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Judd ran his hand over his face in frustration. “What do we do now?”
“We made a mistake,” Beck said, looking ill. “So now we find her and we apologize.”
“And beg her to take us back,” Hux added.
Judd laced his fingers behind his neck. Fuck. He hated this. Hated not knowing where she was. If she was safe.
They’d completely messed up.
Especially him. And she was never going to forgive him
“He told her to distract us,” Judd said. “That part wasn’t a lie, right? She looked guilty.”
That was the part he had the most trouble with. Had she been with them because she liked them? Or because she’d been ordered to by her boss. Her father.
And that was something else that she hadn’t told them.
“She said that he did ask her to keep your attention on her, but that she spent time with you all because she liked you,” Caleb explained.
“Hey, where’s Owen?” Aleki asked.
“What do you mean . . . he’s . . .” Judd looked around. “Where the fuck did he go?”
“Shit,” Beck said.
“He took off when you gave him the necklace,” Wolfe said. “I’d say he’s on his way to the airport. That’s what I’d do if my girl had taken off on me. Then she wouldn’t sit for a week.”
Judd turned back to Caleb. “We’re taking a leave of absence.”
Caleb nodded. “Figured.”
They took off running. Maybe they could catch up to Owen before he boarded a plane.
Bastard needed to learn to wait for them.
Chloe got out of the taxi and looked up at the house she’d lived in for years.
It had never been her home.
It had been more like her prison for most of her time here. What was she going to do?
Fatigue had her swaying on her feet. When was the last time she’d slept? Since before Jonathan had lost his mind.
“Hey, miss, you okay?” the taxi driver looked back at her. “Isn’t this where you wanted to go?”
She wanted to say no. To tell him to drop her off somewhere else. But she needed to get some things before . . . well, she didn’t know if Jonathan was coming back here. But she wanted to be gone by the time he did.
“Do you think you can wait for me? I’ll only be ten minutes.”
“Sure, I’ll wait.”
Shakily, she made her way up the front stairs. This house had been in Jonathan’s family for generations. It screamed old wealth. She hesitated at the door, her hand shaking.
You can do this.
After using her key to unlock the door, she walked in. It was so quiet. But then . . . it often was. Most of the time it had been just her here. What would it have been like to grow up here? To be a child in this cold, lifeless house?
She couldn’t really imagine it.
Forcing those thoughts to one side, she moved up the stairs to her bedroom. She didn’t have a lot of money. Jonathan had never really paid her. He’d told her that she was working off her debt.
The money he’d used to save her, and to imprison her all at once.
But the one thing he’d never been stingy about was the things she wore. He’d always insisted that she had to look perfect. All the time.
Grabbing a bag from the storage room, she filled it with all the jewelry she could find. She didn’t know why he’d bought it for her when he was obviously broke.
But appearances were everything to him.
Screw that asshole. He was probably going to jail for a long time.
He’d tried to kill Pippa.
Head throbbing, heart torn into pieces, she grabbed some clothes, then carried the bag downstairs. She thought about taking some food, knowing money would be tight.
But that felt like stealing. This stuff, she’d earned. Everything else . . . that didn’t belong to her.
Shutting the door behind her, she made sure it was locked before she took off the keys and slid them through the slot in the door.
Then she hauled her suitcase to the taxi.
“Where to now, love?”
“The airport.”
Fourteen hours later, she stepped into a grubby motel room. After paying for a one-way flight to Florida, she didn’t want to waste more money on accommodation.
This would do for now. At least until she could sell some of her jewelry. She probably wouldn’t get much, but she just needed a nest egg to help her breathe.
What was she going to do? She had nowhere to live. She didn’t know anyone here, but she’d felt like she needed to come back in order to move on.
A wave of dizziness washed through her. When was the last time she’d eaten? Drunk anything? She hadn’t slept for more than thirty minutes at a time since she was arrested. Sitting on the edge of the bed, she took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. She reached up for her necklace, only to realize it wasn’t there.
