe…
A chat in the garden with her father alone would make sense.
I take a deep breath, then run past the confused guards again. “You two, scour every fucking inch of the property and around it. Look for anything out of the ordinary, any signs of where she might have gone.”
They nod and take off as I reach the guards outside the front door. “You two, don’t allow anyone in or out and radio the rest of the guards. Tell them to canvas the property and lock it down.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Astrid’s officially missing.”
Ducking back into the party, I relay the same information to the guards on duty inside, then rush across the dance floor, dodging happy couples twirling to the lively music.
Gabe stands near the stage with Savage, chatting with the mayor and his wife. By the time I reach them, I’m out of breath and probably look like a lunatic.
The last thing I want to do is cause a scene, but this isn’t something that can wait until it’s polite to interrupt.
Gabe immediately senses something isn’t right. “What’s wrong?”
“Were you outside talking to Astrid?”
His brow furrows. “No. I haven’t left the party at all since we got here. Why?”
“Shit.”
Savage’s jaw tightens. “What’s going on?”
I glance up to the balcony to where Bishop stands, watching everything, concern etched across her beautiful face as she speaks with someone on the radio. By now, she knows I haven’t been able to find her.
Turning back to Gabe, I try to remain as calm as possible. “Astrid’s gone. No one’s seen her in at least twenty-five minutes. And one of the guards outside said she was in the garden with a man with light-colored hair.”
I see this exact moment that both Savage and Gabe follow what I’m suggesting without having to explicitly say it in front of the man who runs the city and his wife.
Gabe pales. “Satriano?”
“Who the hell else could it have been?” I scan the space, hoping against hope that Astrid will appear and we can laugh this off. “I already locked down the entire event. We’ll question everyone. Determine what everyone saw. Check any security footage.”
But it won’t matter…
Because deep in my gut, I already know it’s too late.
