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“Yeah, we can go with you,” I added.
But Vinh shook his head and squeezed my thigh reassuringly before standing. “No, the guys down there have a whole system, so I think it’s better that I go alone. And I’d feel better knowing you were here. This far inland should be good—unless something drastically changes over the next twenty-four hours.”
A shiver raced up my spine, though I couldn’t exactly pinpoint what had caused it.
Vinh said goodbye to his brother, and I followed him out the front door to the small carport on the side of the cottage. He pulled me into a hug before whispering into my ear, “Still the best birthday I’ve ever had. Thank you.”
Then kissed me sweetly, the caress too brief for either of our liking.
“Keep me updated. Even if I can’t answer, I’ll like knowing what you two are up to.” He smiled down at me, tracing the bandana wrapped around my hair with a finger before running his hand through my hair and frowning. “Unless you think it best that I didn’t know.”
I laughed as he got into his car, giving him one more kiss before he backed out of the driveway. My gaze stayed fixed on the road long after he was out of sight—until my phone vibrated and pulled me from my dread-laced reverie.
“Hello?”
“Sweetie, we still can’t find your grandmother, so I checked the security footage. She went to the main elevator bay a couple of hours ago and then I assume to her room, but then came back to the lobby and went out the front doors about thirty minutes ago. I checked with the folks at valet, and they say her Excursion—she still drives that monster of a car, right?”
“Yes, to my knowledge.”
“Well, it wasn’t with valet, so she didn’t get it from them. She may have gotten it from self-park, but either way, she’s gone. I don’t have access to the parking deck cameras, so I couldn’t check. And with the storm predictions looking less favorable for us, we’ve had more and more people doing early checkouts. It’s pretty chaotic here.”
“There’s only one place she’d go, and that’s home.” I blew out a breath. “I need to speak to her anyway. I’ll go check on her.”
“I think that’s a good idea, sweetie. Please keep me updated, and if you can, take someone with you. Be sure to keep an eye on the weather reports.”
“I will. I’ll let you know when I know anything.”
We hung up, and I was back in the cottage without even remembering moving my legs. “Liem!” I yelled, the edge to my voice shocking to my own ears.
He walked out of his bedroom, eyes wide as he hurried over to me. “What’s wrong?”
“I need to go to my grandmother’s house. Will you go with me? Cody’s dad called and said she left Fortuna. I can’t think of anywhere she’d go but to her house. I can’t imagine her taking the shuttle, but that doesn’t mean she wouldn’t. I just, ugh—” I put my hand to my head, pushing hard and trying to order my scrambled thoughts.
“Hey,” Liem said gently, pulling my hand down. “If we need to go to your grandma’s, no problem. That’s all you need to say.” He walked over to the kitchen counter and grabbed the keys to Cody’s truck. “I’ll drive, and if you want, you can explain it more on the way?”
I nodded, thankful for the signature Lott family confidence and followed him to the car.
Halfway over the twin bridges, it almost seemed like we were the only ones going toward the Coast. The side going in the other direction was bumper-to-bumper traffic, a cacophony of car horns filtering in through the truck windows.
“Well, that’s ominous,” Liem muttered, frowning as he glanced at the traffic and then up at the sky. “It doesn’t even look bad.”
“It never does,” I said quietly, so anxious by this point that I was even beyond fiddling with my hair.
He glanced at me, looking so similar to his brother that I relaxed a margin.
“Whatever it is, we’ll deal with it. Worst-case scenario, I distract your grandmother with my charm while you grab your things and sneak out the back.”
I snorted, the tension in my body ebbing a bit more.
We made it to Grandmother’s in record time, finding the driveway empty and her Excursion nowhere to be seen.
I unbuckled my seatbelt and turned my attention to the Big House, searching for signs of life, but my entire body turned to ice.
And judging by the horrified gasp that came from Liem’s mouth, he saw it too.
Smoke was billowing, thick enough to obscure the view through the front windows, but not enough to have reached the outside yet.
There was a fire inside.
