CHAPTER 46Levi
Levi
Levi was struggling to rein in his temper, knowing he was seconds from reaching his breaking point. No matter how hard he tried to stay calm, his worst fear kept replaying in his head, the scratchy echo of a broken record grinding away at the last shred of his defenses.
She left with another man…She left with another man…
He was about to detonate.
Owen’s sharp curse snapped everyone’s attention his way. With his back still turned to them, he shoved his phone into his pocket and straightened, his shoulders squared and his face a mask of pure determination.
“Give me your car keys,” Owen ordered, his hand outstretched toward Levi.
Levi opened his mouth to argue, his fists clenched and ready for a fight, but Owen cut him off with a hard glare. “ Now. I’ll explain in the car.”
He cast Charles a cutting look. “I left my contact info with Edwin and gave clear instructions. Check in with him and keep me updated. Be ready for my call.”
Something inside Levi coiled tight, making each breath feel like a task. Owen’s hand remained outstretched, his silent demand dominating his senses.
At last, Levi yanked the keys from his pocket and slapped them into Owen’s palm.
Gripping them tightly, Owen met both Levi’s and Isaac’s eyes. “Let’s get our girl.”
The car tore through the city at a reckless pace, the screech of tires and roar of the engine doing little to distract Levi from the storm raging in his mind.
Owen had already explained an abridged version of what he knew. The tracking device he planted in Aurelia’s phone a month ago. His growing suspicions about Selene. His unease over the entire situation.
Isaac, pale and visibly rattled, sat in the back seat, his face etched with worry.
“I have to ask,” Isaac leaned forward between the seats. “Is she the only one, or do all of us have trackers in our phones?”
Owen lifted a single eyebrow at him through the rearview mirror.
Isaac slumped back against the leather seat, muttering under his breath, “Wow.”
“We’re almost there,” Owen began, his voice tight. “Here’s the plan—”
Levi didn’t hear a single word of it.
His world had stopped the moment Owen confirmed Aurelia’s phone was at the Terra Nova Hotel…and she hadn’t arrived there alone.
He didn’t hear the part about Owen still digging through Aurelia’s background. Or the concern about prior police reports of domestic violence from her past relationship with a man named Kyle Morris.
He didn’t hear that there had been a temporary restraining order, forgetting when Aurelia had shared bits and pieces of this part of her life over dinner.
Or that hotel security had confirmed through surveillance footage that she had entered room 415, heavily leaning against the man who took her there.
All Levi could see were flashes of every betrayal he had ever suffered. Every woman who had left him. Every compromising position he had been subjected to viewing. He tried to stop it and focus on the present, but he couldn’t prevent the onslaught of memories.
Because this time was worse.
Because this time, he had fallen in love with his wife.
And tonight, she inherited millions of dollars and left with another man.
What does she need me for now?
The looming silhouette of the Terra Nova Hotel rose before them like a cruel mirage. A beacon promising answers Levi wasn’t sure he could survive.
Isaac and Owen exchanged tense looks, reading Levi’s stiff posture and barely controlled fury as he climbed out of the car and strode toward the hotel.
He didn’t wait for them.
Didn’t even remember his friends were there.
He powered toward the entrance alone and ready to face whatever truth waited for him on the other side.