Chapter 38
CHAPTER 38
ATLAS
“ Y ou got a minute?” Ellis asks, dropping down onto the barstool next to me.
“What’s up?” I’m already on edge with Nora being gone, and something about his tone tells me that whatever he’s about to say isn’t going to help.
“I’ve just been thinking about your dad…”
“What about him?” I ask, hating the way the mere mention of the asshole has tension creeping up my back and into my shoulders.
“His safe, your mom, and all that bullshit.” Ellis drums his fingers against the countertop.
“I don’t really know how to say this, so I’m just gonna spit it out.”
I raise my brows at him in lieu of an actual reply.
At this point, I don’t trust myself not to be a jackass given the topic at hand.
“I think your dad killed your mom.” He swallows roughly.
“And Nora’s mom. And possibly many others.”
“Like he’s a… serial killer or some shit?” I ask, bewildered but also not.
I’ve known for a long fucking time that my dad was a piece of shit, and deep down, a little part of me always thought he killed my mom, but hearing someone else confirm these thoughts is something else entirely.
“Exactly like that,” Ellis says, nodding.
“Hear me out.”
I signal for him to continue—it’s not like there’s any love lost for my father.
If anything, I want to see him pay for all the pain he’s inflicted on the woman I love, and if whatever Ellis is about to tell me helps, then I’m all for it, even if it hurts to hear.
“You know that big case we’ve been working on?” he asks, seemingly shifting gears out of nowhere.
“Yeah…”
“Well, I can’t help but wonder if this is all related.”
“Related how?”
“Fuck, man.” Ellis rubs the back of his neck.
“I mean, we both know the death certificates are bullshit. The odds of him losing two wives to the same mystery illness… not buying it. But the paper bag you found full of random shit? Those are trophies, man.”
“Trophies… like from…”
“Women he’s killed.”
“What the fuck?” I hiss the words on a ragged exhale.
“There’s more.”
“Of course there is.”
“The passport—it’s not under his name.”
“Jesus, this is all so fucked.” I pinch the bridge of my nose as a steady throb starts up behind my eyes.
“So, what do we do now?”
The thought of him being out there somewhere—that he could still be a threat to Nora—sets my teeth on edge.
“Man, I don't even know,” Ellis starts. “I think we need to hand this info over?—”
The sound of my phone vibrating on the counter steals my attention. Maybe it's Nora. I've been trying not to blow up her phone checking in, but fuck, it's hard.
I lunge for my phone, causing Ellis to laugh as he mimes cracking a whip. Which is beyond accurate; my Pip has me wrapped around her little finger and then some.
But it's not Nora. It's Scarlet, which immediately sets off warning bells. Why in the hell is she calling me instead of Nora?
“Hel-”
“She's gone!” she screams. “Atlas, I don't know where she is.”
My heart smashes into my ribs, slamming against the bone cage as if it’s trying to break free. “What do you mean gone ?” I ask, my voice shaking, right along with the rest of me.
“Put it on speaker,” Ellis murmurs.
I tap the button and then lay my phone on the counter. Scarlet’s incoherent nonsense immediately fills the space, as she tries to tell me where my girl is.
“Shut up, take a breath, and then explain to me how you lost her,” I growl. This, right here, is my literal worst nightmare come to life. I vowed to protect Nora, and now she’s God knows where. A million scenarios all flit through my mind, each one more horrific than the last.
The sound of Scarlet's ragged inhale fills the room, wrapping itself around me, squeezing all of the air out of my body, leaving only rage in its wake.
“I-I left my phone in The Smoke Shack and ran back in to get it, and when I came b-back, she was...” A sob rips out of her that sounds nearly as broken as I feel.
“She was what?” I demand, even though I already know what she’s going to say.
“She was gone.”
My heart catapults itself into my throat as I flex my fingers into white-knuckle fists to keep from smashing things.
Luckily, Ellis is able to keep a cool head and slips right into cop mode.
“Scarlet, I need you to tell me everything you remember leading up to her going missing, okay? No matter how insignificant it seems.”
She sucks in another deep breath and then launches into a recount of their day, from the spa all the way up to lunch.
“I swear I was only gone a couple of minutes. We took a selfie, and I left my phone on the table. She... she said she would be okay and for me to go. And I hurried, I swear to God I did, but when I got back, her door was open and she was just... gone.”
Ellis starts to ask her something else, but there’s no point—not when I know .
“God fucking dammit!” I roar, snatching my phone off the counter. “He has her.”
Scarlet whimpers, and Ellis tries to reason with me. “Atlas, you don’t know for?—”
“The fuck I don’t.” I open the app I prayed I’d never have to use, watching with bated breath as her location loads. “That piece of shit has my girl at his hunting cabin!” I roar, shoving my phone into his face.
She’s at his cabin. The very same one I looked for him at not so long ago. He has her and is doing God knows what to her... to our baby.
A haze of red clouds my vision as anger unlike anything I’ve ever known pulses through my body like a tsunami headed for shore. “I'm going to fucking kill him,” I hiss through gritted teeth as I grab my keys and shove them into my front pocket before grabbing my gun from the safe.
“Slow down, man,” Ellis says, stepping into my space
“Move.” I clench my jaw so tightly that my molars grind together as I press forward, but he stops me with a palm to my chest, pushing me back.
“Let me call it in, Atlas.” His eyes beg me to see reason, but reason went out the window the second Scarlet told me Nora was gone. “Let’s do this right.”
“He. Has. Her.” I shove him back, fully prepared to lay my best friend out on his ass if need be. “Now get the fuck out of my way or?—”
“Go.” He sighs, stepping back. “But, Atlas, I'm still calling it in.”
I toss a hand up over my shoulder in acknowledgment as I race to my truck.
I crank the engine and slip my gun into the center console before tearing down the driveway like the devil himself is after me. But that’s not right—it’s me who’s after the devil, and I’m going to send that miserable son of a bitch back to hell permanently.
I’m coming, Pip…