I’ve just wasted an hour on this loser, and it’s a dead end.
Of that I’m absolutely sure.
I’ve spent most of my life reading men. It’s a skill that’s kept me alive and my organization strong. And my gut tells me he doesn’t know why Nessa would be abducted.
This isn’t Ben’s mess.
Fuck.
I step back from him.
“If I find out you’re lying to me, I will come back here, and our conversation will be significantly less friendly.”
He nods frantically. “I’m not lying, I fucking swear to you, man.”
I don’t answer him. I’m already walking away and removing my phone from my jacket pocket.
If this isn’t Ben’s mess, then it’s got to be about Leonore.
Alarm crawls into the base of my spine.
Nessa wasn’t taken because of who she is. She was taken because of who she’s close to.
This is a trap.
And it’s set for Leonore.
Cutting through the club, I hurry toward the exit, my phone pressed to my ear, and my jaw clenched so tight I can feel the pressure in my temples.
“Pick up,” I mutter. “Pick up, pick up, pick up.”
Leonore’s phone rings and rings and then goes to voicemail.
The panic bursts inside my chest, and I start running.
45
LEONORE
Larissa is sound asleep. She’s on her side with her little fingers curled into the pillow.
But I won’t get any sleep tonight.
Instead, I stare at the ceiling in the dark and let the guilt eat me alive as I bounce one knee, fighting to keep the raging bitch inside me alive.
Nessa has always been like a sister to me. Things have been strained lately, but our bond is strong, and I shouldn’t have turned my back on her because I was frustrated and pissed off.
She lied. She hid things. And she chose Ben knowing exactly the kind of man he is. That wasn’t nothing.
She’s the closest thing I’ve had to a sister since I lost my real one, and I pulled away from her because I didn’t trust the choices she was making, or the way she was shutting me out while pretending everything was fine.
I told myself I was protecting myself from watching her make a mess I didn’t want to be a part of.
But now she’s gone.
None of the shit she did stops being true, but it just doesn’t matter more than finding her alive.
The guilt is suffocating. I never should have let the distance between Nessa and me grow.
