Page 106 of Frozen Heart
“I should not be longer than half an hour,” I tell Jim as I step out of the car.
Heading into the office wasn’t on the agenda for me today. At least, not before I knew my wife was back at home, safe and sound. But then, my CFO called, insisting there was an urgent matter we needed to discuss, and that it could only be done in person due to the delicate topic. So here I am, but not before I doubled the size of Iris’s security team for her trip to the hospital with her mother.
I’m about to enter the building when my phone goes off with an unmistakable ring. Theo is calling me.
Every time I hear the custom sound I set up for Iris’s driver slash bodyguard, I tense. Theo’s calls are always his regular check-ins, keeping me informed about Iris’s plans or changes to their anticipated route. Yet the possibility of bad news is always at the back of my mind. That fear is irrational, but it is constantly present when I don’t have my eyes on my wife. It doesn’t matter that there haven’t been any incidents since our wedding day; I still feel like the other shoe is about to drop.
I hit the green button and press the phone to my ear.
“Sir.” Theo’s voice carries across the line before I say a word.
I freeze. That single syllable is steeped with an alarm that has never before been present in the man’s always calm demeanor.
“Mrs. Ruffo is missing, sir.”
The ground disappears beneath my feet. Although I’m rooted in place, I feel as if I’m plummeting into a dark abyss. My lungs scream for air because I have forgotten how to breathe. My heart thunders against my ribs.
“We are searching the premises. Hayden and his team are in the hospital’s security office, poring over the feeds to track her movements.”
“What the fuck happened?” I roar.
“I take full responsibility, sir. Mrs. Ruffo was waiting for her mother outside an exam room. Although our team was not permitted in the vicinity, I had a visual on her, other than when she used the women’s facilities, and was no further than fifty feet away at all times. After using the restroom, she was speaking with a doctor who approached her when a commotion broke out in the waiting room, where I maintained my post. A man came in and began attacking people. He charged me, and my attention was pulled away from Mrs. Ruffo for the brief span of time it took to subdue him. But by then, Mrs. Ruffo was gone.”
I turn around, running back to the car.
“I thought that, perhaps, she headed into the exam room to be with her mother,” he continues. “But Mrs. Fabbri and Dr. Nolan exited only moments after, without your wife. At this point, I disregarded hospital protocols and brought in all of our teams. We’re currently searching the entire building and covering all exits.”
I throw open the driver-side door and, fisting the front of Jim’s shirt, pull him out of the seat. “Anything on the cameras?”
“Still working on that, sir,” Theo replies.
“Mr. Ruffo?” Jim shouts at the same time as I shove him out of the way and slide behind the wheel.
Horns blare around me, people toss insults as I peel away from the curb. None of that distracts me. Not even a glimpse of my driver in the rearview mirror as he picks himself up off the ground and narrowly manages to get out of the way of an oncoming bus. I step on the gas, weaving in and out of traffic, running lights, and dodging pedestrians.
“If my wife isn’t found by the time I get to the hospital, Theo, I will personally put a bullet in the head of every man on her protection team, starting with you.”
I disconnect the call and toss the phone onto the passenger seat. My hands grip the steering wheel, and if it wasn’t for that contact, I have a feeling they would shake. I’m flying down the road to my wife’s last known location, yet it feels like I’m barely moving at all.
My worst fucking nightmare is coming true.
Iris, baby, where are you?
Could she have simply headed down to a café to grab a snack, and the idiots missed her somehow? Or maybe she went back into the restroom?
No.
I know none of that is likely. But I’m grasping at straws. I need a sliver of hope to cling to. Anything…anything or I’ll lose my mind.
Because I know. I can feel it. The rhymey motherfucker got to her.
The pressure in my chest builds and builds until my fucking heart feels like it’s going to explode. Until drawing a breath becomes an impossible feat.
I’m going to kill him.
I’m going to kill everyone.
If my Little Iris gets so much as a scratch, I’ll level this entire city. Not a goddamned soul will be left alive.
