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“It’s been confirmed she’s not in Russia or Italy.”
“Good.” I didn’t think the Bratva or Mafia would be so bold to storm into a public museum—during the fucking day—wearing Halloween masks. Wasn’t really their style. But the Mexican cartel was ballsy enough and so were the gangs in NoCal I’d done business with in the past. “And no sign of Martina?”
“No, sir.”
“Fine.” I waved at him to leave.
Guilt tried to rear its ugly head. My dirty dealings had jeopardized Shelby’s life. If I hadn’t wanted her so much, she’d be living her best life right now instead of missing.
At least a dozen times I had considered calling her family, but then I talked myself out of it. No reports had been issued about hers and Martina’s disappearance. Not surprising. Whoever took them had been professionals and had covered their tracks and collected every museum visitor’s device in a matter of ten minutes, which had been fucking fast. The security cameras had been deleted from a remote IP. They’d even manipulated mine. Nobody was talking, not the civilians or the museum staff. Fuck, it enraged me.
All I knew was my woman was missing, and I felt helpless trying to find her.
Fear threatened to consume me. I couldn’t imagine never being with her again and wanted to apologize for my horrible behavior last week. I’d crossed the line and hurt her.
I buried my face in my hands and roared until my lungs were empty.
Shelby’s favorite time of year was approaching. If I didn’t find her, I’d be forced to contact her family and possibly come face to face with her ex.
God, I hated her ex.
Why any woman would want to be with a farmer was beyond me. But I could tell he loved her, which had made me unhinged, to the point I’d paid off her lady doctor to stop giving her the birth control shot. I even pushed myself on her and got physical.
Desperation turned the best of us into monsters.
Before meeting Cade, everything had been perfect between Shelby and me. I’d never been happier. And he had to fuck it all up. Out of spite, I should destroy him for coming between me and my woman.
But I needed to be patient. Pull myself together for when Shelby was returned to me because I had a lot of mistakes to make up for.
And if she rejected me, I didn’t know what I’d do.
27
Cade
Phantom and I admired the sunrise as we did every morning. We always started the day with an early ride to the northern end of my property. Before Shelby had returned to my life, I had cursed every new day that began without her. I’d bitched a lot and my poor horse had been forced to endure my crazy rants.
I stroked the side of Phantom’s neck. “It’s a beautiful sunrise, ain’t it, buddy? And a special day.” November twenty-third was Shelby’s birthday, and for the first time in twelve years, I would get to celebrate it with her.
I imagined Phantom, my black quarter horse, probably didn’t know what to think about my changed behavior over the past few weeks. Our routine had remained the same, but I’d been a hell of a lot happier.
Since the night she’d seduced me, we made love every morning and night, and sometimes in between. I snickered and shook my head. Yeah, in true Shelby form, she’d taken the lead on having sex. I’d known she would,eventually. She’d shocked the hell out of me since it had been so soon after her assault, though.
My Honeybee was resilient as fuck. Her grit and determination to move past her assault blew my mind. But I believed had she not known her attacker, she wouldn’t haverecovered so quickly. From what she told me, the physical abuse hadn’t gone on for very long.
However, in my mind’s eye, the short time didn’t negate the fact that he’d assaulted her after she’d said no. It didn’t matter how many times Shelby assured me that those events were in the past and she was okay. A person never forgot the evil done to them.
But I understood where Shelby was coming from. She wanted life to get back to normal as fast as possible, and mostly, it had. We’d fallen into a comfortable flow, like a two-step waltz. She followed my lead sometimes, and I followed her other times.
All the years we’d been apart hadn’t cracked the foundation we’d built. Sure, we were older and changed a bit, but at the end of a long day, we were still Cade and Shelby—best friends, lovers, and soul mates. We’d just taken the back roads to find our way home to each other and had gotten lost along the way. At long last, we were finally right where we were meant to be.
I clicked my tongue to get Phantom moving. “This here is the perfect spot, buddy. I can envision it. A two-story farmhouse with a front porch facing east so we can have our sunrises and a back patio facing west for Shelby to have her sunset.”
Phantom nodded as his heels clopped on the firm dirt. It was cold out, barely in the teens. Winter arrived a few days ago, but there was no snow yet. The white stuff would come soon enough, and Shelby couldn’t wait to catch snowflakes on her tongue and watch the country turn into a winter wonderland.
Thanksgiving was in a few days, marking the first day of Shelby’s favorite time of year. The holidays, the food to go with them, and her family meant everything to her. I’d taken so much of what she loved for granted when we were together, then I lost her. I wouldn’t make the same mistakes again.
My phone vibrated against my chest, startling me. Who could be calling me? It wasn’t even seven. Panic shot through melike a bolt of lightning.Shelby. I shifted my weight forward on Phantom and nudged him with my heels to go faster, then retrieved my device.
