Page 173 of Unmasked

“They know where I stand. I’m here. They don’t need me present for my vote. They already have it.”

I took him in for a long moment, nodding. Emotions hit hard, scattering through my shattered mind. I headed forward to the monitor he stood at, taking in the towns and areas in the city.

“Thank you.” I cleared my throat. “You said there was no movement at the airport. So, he’s close. Maybe not too close, but close enough. He wouldn’t stay somewhere expected. It might not even be his residence. He’d have to be careful.”

Elec stepped forward.

“What about her residences? She relinquished her title. They’d technically be his again. Do we have a list of those?”

My eyes widened as I turned, heading to the table where I now had my computer.

“I believe he sent Penelope a list when she was still active at Rosemoor. She’d have it in her email.”

I hit the mail icon, clicking on her name. I scrolled down, reading through the subject headings. The number of messages he’d sent her was alarming. A lot had come through since she’d cut connections with him. A large number weren’t even opened.

Scrolling down, I clicked randomly, not seeing the list but getting immersed in his obsessive need to communicate with her. And not about anything in particular. He asked for her opinions on things. Her views. Sometimes, he’d just go on and on about his day, as if she were his own personal diary. Anger would flare at how openly he confessed his feelings towards her. Then, fear, because I knew Penelope wouldn’t have understood his deep connection to her any more than I did. The way he talked, it was as if he couldn’t live without her. As if… he already had her.

Penelope,

I do love your name. I’ve said that before. It just feels right.

I’ve been thinking, do you ever want to settle somewhere more private? The palace can be great but intimidating for someone who wasn’t raised here. I think that was your aversion when you first came. It’s why you didn’t stay when you were sick. It was too much.

I can understand that. I think about those first times we met a lot lately.

When we marry, I think it would be good for us to spend time away from the palace. At least until you can feel comfortable there. You’ve been traumatized. Isolated. You need something more private. Maybe even confined. It will help ground you again.

I can’t wait until we’re finally together so I can show you that. This will work. I just know it because I know myself. I won’t stop until you’re better. Until you see that you’ve always loved me. It’s there behind Vaughn’s conditioning. I could see it in your eyes when you looked at me. You want this as much as I do. We just have to uncover it so you can remember. You have to remember.

Yours,

Lawrence

I looked at the date. Nine days before she was taken. Nine days.

I continued to scroll, seeing much more of the same. To Lawrence, Penelope was meant to be his queen. He spoke of their love. Of regret for waiting to make her his. He even talked about his temper for feeling rejection when she’d betrayed him in college. He stated he was over the pain she caused him, but I wasn’t sure what to believe.

The messages were hard for me to wrap my head around. In moments, he spoke to her as a man obsessively in love—as I would have. Other times, I didn’t relate or recognize him at all. And the more I read, the more I became worried.

Theodore came back into the room.

The men emailed and made calls.

Time passed.

It wasn’t until almost two hours went by that I felt myself sit up straighter.

“Wait. Here. I think this might be it.”

All three men headed over as I clicked on an attachment. A list of properties appeared, and Bram was already leaning in, taking a picture of them with his phone.

“I’m going to send this to Luke and Everleigh while we do what we can here. We’ve managed to get a list of a large chunk of Lawrence’s properties, but not all. Let’s add these new ones in and see if they’re occupied. We won’t have access everywhere, but Luke does well in this area. He usually can find something.

I nodded. “Sounds great to me. I’m going to plug the addresses onto the map so we can see what we’re working with. I can change the color of the pin when it’s not the place we’re looking for. That will give us a good visual of where they might be versus where they’re not.”

“Great idea.”

I was already at work as Elec and Theodore started talking. I let myself fade again, going back to the emails I’d read over. Falling deep into trying to grasp Lawrence’s mindset. To let myself face the facts was more terrifying than I could handle. I felt the tears come. I felt physically ill at what he could be doing to her. I couldn’t bear the thought of her suffering for another moment. Had she not been through enough? Now this?