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Her mind raced as she searched for some way to get out of this mess she’d landed herself in. She could scream, but there was no guarantee he wouldn’t just shoot her and leave. She could fight, but he had a good foot in height and at least fifty pounds on her.
Which really only left her with one option. With a curt nod, she turned and walked up the driveway, praying he had enough sense to wait until they were inside to kill her. If she could stall long enough, someone would show up. Probably James himself, once MaryAnn told him she’d gone to the house alone.
At the front door, she gathered her courage and turned to face him. “Why are you doing this?” Even if he killed her today, she at least wanted to know that much first.
“We can talk about it inside. Open the door.”
Rapidly running out of options, she punched in the code for the front door. It swung open, and Olivia nearly fell to her knees. The last shred of hope she’d clung to slipped through her fingers.
There in the entryway, wearing her usual mousy smile, stood MaryAnn.
* * *
“Olivia Jane, I swearto God if you don’t answer your phone or text me back in the next five minutes, sitting comfortably will be a fond memory. Call me. Now.”
Doing his best to ignore the dread forming in the pit of his stomach, James hit the button to end the call. It was the fifth time he’d called her in the last twenty minutes, and the third voicemail he’d left.
“I’m sure she’s fine, James. Probably just had a wardrobe emergency or something.” From her seat at the kitchen table, Shannon sent him a reassuring smile.
But he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. “She would have called me. At the very least to let me know she was running late.”
“You’re probably right.” Frowning, she tapped a finger on the table. “Don’t you have like a ‘Find my phone’ thing? I thought she downloaded an app or something because she was always losing it for a while.”
“I thought that app just made the phone ring.”
Shannon shrugged. “Most of them give you a location. Worth a shot, right?”
Since it was at least worth trying, he opened the app on his phone and tapped the icon for Olivia’s device. The spinning circle in the middle of his screen seemed to taunt him as he waited. And waited. And waited, until it finally pinpointed his wayward wife’s location.
“That’s odd. It says she’s stopped somewhere. I know that address,” he mumbled, moving to the laptop he’d set up on the counter.
The small ball of fear in his stomach became a boulder when the address popped up as one of their available listings. “Fuck! Shannon, call Bryant and give him this address.” He thrust the laptop at her before heading toward the front door.
“Wait! I’m coming with you!”
“No!” He felt like an asshole when she visibly flinched, but he didn’t have time to play nice. “I need you to cancel the open house and let Bryant know what’s going on. I can’t handle that and help Liv.”
“You think he has her.”
“Yeah. I think he has her.”
Shannon’s eyes seemed huge in her suddenly pale face. “Okay. I’ll take care of this. Go save her.”
Running out the door, he pulled up a contact he’d hoped he’d never have to use and hit the button to call.
“Detective Rogers.”
“This is James Monroe. Olivia is in danger.”
“Where is she?” The detective’s voice was instantly alert.
Yanking open the door of his SUV, James gave her the address. “I’m on my way there now.”
“No! Mr. Monroe, I need you to stay where you are.”
“Fuck that. This is my wife, Detective. I’ll see you there.” Without giving her a chance to argue further, he hit the button to end the call and started the car. When the Bluetooth connected, he called Bryant.
“He has Olivia.”
