Chapter Fourteen
The moonlight filters through the window, cutting a slice in the sheets where Lola should be sleeping. But the bed is empty except for me. I jolt upright, realizing that she never came back to the room. A million thoughts flash through my mind at once. I whip out my phone to call her, but my call goes straight to voicemail. Worry rises in my throat like bile. Something”s wrong. I can feel it in my bones.
When I check the time, I realize it”s later than I thought. Fuck. She should”ve been back hours ago. Where the hell could she be? I check my messages, hoping to find a note or an explanation, but there”s nothing. My stomach tightens with worry. She wouldn”t just leave without a word. At least, I don”t think she would.
I shoot off a quick text: Where are you?
But there”s no reply. I try calling again, but it goes straight to voicemail. I pace the room, trying to calm myself down, and when I can”t take it anymore, I get dressed and head downstairs to canvas the place. The spa is closed for the night, and she”s not in the fitness center, so I check with the receptionist.
”Have you seen this woman?” I ask, showing her a picture on my phone. It”s one I took while I was still collecting intel on her, so she”s looking down at a book, but it still shows her face fairly well.
She shakes her head. ”No, sir. I haven”t seen her this evening. Is everything all right?”
”I”m not sure. She didn”t come back to our room.”
Her eyes widen slightly with concern. ”Well, I hope she turns up soon. Perhaps she stepped out for a stroll?”
”Maybe,” I mumble. And then a thought strikes me—security cameras. ”Where can I talk to the head of security?”
”Oh, right this way,” she says, leading me toward an office tucked behind the reception desk. ”Mister Laurence is in there.”
I enter the room and am greeted by a middle-aged man who rises to shake my hand. He”s tall and lanky with thick-rimmed glasses perched on a narrow nose.
”Thank you for your time,” I say as the receptionist leaves. ”I”m sure you”re busy.”
”Of course. Anything I can do to help,” he says in a deep voice with a slight accent that I can”t quite place. ”What seems to be the problem?”
”I”m Drake Hastings,” I introduce myself, and he nods. ”I checked in here with a friend—a woman—but she”s disappeared. I was hoping you could show me some footage from the cameras?”
The security guard looks at me warily. ”Is your friend underage? Or incapacitated in any way?”
”No, she”s of age and of sound mind.” Although as soon as those words leave my mouth, I wish I could take them back. I know where this is going.
”Then I”m afraid I can”t help you, Mr. Hastings,” the guard says with a shrug of his shoulders. ”It”s not illegal for an adult woman to disappear without telling her partner. Maybe she just needs some space. I can”t violate the privacy of our other guests by showing you footage without reasonable cause.”
My fists clench in frustration. I want to punch a hole in the wall, but that would only get me thrown out. I need to keep my cool and find Lola before anything bad happens to her. I take a deep breath and try to collect my thoughts.
”Please,” I implore, putting a hand on the guard”s shoulder. ”She could be in danger. I just need to know if she”s safe.”
The security guard regards me with pity in his eyes, but shakes his head. ”I”m sorry, sir, but I can”t help you.”
I grit my teeth in irritation, but nod. ”I understand,” I mutter as I turn to leave. I”m halfway out the door when another idea crosses my mind. Simon could access the feed. I reach into my pocket for my phone and call him, hoping he”s up and awake for the night.
”Simon, hi,” I say, relieved when he answers the call. ”I need your help.”
”Drake?” he replies, sounding surprised to hear from me. ”Sure, anything.”
”I”m in the city with Lola. She”s gone missing. I need you to look at the security camera feeds and tell me if you can see where she went. The head of security isn”t willing to break his precious rules to help.”
There”s a moment of silence on the other end of the line, then: ”I”ll see what I can do, Drake. Stay by your phone.”
I hang up and head back up to my room. While I wait for Simon to get back to me, I comb through all the locations she might have gone. Salem has lots of haunted houses and ghost tours, but somehow I think she”s had enough spooks and thrills for a while. There”s the witches” market under the bridge in town, but I doubt she”s shopping for herbs and oils this late at night. There”s a huge brewery she could have wandered into, but she”s not much of a beer drinker. The galleries and museums are closed at this hour, too.
Fortunately, within minutes, I receive a file on my phone. I open it, my eyes scanning the footage anxiously. There she is, leaving the hotel in a disguise—hat, sunglasses—the whole disguise package. My jaw tightens, and anger bubbles beneath the surface. She wasn”t taken, she left. Voluntarily. Why would she do this? Is she trying to escape from me? That would explain the get-up, but still. What made her think she could fool me? I find it hard to believe that she would think she could just run away from me. I start the video again and watch as she walks around the square in front of the hotel before taking off down the street.
She left me. She actually fucking left me. I can”t believe it. My insides twist with hurt and betrayal. After everything we”ve been through, with everything she knows is at stake here, how could she just take off on me like that? Without a word, she vanished. It”s so fucking selfish. I get it, we weren”t an actual couple or anything, but this sure didn”t feel one-sided. Whatever ”this” is... or was. I guess it doesn”t matter now.
A phone call interrupts my thoughts, and my heart jumps into my throat, hoping it”s her calling to explain. I snatch my cell off the table and answer it without even looking at the caller ID.
”Lola? Thank God.”
”Sorry to disappoint.” The deep voice on the other end of the line belongs to King.
”King,” I sigh, annoyed. ”What do you want?”
”You missed our scheduled meet up. We”ve got everything ready for the heist. We”re in luck. Seems there was a fire in the museum today, which means security is limited. Not much left for them to guard, but your knife made it. Which means we can get it tonight.”
”A fire?” Marlon was supposed to make sure there was a distraction in place, but I can”t imagine him risking lives to make that happen.
”Yeah, I guess somebody set a bomb off or something. We haven”t heard any details yet, but it works in our favor.”
”What about their security system? I know you said it”s diminished, but how much?”
”The computers are trashed, so their surveillance has been fucked. Just one rent-a-cop working the museum tonight.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose and take a deep breath. Without Lola, the knife is useless, but I can”t just sit here. A distraction, something to keep my mind occupied. I entertain the idea of going through with the plan, hoping that Lola will come back to me once she comes to her senses.
”Okay, I”ll meet you there. Give me thirty minutes.”
I hang up and grab my jacket, heading for the door. Before I leave my eyes dart around the room as if searching for some clue as to where Lola might be, but there”s nothing there. When my hand meets the doorknob, my phone rings again, but this time, it”s Marina.
”What is it, Marina?”
”Drake,” she shouts into the receiver with a frantic tone in her voice. ”Thank God you answered.”
I stiffen at her tone, and drop my extended hand to my side. ”What”s wrong?” I ask, tensing. ”Are you all right?”
”It”s not me, it”s Lola. She”s in trouble.”
My heart skips a beat. ”What? What do you mean?”
”I overhead Adrian talking to someone on the phone about kidnapping her.”
”Fuck,” I curse, running a hand through my hair. ”Where is he?”
”He”s here, but he doesn”t know that I know anything. I can beat the shit out of him if you want me to, try to get some answers, but it sounds like the plan is in motion already. I didn”t want to alert him to my knowing without talking to you first.”
Icy dread dances across my skin. Adrian doesn”t waste any time. Apparently, he has allies who are willing to help him, which is news to me. He knows damn good and well that she has to agree to perform that ritual or her blood is useless to him. I can”t fathom what he plans to do to her to get her to agree.
”What should I do? Go after her?”
”No, stay there and watch Adrian,” I bark into the phone. ”Don”t give him any indication that we know what”s going on. Do you hear me?”
”Loud and clear,” she confirms. ”But what about Lola?”
”Don”t worry about her,” I growl, hanging up the phone. ”I”ll find her.”
With trembling fingers, I dial Simon again and bring the phone to my ear. As soon as he answers, I say, ”Simon, listen to me. I need you to follow the line of security cameras down the street. Follow Lola”s movements, and tell me where she ends up.”
”Listen, Drake, you know I”m going to say this as your friend. You can”t stalk a woman like this,” Simon replies hesitantly.
I clench my jaw tightly. ”I”m not stalking her,” I shout into the phone. ”Adrian is after her. She could be in danger. Would you rather I leave her out there on her own?”
Simon sighs on the other end of the line. ”No, of course not,” he says. ”I”m on it.”
My heart pounds against my ribs as I wait for him to track her down, and I pace the room like a caged lion, anxious to be on the move. I can”t believe he”s going this far. I knew that he wanted the artifact for himself, but to kidnap Lola and force her to comply? It”s low, even for Adrian. And now she”s out there somewhere alone, vulnerable. She trusted me to keep her safe, and I failed. Now she could be in grave danger... and it”s my fault.
A sickening feeling settles into the pit of my stomach as the seconds tick by with no word from Simon. At last, my phone lights up with a call from him, and I answer it immediately.
”Simon,” I bark into the phone. ”Tell me you have something.”
”Yeah, Drake,” he says breathlessly. ”I”ve got a lock on her location. Looks like she went to the museum earlier today. There was some sort of fire, and when she tried to get back to the hotel, three vamps intercepted her. The good news is, she”s on foot for now. I”ve got her on a live feed. She”s scrapping like hell.”
My hand tightens on the phone and I feel my knuckles turning white. ”Fuck,” I hiss, staring out the window into the darkness. ”What can I do?”
”You have to help her,” Simon says urgently. ”And fast.”
”Send me her location and keep me updated.”
”I”ll do you one better,” he remarks. ”I”ll attach a pin to the cameras, and as she moves along them, you”ll receive real-time alerts. Be careful, Drake. These guys look like they mean business.”
”Well, so the fuck do I.”