29. Corbin
CORBIN
R emington invited me to have dinner with him and Henri, so I texted Beau that I’d be there a little bit longer than I’d thought. He hadn’t responded, but I knew he had work to catch up on. I figured he probably had his head under the hood of a car.
I was getting ready to leave Remy’s when my phone rang. I pulled it out and saw the number for Beau’s shop. Maybe his phone had run out of battery.
When I answered, it was Sam. “Have you talked to Beau recently?”
My pulse sped up. Something was wrong. I knew it. “I was with him until a couple hours ago, but not since then. Why?”
I was here when he came back to the shop. He said he was going to change, then take care of some work here. I came back because I’d left something, but he’s not here and he’s not answering his phone or his door.
“Do you have a key to his apartment?”
“I do, but…”
“Use it. Please. I need to know if he’s okay. With everything that’s been going on…”
“That’s why I called. I wouldn’t have been worried, but…”
“Go check and call me back.”
“What’s wrong?” Remington asked as soon as I ended the call. I explained as I paced around his kitchen.
Remington’s phone rang at almost the same time as mine. He answered and then left the kitchen so I could hear better.
“He’s not there,” Sam said. “And the door to the fridge was left open.” There was silence for one moment and then another. Whatever she wasn’t saying had to be bad, but I needed to know.
“Tell me.”
“There was blood on the floor.”
“How much?”
“Not too much. Definitely not enough for someone to have bled out.”
There was that at least. “I’ll be there with reinforcements as fast as I can. Are you armed?”
“Always.”
I hung up and returned to the kitchen just as Remington slammed his fist down on the counter so hard I was afraid he might’ve broken his hand.
“Beau’s gone,” I told him and Henri. “There’s blood on his kitchen floor.” The words came out in a robotic voice. My insides were vibrating, my stomach churning. Henri wrapped his arm through mine.
“That was Elandra.” Remington’s voice was filled with rage. “She has Beau, and she said the only way we’ll see him again is if we pledge allegiance to her and turnover our business interests.”
“No way in hell,” I said, still not sounding like myself.
“Come on.” Remington put an arm around my shoulder. “Let’s get to the shop and figure out everything we can.”
“If she really is working out of the swamp, chances are she’s taken Beau there.”
Remington nodded in agreement and turned to his man. “Henri, call my father. Let him know what’s going on. Stay here. I’ll let the guards know to be on high alert. I don’t know who she’s going to come for next.”
I didn’t want to put Henri at risk. “If you need to stay here with him…”
Remington looked torn, but ultimately, he shook his head. “It’s time to bring this to a head and get your man back.”
Scared as I was, I couldn’t help but smile at the fact Remington acknowledged that Beau was mine.