Elara stood up from the chair she was occupying. She looked worried. We’d called Chloe so many times, but we knew the police wouldn’t be of any help since she’d only been missing for less than five hours.
"What did the lawyer say to you?" Elara pressed. "Before he hung up. What did he say? Your expression changed."
I ran a hand over my face. The stubble was rough against my palm. I hadn't slept. "He said Chloe told him not to tell me what happened.”
Julian, standing by the window, spoke up. “Whatever happened, she’s probably going looking for her daddy. She’s going to kill him. That’s the only reason I can see for the subterfuge—she doesn’t want anyone to stop her or talk her out of it."
I looked up. "You don't know that—"
"I do. I can feel it. There’s no other reason she would disappear like this," Elara swore. "I wanted to kill my in-laws, and they did a lot less to me than what was done to her."
My phone buzzed. Cartier.
I answered on the first ring. "Tell me you found her."
"Boss, she's in Florida." Cartier's voice was tight. "Her flight landed at Tampa International three hours ago."
My stomach dropped. "Three hours?"
"I wasn't in time to get eyes on her." Frustration bled through Cartier's words.
I pressed my free hand against the desk, knuckles white. "Where's her family?"
"At a beach house in Clearwater. They're all there—the daddy, the uncle, the sister, and the stepmom. They’ve been laying low."
I closed my eyes. “Does she know where they are?”
“I don’t know, boss. Sorry.”
I remembered what she had said about things not working out in her favor. She had said she would kill them; her tone had been so final, so cold.
My grandfather rolled into the living room in his wheelchair, a blanket across his lap. “I called in some favors and found out there will be no charges against her father in hermother's death. The jet is fueled. You need to go get her before she does something she can’t take back.”
I didn't hesitate. I grabbed my jacket from the back of the chair, my wallet, and my spare phone—the one with the encrypted line that couldn't be traced.
"Elara, stay here. Keep trying her old number."
Elara nodded.
The jet was already warming up when I arrived. I climbed the steps two at a time, dropped into the leather seat, and pulled out my phone.
Killian:Find her before I land.
Cartier:Working on it.
The jet began to taxi and rise. I watched New Orleans shrink beneath me, feeling another abrupt change about to happen.
Chapter 44: Chloe
It was evening in Florida. I'd left New Orleans around noon.
The sun hung low over the water, painting everything gold and orange—the kind of beautiful that made my chest ache, even at a time like this. There weren't many people out on a Monday. I had been here before. With my mother. A few months before she died.
She used to bring me to this pier on Saturdays. It was different now. It used to be this inverted triangle building. I remember eating at the restaurants on the top floor.
I sat on the bench closest to the water. In the distance, the Skyway Bridge rose out of the Gulf like a concrete spine, glowing in the fading light. I thought about how many people had jumped from there. How many had decided that the fall was easier than whatever was waiting for them on solid ground.
Would it be easier? To give up?
