Chapter 54 Isaac
CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
isaac
She’s gone.
Vanished. Just poof. Into thin air.
“You haven’t heard from her at all?” Wyatt asks as I mope into his house.
Production resumed filming today, the company having decided that Elena and me getting married was enough to invalidate the concerns and legal ramifications of a contract breach.
But no one can get in touch with her, not even Ivy.
“Oh, I got a text. ‘Thanks for the ride, cowboy.’”
And a kiss emoji. But I don’t tell him that part.
I’d responded with a hurricane of questions. Where are you? Can I call you? Can I come see you? Are you okay?
An apology for hurting her with a vow never to allow that to happen again and a half a dozen pleas for her forgiveness.
She’d responded with absolutely nothing. No three dots indicating she was even considering messaging me back. Not even a covert fuck you disguised a thumbs up emoji.
This woman is going to be the death of me.
She’s not answering her phone and hasn’t checked into the local hotel or any of the surrounding ones.
I know because I’ve called everyone I know. And I know most everyone in the tri-county area.
It’s not exactly like she has friends around here she could be staying with.
“I feel like shit,” I tell Wyatt, dropping into a seat at his kitchen table trying not to think about the debauchery that has occurred on it.
I’m no one to judge. If I get my girl back, I’m going to make slow sweet love to her on every available surface.
Then punish her like she likes, then worship every inch of her. Rinse. Repeat.
It’s like her kinks were made for my ADHD brain.
She was made for me.
I know it as sure as I know my own damn name.
And now she’s gone.
Because I lost her. Because I’m a fucking moron.
I set my hat on the nearby counter and drag a hand through my hair.
“I’m sure she’ll turn up,” Wyatt says, busying himself at the counter. “Coffee?”
“The last thing I need is to be more jacked up right now,” I admit. “I know Elena is pissed at me, but I also know how seriously she takes her job. If she doesn’t reach out to Ivy in the next hour, I’m going to start climbing the fucking walls.”
My brother frowns as he fills a thermos with black coffee then adds a shit-ton of sugar to it.
“Since when do you put sugar in your coffee? And why do you need enough to give you diabetes?”
He smirks as he adds an obscene amount of cream. “It’s for Ivy. With the severe weather coming, they’re going to be filming late into the night to make up for . . . the delays.”
“Meaning me breaking a contract before the ink was dry, getting the lead actress pregnant, flying her to New Mexico for a fake wedding, then pissing her off until she vanishes off the planet? Those delays?”
He pours himself a cup of black coffee and takes a drink. “Yeah, those are the ones.”
“Scale of one to ten, how pissed is Ivy at me? Seriously?”
Wyatt sighs heavily. Stares at me with his brows dipping inward. “That’s something you should discuss with my wife, brother. But she’s taken this all surprisingly well. She was happy for you when it looked like . . .”
“Like I wasn’t going to completely fuck it all up and ruin the lives of all involved parties?”
Wyatt says nothing. Just finishes his coffee. Sets his cup in the sink, and screws a lid on the thermos. “I need to run this out to her so she can stay awake for the next nine hours of filming.”
Before he leaves, he places a hand on my shoulder. “Everyone understands your situation is complicated,” he says evenly. “No one is pointing fingers or blaming you.”
“They should,” I admit.
Wyatt shrugs. “Life is hard. Relationships are hard. Both are increasingly difficult if you do dumb shit like go to a strip club after your first fight.”
“Heard about that, did you?”
He moves toward the door. “Seems words got around pretty quickly.”
“They need to change the saying from good news travels fast to if you screw up, there will be an immediate public service announcement.”
My brother huffs out an amused-sounding breath. “Maybe give Elena some time to cool off. At the very least, you’re going to be raising a child together. Might want to use the next few months to figure out how to do that.”
Before I can tell him the truth, that I don’t just want to co-parent with her, the walkie on his hip goes off and Antonio’s voice blares into the room.
“Boss, we got trouble,” he blurts out. “Smoke indicates a fire has broken out near the bull pasture and is heading for your place. Hands are heading out that way now and I’m close behind.”
We’re moving before the end of his statement is completely out. I stand so fast, I think my kitchen chair hits the ground behind me, but I don’t turn back to check.
Wyatt barks questions and commands into the walkie as we sprint toward the smoke that’s billowing in the air along with storm clouds, both dark and ominous like a goddamn nightmare on the horizon.
From the corner of my eye, movement beside the guest cabin catches my attention. I grab the back of Wyatt’s shirt to stop him, and we both turn to see who is driving down a road we typically take either the four-wheelers or side-by-sides down due to the rough terrain.
A black SUV crawls up the dirt path like a predator. My gut tightens before the door even opens.
When it does, Elena steps out.
Her hair is damp, sticking to her cheeks. She doesn’t look over at us as she darts into the guest cabin like a criminal trying not to be seen.
I follow, heat rising in my chest. Wyatt says something but I don’t hear him.
Stepping onto the porch, I see that the front door is open and Elena is inside, shoving her belongings into her bag like she’s in a race to escape.
“Elena—”
“I’m going home, Isaac.” Her eyes are wide, and her voice is brittle. “I don’t have a choice. Please don’t make this harder than it has to be.”
Her hands are shaking.
“You disappear for hours and now you’re bailing?” I step inside the doorway. “Talk to me. Tell me what’s going on.”
“My family needs me. I don’t have time to explain right now.”
The SUV idles outside. I glance past her and catch a glimpse of what looks like Diego behind the wheel. His smirk turns my stomach.
“Is it your dad? Did something happen to him? I can fly you home faster than he can drive you.”
She shakes her head. “There’s a storm coming, Isaac. I have to go.”
I reach for her but she only moves closer to the SUV. “Please don’t leave like this, Elena. Tell me what’s going on.”
Her lips part, her eyes glass over. It looks like she’s a split-second from saying something—when Diego steps out of the SUV, his shadow looming over her.
“Looks like your livestock got out of hand, cowboy,” he says, jerking his chin toward our family’s private stables.
My head whips in that direction in time to see more smoke curling into the sky like a warning just as the clouds unleash their fury.
Diego says something I can’t hear to Elena then ushers her to the passenger side.
I remember Liam Wilder’s words, reminding me that even if it doesn’t feel like the right time, I better say what I need to while I can.
“I fell in love in the rain,” I call out, my voice catching.
Elena’s head lifts and her eyes meet mine.
I give her the closest thing to a smile I can manage under the circumstances.
“Didn’t mean to. Didn’t even see it coming.
All I know is that every time I hold you in my arms, everything else disappears.
We were supposed to be pretending, for the camera, for the contract, for your family . . . but I never was.”
Her face crumbles like my words are breaking her heart but I don’t know why.
When she speaks, she won’t meet my eyes. “I shouldn’t have stayed. I can’t raise this baby here. I need to go home where I belong.”
Rain mixes with the tears on her face until I can’t distinguish one from the other.
“That isn’t what you want,” I say, fierce and low. “Whatever he’s telling you, whatever you think this is, even if you don’t want to be with me, you don’t have to go home. You have a life here. A career. And deep down, you know you’re in love with me, too.”
She glances at Diego then shakes her head at me. “This isn’t love, Isaac. It’s just infatuation. And you’re confused because of the baby.”
“I was in love with you before I knew you were pregnant with my baby.”
That day, dancing in the rain. I didn’t know about the baby but I knew I was falling. I was a stand-in then. From how close she is to Diego, I’m wondering if maybe I’ve been a stand-in the entire time.
A high-pitched horse’s cry pierces the air, and I know without knowing that it’s the mustang.
Flames shoot out of the stable roof across the creek. I glance around but Wyatt is nowhere to be seen.
“Go,” Elena says, “Help them. Keep your family and your ranch safe. I have to go. Please don’t follow me.”
She lets Diego take her by the arm and help her into the SUV.
I stand frozen until gravel spits from the tires and they disappear down the drive. My knees nearly give out right there in the mud.
Wyatt’s voice crackles over the radio clipped to my belt.
“Isaac—we got multiple wildfires.”
Adrenaline floods my veins. I run. By the time I make it to the stables, several hands have gotten the horses out and Antonio’s dragging hoses. Smoke stings my eyes as we work side by side to beat the flames back, saving what’s left of the structure.
By the time I hear the sirens, I know.
Elena’s voice fills my head. Please don’t follow me.
This wasn’t the production crew being reckless. This was a distraction. Fires set as far apart as possible to pull me toward the back of the property.
So I couldn’t follow them.
This was why she looked like she was breaking apart in front of me. Why she wouldn’t explain.
She’s protecting us from him.
Fuck. And now they have a head start.
Minutes later, I’m firing up my plane, rain streaking the windshield as I taxi out, phone pressed to my ear.
Thanks to years of bailing Caleb out, I have the sheriff’s personal cell number.
I relay the situation as briefly as possible.
I even have Diego’s plate number. When he responds with, “Isaac, I can’t put a BOLO out for a woman because she left you for another man.
If I could, I would’ve had my ex-wife—” I hang up.
I don’t have time to beg for a deputy who probably won’t do shit anyways.
I text Brett and Beau hoping like hell they get the messages. I describe the vehicle and tell them to get to the interstate entrance outside of town, cut this asshole off before he can vanish with her.
Even if I have to fight this battle alone, I’m not losing her to that bastard.
Not now. Not ever.