Chapter 49
Gone
“Penny? Open up, babe,it’s me.”
Silence.
I knocked harder. Nothing.
I used the key she’d given me. The door swung to still air and the ghost of her perfume.
Couch cushions tossed. A mug shattered in the sink. Her phone on the charger, lighting with missed calls.
No Penny.
“Fuck,” I breathed, the word scraping my throat.
Bedroom,sheets tangled. The closet is open. No note. No message.
Something clipped inside me,every sense sharpening to a blade. Someone had taken her. She wouldn’t leave her phone. She wouldn’t ignore me. Not unless she couldn’t answer.
I hit Lucas. He answered on the first ring.
“What?”
“She’s gone,” I said, raw.
A pause. “Where are you?”
“Her place. Looks like a struggle. Phone’s here.”
“I’m sending a team. Don’t move. Whoever took her knew what they were doing.”
“I’m going to find her,” I said, voice gone quiet-deadly. “And when I do… they’re dead.”
The last time I’d felt this empty, I put a man in the ground.
Tonight, I planned to fill the hole.