Page 85 of Filthy Little Lies

I crumple the paper in my fist. She’s gone.

It’s been an hour, maybe a little more since Roman lost her. In a city this size, there are a lot of places she could be hiding. She doesn’t have access to a car, so she’s not on the road. Yet.

She’d be taking a bus or the train.

In the corner of the living room, one of the floorboards is out of place. It lifts up easily, exposing a small compartment beneath it. A single bill is caught in the corner joint.

One hundred dollars.

She’s had a safety stash here the entire time. This thing could have been filled with passports, credit cards, cash, and anything else she might need to disappear.

Her escape plan.

I take the bill with me when I storm out of the apartment.

Roman’s expression hardens when he sees me come out alone.

“She’s not here.” I shove the money at him. “Take this to Roberto. I want to know if it’s counterfeit or real.”

“Sure thing.” He looks up at the apartment. “What about her?”

“I will find her. She can’t have gone too far.”

Roman looks like he wants to say more, but he’s smart enough to know when I’m done talking.

A cold breeze blows, chilling the tips of my ears. My body clenches. She could be anywhere. I tamp down the panic rising in my chest.

People have hidden from me before, and I’ve always found them. No one has ever gotten away from me. But I’ve never been wound up like this.

I pull out her phone and scroll through her messages, looking for anything that might hint at where she could go. But there’s nothing. Other than her messages with me, Cassie, and old random texts from Tony there isn’t anything helpful.

I picture her standing in our bedroom, seeing the suitcases laid out before her and hearing Roman give the order to pack. No matter how gentle he might have said it, it would have hit her like a bowling ball to the gut.

She thinks I sent her away. She thinks I gave up on her like everyone else did. I’m not those pricks. I will never give up on her. I will never give up on us.

Fuck! I love her, and she doesn’t know it. She needs to know, she needs to feel it.

I should have told her.

Standing in the middle of her street won’t find her, so I shove her phone into the inside pocket of my jacket and pull mine out. Shooting off texts with orders, I head back to my car and jump in.

I’ll find her.

She will be back by morning.

I will not lose her.

CHAPTER 25

Gabriel

“Three days.” My throat strains around the rage fighting to climb out with my words. “It has been three days and you’ve found nothing.”

Five of my men stare at me, blank stares, hands folded in front of them waiting to find out if I’m going to kill them or give them new orders.

Roman stands at my side, and Lucian sits in the corner of my office blowing smoke out the window.

“There’s been no trace of her.” Antonio speaks up. “We’ve checked all of her hangouts. The diner, the bar, the thrift stores she’s shopped at. No one has seen her.”