THIRTY-NINE
TICK, TICK, TICK… Oh, it was driving her nutty, insane, literally insane. Her mother cooked and Stone’s men were invited in for dinner. Stories were shared and the mood was high, but the night was dragging on, and still there was nothing.
She watched the mantle clock strike midnight. Other than at New Year, had she ever seen her mother up this late? Were she and Struan in the same time zone? Was he already asleep? How could he sleep when she was wound up like this?
The jovial conversation churned her stomach. She turned to the group strewn throughout the room.
“It’s getting late. Everyone should get to bed.”
“Are you going to sleep?” her mother asked.
“Probably not.”
“We’ll get out of your hair,” Stone said.
His men said their good nights and shuffled out.
“I don’t know how you do this,” she said to Roxie, squeezing herself in her own embrace.
“This?” Roxie asked.
“Being apart from Struan was always going to be difficult. I didn’t know it would hurt so deep inside. You and Zairn spend so much time apart—”
“Oh, honey, that’s nothing like this. I hate being away from him, yes, but I always know where he is. Once, way back at the start, he disappeared on me. Once was enough, we promised each other never again.”
Would she and Struan have that chance?
The front door opened again and Stone appeared. “Sorry to interrupt. We have a visitor.”
Roxie and her mother leaped from the couch. She pounced forward, breath held, waiting for Struan to come around the corner… but he wasn’t the male who appeared.
“Magnus,” she said.
He inhaled and blew out the breath quickly. “I was out of line. What I said on the phone—”
“You didn’t come all the way here to apologize. You were scared, you were worried. I understand, I’m emotional too. Do you know something? Have you heard from them?”
“No,” he said. “They’ve vanished. Either someone extremely loyal helped them slip away, or…”
Something terrible happened. That was the first thing that came to mind.
“We can’t leave it like this. Have you called the police?”
“To cause a major incident? Have you seen the news?” She shook her head. “They have rumors already that Roman didn’t show in Vancouver. They’re saying Roman’s gone walkabout. Playing it off as him being his old, unreliable self.”
Which they’d wanted to avoid.
This wasn’t Roman being his usual unreliable self; Struan was with him and he wouldn’t put up with that. Not anymore.
“Sibling relationships are difficult,” her mother said. “I understand this one is particularly tenuous at the moment.”
Magnus glanced from the woman back to her. “She knows everything.”
“Why did you—”
“She’s my mother.”
Her mother would no doubt take bigger secrets to her grave. She’d do anything to protect her children.
“These boys are grown men.”
“Which is why the police won’t care,” Roxie said. “If I thought it would’ve made a difference, I would’ve called them ten hours ago.”
“So what do we do?” she asked.
“Wait,” Magnus replied. “We wait. The next move is theirs.”