Page 124 of His to Keep
“Baby,what’sgoing on? IsScarletokay?” She glances down to the gun at my hip, hereyes tight with worry.
“I-I...” I scrub a hand over my face, groaning into my palm. “I don’t know.”
I hopeshe’sokay. Fuck that—any other outcome is unacceptable.Shehas tobe,or I will absolutely lose my mind.If someonehurther, I will— I shake my head, snapping myself out of the dark line of thinking.
My dad’s favorite nugget of wisdom pops into my head.Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.I return to my safe grabbing another mag,as yetanother piece of his fatherly wisdom, passed down mostly through stories of him, makes itself know.Better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it.
“Okay, well...” she nods before patting my cheek. “I know whatever’s going on, you’ll bring her home.”
“I really hope you’re right.”
“I know I am.” She sounds so sure of me,in the way only a mother can. “Now, go get our girl.”
After dropping a quick kiss to both her and James’s foreheads, Ishovemy feet into my boots andsprintout the door to my truck.
A text comes through the second I crank the engine.
Silas: First location’s a bust. Side of the highway, phone’s busted.
Me: I’m heading out now. Will update ASAP.
Silas: Let me know if you needbackup.
I toggle out of our thread and redial the office, barely tamping down my frustration when the stupid automated menu starts. “Thank you forcalling Lake Fortune Obstetrics and Gynecology. Please listen carefully to the menu options, as they have recently changed.”
“Fucking hell.” Icheckher location again, none of the blips have moved. I home in on her necklace, and my heart lodges itself into my throat, a sense of helplessness washing over me.She’sdamn near forty miles away, as the crow flies. And to make matters worse, the locationcompletelyunfamiliar.
“To speak to the front desk, press two.”
I jam my finger against my screen, my stomach churning as I wait for a real person who can get Cara on the phone. But the universe hasapparently decidedto shit all over me, because all I get isholdmusic.
“Motherfucker.” I punch the wheel as my frustration getsthe better of me.I feel as though I’ve aged fifteen years in the last five minutes.
“Lake Fortune Obstetrics and Gynecol?—”
“This is Ellis Wilder calling for Cara,” I snap, cuttingwhoever’son the other end of the phone off.
“Sir,” she starts, “There’s no need?—”
I cut her off again, softening my tone this time. “It’s about Scarlet.”
She releasesa shakyexhale. “I’ll get her right now.”
“Thanks,” I say, but she’s already placed me back on hold.
Minutes that feel like hours pass before the awful jazz is replaced by Cara’s worried voice. “Did you find her?”
“Not yet.” Admitting it feels like defeat. LikeI’vefailed herin a situationwherefailure’sunacceptable.“I need you to walk me through everything you can remember. No detail’s too small.”
“Okay,” Cara whispers, her voice carrying the same worry swirling inside of me like ahurricane. “I-I can do that.”
I listen intently as she begins recounting their day, committing every word to memory.
“I saw her this morning in the break room. We chatted for aminute,and she showed me a picture of James you sent this morning.Ididn’treally see her after that. I, um, I poked my head into the break room during her lunchbreak,but shewasn’tthere.”
“Her car is still there?” I ask, even though I know the answer.
“It is. She went to lunch with...” shehesitates.
