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“No,” I tell her, though I feel like I’m stabbing myself in the heart with the lie. “I didn’t say I want her. But let’s not forget here that you’re married, Mel. You aren’t exactly promising me a future, are you?”
She flinches like I physically struck her, and her face distorts into a sneer again. “You knew I had a husband when we started. I also told you when things got serious that I was all in. I may never be willing to give up my husband, but you knew I wouldn’t allow cheating. Call it double standards if you like, but I made my expectations clear from the start.”
“You did, and I’m sorry that this happened. What do I have to do to get you to forgive me?” I ask, hating the way the words make me nauseated.
She shakes her head. “You will never get my forgiveness. You and that little whore of yours clearly have no idea who you’re messing with. You both underestimated me, and now you will regret it. I’m Melanie Whitlock, and nobody messes with me. So,we can end this now, but when I’m through with her, you may not want your little whore back at all.”
My eyes widen as her threat rings loud in my ears. I grit my teeth and try to control my breathing. “What do you mean?” The words come out in a rush, and I try not to let my brain run away from me.
Mel laughs, the sort of evil chuckle you expect to hear from a Disney villain, and for the first time in my life, I have the overwhelming urge to hurt a woman. Not that I ever would, but she’s testing my patience right now.
“Nobody takes what’s mine, and your filthy little whore is about to learn that the hard way,” Mel sings, her eyes lighting up in the most evil way.
I don’t think; I pull my phone out and find McKenna’s number. I notice she hasn’t returned my earlier text, but I ignore that and call her number. The phone rings and rings, and with each unanswered cycle, my stomach feels heavier. The nausea is rising and my heart races as panic begins to set in.
Eventually, her unanswered call goes to voicemail, and I quickly try it again. When it happens for the third time, I’m more than panicking. I’m murderous. I look up, determined to get answers from Mel, only to realise she must have left the restaurant while I was dialling. I throw some bills on the table, more than enough to cover dinner, and I rush outside, apologising to our server as I go.
Once outside, it doesn’t take me long to find Mel a little further down the road. I quickly run after her, and as soon as I reach her, I grab hold of the top of her arm and drag her behind me. My movements are so quick, I pull her into the alley around the corner before she even gets the chance to make a noise.
“Where is McKenna? Tell me what you’ve done with her, now!” I shout, barely able to contain the sheer desperation in my voice as my body shakes.
Mel’s face lights up again and she smiles, like she’s genuinely enjoying this little game she’s created. “I don’t think I want to tell you,” she sings.
The rage simmering just below the surface crackles, and I can’t hold back. I grab hold of the front of her dress, pulling it into my fist as I slam her back against the brick wall behind her. Mel grunts and moans as she hits the stone with more force than I intended, but I can’t find it in myself to give a shit about if I’m hurting her.
“Tell me,” I growl, but before I get the chance to threaten her any further, I hear a faint noise that I recognise instantly.
When I look to my left, two of Mel’s bodyguards have arrived, and they both have guns pointed at me. The faint noise I’d recognised was them cocking their triggers. I’ve grown up around guns, and would know that noise anywhere. I’m very aware that I’m not carrying one right now, and even if I were, at least one of her guards would get a shot off before I could pull it out. In other words, I’m fucked.
With no other options, I let go of Mel and take a step back, ignoring the smug look on her face as she tries to smooth down her dress like nothing happened.
“I’m not going to tell you where she is, but I will tell you not to waste your time looking for her. The only thing she has going for her is a pretty face and a tight cunt. When I’m done with her, she won’t have either, so you definitely won’t want her. I wish things would have turned out differently. I really thought you had potential, but nevermind.” She shrugs her shoulders as though it’s nothing.
As she takes a step towards me, she stands up on her tip-toes and presses her lips against my cheek. It takes every ounce of willpower not to respond, but my brain is too busy panicking to do anything else. Dread slides through my veins like ice as Melwalks away. The clacking of her ridiculously expensive shoes are like bullets to my heart.
As soon as she’s gone, I rush back to my car. I try McKenna’s phone again twice on the way, despair settling in each time the ring goes unanswered. Mel’s words echo around my head.The only thing she has is a beautiful face and a tight cunt, and soon she won’t have them… Whatever the fuck she’s implying, it’s not good.
I can’t hold back the rage anymore, and I let out a long, loud scream as I bash my hands down on the steering wheel repeatedly. “Fuck!”
I scream until my voice is hoarse and my hands ache from the fury as I pound them against every surface of my car. I’m sure from the outside, anyone can see the car moving, and they can probably hear me, but I don’t give a shit. My universe is falling down around me, and I don’t have a clue what to do.
Tears fill my eyes, and I school myself before I allow them to fall. Crying comes with despair, and I don’t have time to feel sad. I need to hold on to the anger, the uncertainty, so I can use that to fuel my search for McKenna.
Sadness comes when all hope is lost, and you can bet your fucking life I won’t ever give up on her. So I push the tears away, take a big, deep breath, and calm myself down. Mac needs me at my best, not falling apart.
Once I’m in control of myself, I open my phone again and call the one person I know will be able to help—Kellan.
He answers after a couple of rings, sounding much more flustered than expected. “Everything okay?” he asks.
“No. Mel knows about me and McKenna. She made some threats and now I can’t get hold of Mac. Tell me you know where she is and she’s okay?” I ask, closing my eyes as I allow hope to fill my heart for a few seconds.
As I dialled Kel’s number, I reminded myself that we put bugs in Whitlock’s home so we could keep McKenna safe. She has GPS tracking on her phone, and I placed a secret tracker in the lining of her bag. My family has been watching out for her, and I should have remembered that before I lost my shit.
But the longer Kellan’s silence drags on, the more those thoughts fly out of the window. “I’m sorry, Finn. It’s been mad here. Mortimer changed the date of Shane’s meeting to tonight, and when he turned up, Bran didn’t show. I’ve been scouring footage, trying to work out why he didn’t attend. I wasn’t focused on the house, as I knew Mortimer wasn’t there. I’ve just checked, and it looks like McKenna never showed up for work this morning.”
“Fuck!” I shout, slamming my hand on the steering wheel again as Kellan swears on his end, too.
“Look, Finn, come to the house and we can all work together to get this sorted. Something isn’t right. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Mel insisted on meeting you at the same time Whitlock changed his meeting with Shane. And if that’s the case, Brandon not showing up is related, too. As is McKenna being missing. Get over here now and we will sort this out.”
