Chapter 33
THIRTY-THREE
SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW
Gabe
Ipull out my room key and open the door.
Eli steps out from the sitting room. “She’s not here,” he says.
The hair on the back of my neck stands on end.
“What do you mean she’s not here?”
“Well, after you fucking broke her, destroyed her, that jackass showed up and offered to take her for fucking ice cream,” he says. “I tried to get her to let me take her instead, but she said a life of what he was willing to give her was safer than loving you.”
“What jackass?” I ask, but I already know.
“Randolph,” he bites out, and fuck me, the answers slam into me like a brick wall. We’ve been looking in the wrong direction. It’s him.
“Call her,” I order. “Now. Get Adrienne on the phone and tell her to get somewhere safe.”
“What?” he asks.
“It’s Randolph,” I tell him. “That’s our guy.”
“I didn’t…” he stammers. “I didn’t know.”
“I didn’t either until right now. He was always around when an incident occurred. No one else was there every time,” I explain. “Just call her.”
I pull my own phone from my pocket and dial Manny. “Where are you?” I ask when he answers.
“A block away from the hotel.”
“Which way are you coming from?” I ask, and when he replies, I tell him that I’ll meet him downstairs.
“Boss, she’s not answering,” Eli says. He looks stricken, but I can’t babysit him now. I have to get my girl back.
“We’ve got to go,” I tell him. “Manny is five minutes out.”
“Okay,” he says.
“We’re going to get her back.”
“I just… I didn’t know.”
“I know,” I tell him. “Now let it go.”
“Okay.”
I’m sure it doesn’t help that his mom was murdered by a psychopath who was stalking his aunt. Life sure seems full of sick fucks, and Eli has seen more than his fair share of them.
We find Manny and jump into his SUV. I try to track Adrienne’s phone through the app while Eli keeps trying to call her.
She doesn’t answer, doesn’t answer… and then she does.
“Adrienne?” Eli breathes. “Are you there?”
“Yeah, Eli,” she says, her voice coming over the speakers, and she sounds groggy as hell.
The icon for her phone on the app is still blinking like it doesn’t know where she is.
If it doesn't come up, I’ll have to call Hacker back at base and get him to look into it, but I don’t want it to take too long and waste precious time.
“We’re on our way, honey,” he says.
“It’s going to be too late,” she replies, and I want to scream.
“It won’t,” Eli says. “We’ll find you. We’ll get there in time.”
“You won’t,” she assures. “Listen. I was wrong to tell you that it was a mistake to fall in love. I’ll never regret falling for Gabe, no matter how little time I have left. I love him, and I’m glad he knows, even if he doesn’t love me back.”
“He loves you, Addie.”
“I don’t think so, but that’s okay. Find August,” she says. “Promise me, Eli. Promise that you’ll find her and you’ll make things right.”
“We’ll talk about this when I get there.”
“Promise me.”
“I prom—”
But the line goes dead.
And the screen of my own phone lights up. “I got her.”