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It mimicked a tone that no longer existed in me but I’d once held inside.
“I need to see her room.”
Mr. Bogart stood quickly, along with Luther, who opened the door for him. He ushered me up the stairs, down a long hallway, and into the second door on the right.
A flowery scent slammed right into my chest.
Her four-post bed had wooden posts with a white bedspread. It hadn’t been made. I imagined her sleeping when the witch entered through her double-panned window.
The way she watched her breathing, wishing to take her breath from her lungs. How did she take her? Forcefully? Or with magic?
Slippers were beside her bed.
She was barefoot.
In pajamas, most likely. Unless she slept in less.
Tossed through one realm to the next.
Her purse and cell phone sat on a corner desk on the opposite side of the room. Walking in, I ran my fingers along the bedspread, trying to memorize her scent.
I didn’t need too much help.
It sang to me. For the first time in ages, a woman's scent sang to me.
Picking up a T-shirt from the back of her chair, I clutched it in my fist. Part of me wanted to leave her there. To let someone else—though I didn’t know who—handle it.
Then there was a deep ache in my stomach. One that reminded me of what I once lost to this evil queen.
“Mr. Stone,” he whispered behind me. I glanced over my shoulder, looking down at the father behind me. “Can you find my daughter?”
Another stab in the heart.
The word slipped from my tongue before I could stop it. “Yes. I will check back in a few days.”
I left her room behind, her T-shirt hanging in my grasp, stalking down the stairs past Luther at the foot of the stairs and the sound of her mother crying in the distance.
Everything I’d worked so hard to bury was resurfacing.
I had to find Josephine.
I had to take revenge on the woman that sucked my life dry and left me to live forever without it.
Chapter Two
Josie
Two weeks before…
The empty apartment stared back at me.
It’d been my safe haven for the past four years. The place where I rested my head, studied for my exams, and drank wine with my friends. The emotion that swirled inside of me was surprising. I hadn't expected it, to be honest.
While packing up my things I hadn’t felt sad. The thought of the unknown had been exciting. I had my psychology degree, parents that supported me in my future endeavors, and a clean slate.
Everything that happened or didn’t happen over the past four years was being left in Baton Rogue where it belonged. In the past.
My cell phone buzzed in the back pocket of my jeans.
