When I fly into the parking lot, all my suspicions are confirmed when I spot Ryder, Hailey, and Mitch waiting for me.
Everything inside me goes ice-cold as the rage I’ve always feared lived inside me grips me by the throat and won’t let go.
I get out of the car, and Ryder starts talking before I even hit the sidewalk. “Okay, let’s not panic, but you’re right. We can’t find her.”
With every word, I grow more remote.
Ryder holds up Jessica’s cell. “Hailey and Jessica share their locations, and we found the phone lying in an empty parking spot. I didn’t notice anything in the vicinity, but I have Sadie working on blocking it off just in case.”
Hailey’s chin quivers as her big blue eyes well. “I can’t remember when I last saw her.”
I study the parking lot as if it will reveal some secret to me, but all I can think is, she’s gone.
Someone took her.
Someone snatched her from this fucking parking lot.
I don’t know if she’s dead or alive.
They are all watching me, waiting to see what I’m going to do. I remain mute, virtually motionless because I’m blinded by fury.
“Charlie,” Mitch says, like he’s trying to get my attention.
I want to yell that I trusted them to keep her safe and they failed.
I want to berate them for losing her.
For letting her get stolen from me.
I clench my jaw to prevent every cruel, intrusive thought raging through me from pouring out. The monster I ran away from when I left my life and moved to Revival threatens to consume me.
The door I keep shut pounds like a war drum, threatening to rupture with each punishing beat.
Under the rage, I come face-to-face with the boy I do my best to forget, and I see the sharp, lost fear in his eyes. The shame that he’s the common denominator in tragedy.
Hailey’s hand brushes my biceps.
My gaze locks on hers, and her expression is pleading, her blue eyes luminous. In that moment, I see the similarity between her and Jessica instead of their differences.
Hailey’s fear matches my own.
“Please, you have to find her.” Her voice trembles.
It shakes me from that distant state, and the world blares into sharp, agonizing focus.
There’s no place for emotions right now.
Jessica needs me.
For her, I must keep a cool, level head.
So, as I’ve done thousands of times before, I shove everything behind that door and turn to the subject at hand.
I swallow hard, clearing the tightness from my throat. “The most likely person to hurt a woman is a man close to her, so let’s start there. The ex-boyfriend? The proposal guy? Did she give any indication he was harassing her? Or unable to let go?”
There’s a shifting in the air.
Ryder and Mitch glance at each other but say nothing.
