36. Anastasia
“They can’t file me as a missing person when my dad has a text clearly stating I’m fine, and he spoke to me on the phone,” I grumble in the passenger seat as Rhett drives.
“He may be your dad, but he’s also the President of the United States, little bird.”
He’s concerned about the police detail that might be set on finding me. I am too. Rix is keeping tabs on law enforcement, but I realize the risk I’m putting Rhett and Xoid in by disobeying my powerful, influential father.
“I wish he wasn’t,” I mutter. I don’t know how much I mean it. I love my dad despite our tension right now, and I’m proud he’s living his dream, but I wish I could be a nobody. Nobody but Rhett’s.
Rhett sighs. “I know.”
I gave him my phone last night, and somehow he’s confident they won’t be able to trace it. For now. The longer I hide from my dad, the more advanced his search will become. I considered throwing it out, but Rhett was right in saying a few texts could come from anyone, so I kept it to a call at least once a week.
We get to the Den, and seeing Shadow is the first thing to lighten my mood. He’s been staying here while our situation is too unsettled. Here he’s an asset, everyone loves him, and he gets to be spoiled by so many.
“Hey, boy,” I say, kneeling to hug him. “I’ve missed you.”
Shadow was the only thing holding me together most days for months. There’s something so unexplainably healing about canine companionship.
“Shit, Ana, do you know how out of his mind your dad is about you right now?”
Adam’s voice is the first to bound over to us. We meet him and Rix at his usual station.
Rhett says to him sharply, “You can’t keep coming here right now. It’s too much of a risk if they decide to try track you thinking it might lead them to Ana.”
Adam’s brow furrows, and Rix tips a look back at him where Adam stands behind his seat.
“I told you he’d be pissed you’re here,” Rix says.
“He’s always pissed I’m here,” Adam grumbles. Then he directs to me, “What are you thinking though? This is getting out of hand.”
“Nothing is ever in hand about what we do. Get used to it or get out,” Rix says.
He’s typing away and clicking through various channels I can’t keep up with. I cast a look between them, but the tension can be felt. I won’t pry about what’s causing it.
“That’s it then? I got you into the club and now I’m not useful?” Adam bites back.
Rix stops what he’s doing, spinning in his chair. “Are you hovering until I give you some task to do? I would have found another way into that club. Get over yourself.”
“Me?” Adam says incredulously.
Rhett edges closer to me with a tiring expression. “We shouldn’t have come here.”
“You said we needed to check on the Liam and Allie search,” I say.
His arm curves around me. “I could have called in, and I have my own equipment at home. I’d very much like to take you back.” His face inches closer with every word until his lips are hovering over mine.
“I thought they called you in for something?”
“I don’t care about whatever it is anymore.” He kisses me, bringing our bodies flush, and I wish we’d never left our bed either.
“Rhett,” Oma calls over.
Rhett groans, letting me go to glance over at the elderly woman lingering in her doorway as usual. I smile and wave to her.
“I thought you said you needed me?” Rhett asks Rix over his low bickering with Adam.
“I didn’t. Oma made me get you in.”
“You haven’t talked with anyone yet,” I say.
I wish he would talk to me about what he went through at the hands of Alistair, but I can’t force it out of him. He coaxed me to seek help with Oma, and I can’t explain how she has this natural ability to dissolve a person’s walls and let the flood drown them, then teach them how to swim.
“It can wait,” Rhett says, turning his focus back to the monitors.
“So can sex,” I say.
He hooks a brow at me in challenge. “Is that a threat?”
I shrug. “It’s motivation.”
Rhett’s eyes flex on me, debating whether I’ll hold true. “One hour,” he concedes.
A piece of me flutters with relief. It’s a start. Rhett relays some instruction to Rix before he heads over to Oma. She gives me a reassuring warm smile as Rhett slips by her inside.
I hover over to where Adam leans with arms crossed, pissed off, against the other side of the desk while Rix works. Though the tension in him comes out in his fast clacking against the keyboard and his intense scowl at the screens.
“So how long has this been going on?” I hedge, waggling a finger between them.
“There’s nothing going on,” Rix says flatly.
“Right.” My gaze flicks to Adam, who might have told me more if we were alone, but he merely gives a shallow shake of his head.
Instead he says, “I never would have guessed Liam Forbes to be the kidnapping type.”
“He hasn’t kidnapped her.” I reconsider. Well ... I suppose you could call it that, if he’s taken her to some secluded home god knows where and forced her to stay there. But I know in my heart that he wouldn’t hurt her.
“I’m going to hurt him when I get a hold of him,” Rix mutters darkly.
“She could have met a far worse fate,” I defend.
“Yeah, but to not let her tell anyone she was safe? She’d know how to get us a message, so I’m assuming he’s made sure she can’t.”
Rix is hurting about this. So is Rhett. Allie is like family, and even if Liam has kept her safe, I understand how sick with worry they are.
Something clicks in me unexpectedly at Rix’s words. “He’d know how to get me a message,” I mutter.
Oh my god.
Rix and Adam’s attention turns to me, but my mind explodes with a clue. I grab my phone out of my pocket and read Liam’s last text to me.
Meet me at Twilight.
It was the day before my world collapsed with the news of Rhett being gone.
“That sneaky little shit,” I say. I don’t know if what I think is right. It’s both brilliant and laughable, and the fact “Twilight” is capitalized gives my theory further merit.
“Want to share?” Rix drawls.
“One time I forced Liam to watch a Twilight marathon with me. He hated most of it, but he loved their home, secluded in the woods with so many glass panels for walls.”
“You’re not telling me he’s in Forks.” Rix cocks a brow, leaning back in his seat.
“You’ve watched Twilight?” Adam asks.
“Of course. It’s an emo teen classic. Rewatching it at least a dozen times is practically a given no matter how much cringe grows each time. If you haven’t, I’m envious of your emotional stability.”
That earns a partial smirk from Adam, breaking down some of their tension at least.
“No. He’s not in Forks,” I say. “But I need to go to my parents’ old home. Do you have a car I can borrow?”
“I like my balls, and if I let you leave without him, I won’t have any.”
My eyes flick to Oma’s door. “I’ll be back before he’s out.”
Give or take.
Adam says, “That place is surrounded with surveillance and still housekept. Someone is bound to see you.”
“I’ll be careful, or if they do see me, I’ll be out of there before they can contact anyone. Rhett can’t come with me, and you know he will. If I do get caught, he can’t be seen, or my little rebellion against my dad will be the least of our problems.”
Rix contemplates. He knows I’m right, but he’s also right that Rhett will be furious to find me gone.
“I’ll go with you,” Adam says, pushing off the desk.
I nod and Rix groans, running a hand down his face.
“You’d better be back as close to him coming out as you can. I won’t be able to stop him coming after you.”
He reaches into a drawer and keys rattle as he pulls them out. Adam reaches for them, but Rix snatches his hand back, cutting him a look.
“Ana drives. I don’t trust you in my baby.”
“Why the hell not?” Adam snaps.
“You’re kind of pissed at me, and your innocent-guy act doesn’t work on me.”
“I don’t have to be driving to damage your car, dick.”
Rix’s eyes flex in warning, but his mouth is trying not to curve.
I thrust out a hand, and Rix lets the keys go.
“Deep blue Chevrolet Corvette out back. Take care of it.”
“Flashier than I expected for you,” Adam mutters.
“I won it from Allie. We had a race to hack a highly risky network and find the location of one of Alistair’s trafficking leaders last year.”
He smiles in somber reflection and lingering triumph.
“I’m an excellent driver,” I sing.
Adam scoffs. “If you don’t count that one time over the summer I had to take the fall for?—”
“Let’s go!” I cut him off, smiling sweetly at Rix’s widening look.
I’m skipping out before he can change his mind.
In the elevator, I mumble, “It was barely a scratch.”
“I had to have the whole fender replaced,” Adam counters. “And it wasn’t even anything epic. Parking is not your strong suit.”
“Which is why I said I’m an excellent driver.”
He rolls his eyes at me. “I have a bad feeling about this,” he says as we cross the lot toward another warehouse.
I don’t tell him that I do too.