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“Did you call Ben?” Garret was pacing, his worry for his mom filling the room. It was the first real sign of emotion he’d shown in months. Since his return from Colombia with the MC, bringing Ramirez’s corpse with them, he’d been just as emotionally empty as I was.
“He filed a missing persons report. He’s notified everyone all the way up to Canada and down to Mexico. It’s just hard to look for someone when we don’t know what direction she went, or even what kind of vehicle she left in.”
“I’ll call Desi,” I offered. “Get him to check out all the CCTV cameras around Creswell Springs, see if there is anything that stands out from last night.”
“We already have someone doing that. And Raven has been questioning all the neighbors, checking to see if anyone might have seen anything or anyone who doesn’t belong.” A strangled sob came through the speaker. “Boys…what if she… Fuck. She hasn’t been the same since Nova died. All she does is cry. What if she…”
I stroked my knuckles over the inked face on my arm, wishing Nova were there so she could tell her dad that he was thinking crazy thoughts. But the truth was, without her, we’d all fallen apart, and those thoughts weren’t as crazy as some would assume. I’d be lying if I said the thought of ending my existence hadn’t crossed my mind. So many times, I’d wanted to just swallow a bullet, put myself out of my misery and find a way back to Nova. But every time I’d been about to do just that, the image of Nova’s disappointed face would fill my mind, and I couldn’t do it.
“Dad, stop,” Garret commanded angrily. “Mom would never do that. I know she’s been having a hard time, but she wouldn’t do that to us.”
“But what if—”
“She wouldn’t leave us like that,” Garret snapped. “Get those thoughts out of your head.”
“Maybe she got a ride to the airport and is on her way here,” I suggested, wanting to steer both of them away from those dark thoughts. “I’ll have someone check all the airlines, see if she’s a passenger on any flights to New York—or anywhere else, just to cover our bases. Is her passport missing?”
“Fuck, I didn’t even think to look.” The sound of stomping feet was followed by the shifting of papers. “It’s gone,” he muttered. “Her passport is missing.”
I was already texting Desi, telling him to check all flights, including internationally. Before I dropped the phone back on the bed, I had a quick thought and told him to check the airport cameras, as well as the flight plans for any private carriers in and out of not only the airport we always used when we went to Creswell Springs, but also the smaller airports.
While I’d been texting with Desi, Garret had been reassuring
his dad that everything would be all right.
We would find Felicity.
I owed it to Nova.
45
Nova
Even with Mom to persuade Cali, it took three weeks before she finally gave in and allowed Dr. Ortega to admit her to the hospital in Bogotá. And only then because she’d started to bleed more heavily, causing Mom to panic and use her hard-ass mom voice that had even Guzman standing up a little straighter and Maria running to hide in the kitchen.
Not even Garret when he’d been at his worst had been able to ignore her when Mom used that tone. Cali, who hadn’t had a maternal role model in her life in several years, burst into tears and sobbed her agreement, apologizing repeatedly for being so stubborn.
Mom simply wrapped her in a comforting hug and nodded for me to call the doctor. By that same afternoon, she was in a private room on the maternity floor, surrounded by competent staff and round-the-clock security that both Guzman and I oversaw.
Mom, Maria, and I took shifts keeping Cali company. Normally, I slept there and then Maria would relieve me so I could work, and Mom would take over halfway through the day. Cali wanted for nothing, and with the nurses taking care of her, she seemed to be healing a little better. But Mom’s energy seemed to be fading before my eyes. We’d been working in shifts to be with Cali at the hospital for a month now and we were all tired, but Mom’s lack of energy didn’t seem to be from a lack of good quality rest.
“What’s wrong, Mom?” I asked as we ate dinner together in the hospital cantina while Cali napped.
She’d been staring out the window, the heaviness of her thoughts weighing down on her and making her shoulders droop. At my question, she turned her head and gave me a small, sad smile. “Just missing everyone back at home, sweetheart. As angry as I am at your father for leaving you down here, I…” She shrugged and took a drink of her coffee. “I bet he’s going out of his mind trying to find me. It’s been seven weeks now, and honestly, I thought he might have found me by now.”
I pushed away my plate of food and picked up my drink, my appetite fading at the mention of Dad. Even as angry as I was at him and the rest of my family, guilt gnawed at me. Part of me wanted him to suffer, but at the same time, I didn’t want him to hurt as I’d been hurting. “Do you want to go home?”
“No,” she answered without hesitation. “No, sweetheart. I’m where I need to be right now. Cali and Justice need both of us more than anyone else at the moment.” She grasped my hand and gave it a firm squeeze. “But we can’t stay hidden forever. We have people who love and miss us. And no matter how much you deny it and use your anger to shield yourself, I know you miss them too.”
“So what if I miss them?” I groused, knowing I sounded petulant but unable to stop myself.
“Ryan—”
“Mom,” I bit out, fighting against the ache hearing his name caused. “We’ve talked about this. I don’t want to talk about him.”
“Well, too bad, because I’m not going to sit here a moment longer and let you continue to think that he gave up on you.” She placed her coffee cup on the table, her beautiful face turning stern. “They told me what they found, Nova. It was so hard to listen while Anya gave me details of how they found Ciana and what they thought was you.”
“They should have known it wasn’t me.” I pulled up the sleeve of my jacket and showed her the ink on my wrist. “This alone should have been plenty.”
