Page 127 of Captivated

Maybe he had needed that sleep.

Fuck.

What time was it?

Joe checked his watch with one hand, and then reached for Liliana with the other. His hand came up with nothing—air on her side of the bed—at the same time he realized it was closing in on ten in the morning.

Ten.

In the morning.

What the fuck?

“Liliana?”

Joe turned his head, but found the same thing his hand had. Nothing and no one was on Liliana’s side of the bed. Only crumpled blankets, and a pillow with the indent where her head had once rested.

He sat up.

“Liliana!”

He wasn’t going to panic.

No need to fucking panic.

Not yet.

“Liliana?”

Silence answered him back. The fucking hotel room wasn’t that big. It was only the bedroom and sitting room as one damn room, and the bathroom. That was it. It wasn’t like she couldn’t have heard him if she was in the bathroom. And she wasn’t.

He knew it.

The bathroom door was open, the light shut off, and he didn’t hear anything.

Jesus.

Fuck.

A part of him kept screaming, It’s fine, it’s fine, it’s fine.

After all, no one but her father knew where they were, and Joe hadn’t even given Lucian a proper location. There was no possible way someone had found them here—they weren’t registered at the hotel under their real names, and they’d barely left the room for the whole day and half they had been there.

It just wasn’t possible.

Another part of him … a part that somehow just knew … was screaming louder.

She’s gone.

She’s gone.

She’s gone.

A mantra he couldn’t escape.

Joe kicked the sheets off, and snatched the phone from the bedside table. He didn’t know why he thought to call down to the front desk, but he figured if Liliana had left for whatever reason, she likely would have used the front entrance.

Two rings later, and the concierge picked up.