Chapter 19
ALEX
Alex leapt from his seat, his heart pounding as the door to their suite burst open. Sebastian shoved Ava inside, following behind her, his grasp still tight around her arm.
Kyle pushed past him. “Ava…I need you to lay down. I’m going to check some of your vitals.”
“Avs?” Alex asked, the word catching in his throat as he stared into her dead eyes. Something was definitely wrong. This wasn’t the Ava he knew.
They had suspected it from her behavior on the camera but seeing her in person confirmed it for him.
His stomach churned as he stared at her, desperate to figure out what was wrong and how he could fix it.
Ava raised her gaze to Alex. “Ace?”
The word was a meager balm. She’d remembered his nickname, but nothing else about her seemed right.
“Yeah, it’s me. Are you okay?” He hoped her recognition of him would snap her out of whatever episode she was having.
Could he reach the real Ava? Maybe he could snap her back into her normal state.
“I’m…” Her features pinched as though she was in pain, her lips parting. A moment later, her eyes slid backward, and she slumped to the floor.
Sebastian grabbed hold of her, swinging her up in his arms to cradle her and carry her into the bedroom.
“Put her on the bed,” Kyle said as he grabbed his stethoscope and a pen light from his bag.
Alex climbed onto the bed next to her, taking her hand in his. “Ava…”
His words were mixed with a sob as he stared down at her slack form.
“She’s okay, Alex,” Kyle assured him as he pressed two fingers against her neck. “Steady, strong pulse. Good respiration.”
“This is exactly what happened to her at Miranda’s. When she woke up, she was back to normal, so this could be a good thing,” Sebastian said.
Alex tightened his grip on her hand. “I’ll believe that when I see her eyes again, and they don’t look the way they did when she walked in here.”
Memories of that dead expression danced through his mind. What was happening to his beloved Ava?
“Any hints on her vitals?” Sebastian asked. “Something to trigger this sort of reaction?”
Kyle shook his head. “No. I mean, her heart rate was understandably high given that she was being attacked and in a high-pressure situation. The blackout could have been caused by the lack of oxygen, but why she’s coming out of it in this weird state is…
odd and concerning. It’s definitely not normal. ”
“How long did it take her to come out of this before?” Alex questioned.
“It was about ten or fifteen minutes,” Sebastian said.
“That long?” Kyle questioned. “Did she have any symptoms during that period? Convulsions, labored breathing…”
“No,” Sebastian answered. “It was like she was asleep. When she woke up, she had no memory of setting the fire.”
“What could be doing this to her?” Alex asked, his voice shaky.
“I’m not sure,” Kyle said as he lifted her eyelid and shined the penlight into it.
The moment he did, Ava’s muscles tensed. She sucked in a sharp breath, her eyes snapping open as she swung her arm to fight off Kyle. He stumbled back a step as she cracked him in the jaw.
The blow landed before Alex could even react. One second, Ava was still, the next, she’d moved like lightning, her fist connecting with Kyle’s jaw with a crack that sent him reeling. That strength… That speed… This wasn’t his wife. This wasn’t Ava.
“Avs, easy,” Alex said, trying to press against her shoulders to keep her in bed.
She easily broke free of him, shoving him off the bed, and leaping to her feet.
“Ava,” Sebastian warned as he widened his stance to try to grab her. “Don’t do this.”
Kyle attempted grab her in a bear hug from behind, but she easily slipped from his grasp and landed a disabling roundhouse kick to his gut.
She twisted to face Sebastian, ripping the brooch from her dressing aiming the pin at him. As he lunged for her, she stabbed it into his arm before she darted past him.
A second later, she was out the door.
“Stop her!” Alex shouted as he climbed to his feet and raced after her. He yanked the door open and stared into an empty hall.
“Ava!” Before he could race after her, a hand grabbed him.
“You’re not going to get her,” Sebastian said. “Start tracking her through the camera system. We need to find her when she passes out and wakes up as herself.”
Alex’s lower lip trembled as he fought the urge to ignore Sebastian and run after Ava. He had to be able to get through to her. He and Ava were so close. She recognized him before. He could make her understand again.
“No, let go of me. I can get through to her.”
Sebastian shook his head. “You can’t. We have no idea what’s going on with her right now. She could attack you.”
“Ava wouldn’t do that,” Alex insisted, her lips tugging into a frown.
“I know you want to think that she wouldn’t, but something is wrong with her right now. Just do what you do best and find her so we can bring her back.”
Kyle groaned behind him, his lips still tugged into a wince. “He’s right. Man, does she have a mean kick.”
He sucked in a sharp breath as he rubbed his abdomen.
“I know,” Alex said as he hurried to the desk and plopped down in the chair, his fingers flying across his keyboard. His heart thudded hard against his ribs as he spotted her on the hotel cameras. “Where are you going, Ava?”
Kyle leaned over Alex’s chair as he tracked her to the lobby. “What’s driving her?”
“Seems to be fear at the moment. She wasn’t like this when she went after Miranda. She was cold, calculating. Like any emotion in her outside of maybe anger was shut down,” Sebastian said.
“Is any of this making any sense to you, Doc?” Alex asked as he tracked Ava leaving the hotel, hurrying to tap into any CCTV feeds from the streets.
“I’m not sure,” Kyle said with a sigh. “I need to do some research.”
“I brought an extra laptop, so feel free to grab it and research away.” Alex winced as he lost sight of Ava. “Someone should be following her physically in case I lose her. These cameras are sketchy.”
“I’m on it,” Sebastian said as he headed for the door. “I’ve got my earpiece in, talk me through to her location.”
“Hurry,” Alex said, frantically searching for Ava on the next set of cameras, but she was nowhere to be found. “She left the lobby, went left. I haven’t got her on any of the cameras.”
“We’ll find her. I’m taking the stairs to make this faster.”
“I feel like the stairs would make it slower,” Alex said as Kyle plopped onto the bed with the other laptop.
“Not for me,” he answered, his breath heavy. “I run stairs every day.”
“Of course, you do,” Alex murmured, his eyes scanning the screen as he searched for any sign of his wayward wife. “Where are you, Avs?”
“I’m in the lobby, heading outside now,” Sebastian reported.
“Left. I lost her somewhere between Seventh and Burress,” Alex reported. “I have no idea where she is.”
Alex’s hands hovered over the keyboard, frozen.
The CCTV feed blinked off, leaving nothing but static.
His breath hitched, the silence in the room amplifying the void in his chest. A failure like this had never felt so suffocating.
He could fix systems, solve complex algorithms in his sleep, but he couldn’t find Ava. He couldn’t save her.
He ran a shaky hand through his hair as he continued searching his screen for any sign of Ava. “I got nothing, man.”
“We’ll find her, Alex. I’m on it.”
“How does she not know we’re all on the same side?”
Kyle snapped his fingers. “Paranoia.”
“What?” Alex asked, confusion etched in every line.
“Paranoia. That’s a symptom that could crack this open. Elevated heart rate, blackouts, awakening with suppressed emotion, paranoia upon awakening.”
“Not always. She wasn’t paranoid when she burned Miranda’s house down,” Sebastian shot back.
“Maybe she was, and that’s why she took such extreme action,” Kyle said.
“Are you finding anything?”
“Which one of us?” Sebastian asked.
“Either. Please, someone tell me we’re getting somewhere on this.”
“I’m working on it,” Kyle answered, his fingers tapping the keyboard furiously.
“Same,” Sebastian answered. “So far, I don’t see her.”
Alex heaved a sigh, his heart aching. “Okay, I’m coming out there, too. I need to find her.”
“No, Alex, you need to stay put and be my eyes in the sky,” Sebastian said.
Alex shook his head, grabbing his phone and stashing it in his pocket. He couldn’t sit here and do nothing. He had to do something to find Ava. She was out there all alone, half out of her mind, but she’d recognized him. She’d known him before. He could get through to her.
“Alex, don’t leave that hotel room,” Sebastian warned. “I’ll find her. We need you up there to keep searching.”
“I can’t find her!” Alex shouted, his voice cracking.
“Alex, calm down. You’re panicking. Running around Monaco won’t help. Stay up there, focus, and do what you do best—be a keyboard warrior. We’ll find her.”
Alex stared at his blank screen, no sign of Ava anywhere on it. His lower lip trembled as he sat stunned, unable to move.
His fingers trembled against the keyboard, his vision blurred by the tears he refused to shed.
Come on, find her. Do something right for once.
The empty hallways flickered on the screen, mocking him, and the weight of failure pressed on his chest like a vice.
I can’t lose her like this. Not like this.
“Mav, you’re a genius,” Kyle said as he clapped him on the shoulder, “you can find her. You need to take a breath.”
“I can’t,” Alex said. “I can’t find her. I can’t help her. I can’t do anything for her.”
“You can find her. Run her through your facial recognition. And we can help her. I found something. I need to call the hospital and have them run another trace on her blood. We may have an answer. We just need to find her.”
Alex snapped his glassy gaze to Kyle. “You found something?”
“Maybe.” Kyle crossed back to the bed and plopped on the edge. “I’m checking on it. With any luck, this is it and we can fix it. But you need to find her.”
Alex wiped his sweaty palms against his jeans before he swiped to bring his laptop back to life. “Okay, I can find her. You’re right. I’m the best.”
He puffed out a shaky breath as he cracked his knuckles, stretched his neck, and set his fingers on his keyboard. “Running her face through facial recognition now. If she appears anywhere on any of these cameras, we’ll find her.”
“Maybe check surveillance cameras at The Gold. It’s a hotel on the block where she disappeared.”
“Checking,” Alex said as he raced to find the hotel’s website and access its back end, searching for its security cameras.
“Anything?” Sebastian asked.
“Give me a second, cracking security isn’t always easy.” Alex hammered against his keys before he finally got past the firewall. “I’m in. Running facial recognition now.”
He slapped the enter key, sending his program on its mission. It received a hit after thirty seconds. “Got her. She was in the lobby.”
“I’m going in. Tell me where she went after that,” Sebastian said.
“I’m trying…okay,” Alex said as he rolled the cameras forward, trying to follow her movements. “Elevator number four to…”
He pounded against the keys again. “Fourth floor.”
“On my way. See if you can find a room number.”
“Already searching…she goes right out of the elevator…then down to a suite…room four-oh-two,” Alex said.
“She still in there?” Sebastian asked.
“Uhhh…” Alex sped the video up until Ava emerged, and he immediately noticed the pain etched across her face before she slipped into the stairwell. “No. Took the stairs about ten minutes after she entered the room.”
“Okay, I’m going to check out the room just in case, then go down those stairs and search for her.”
“Okay, I have nothing on her after that. Hurry,” Alex answered, his insides twisting into a tight knot as he waited.
“Room’s locked, I’m busting the door now,” Sebastian said.
A crack sounded in Alex’s earpiece before he heard an exclamation of surprise from Sebastian.
“What is it?”
Sebastian heaved a sigh. “It’s Miranda. She’s dead.”
The words hung in the air, freezing Alex in place. His brain struggled to process them, but his body reacted first. His stomach lurched, bile rising in his throat.
"Sebastian, are you sure?" His voice cracked, barely audible, as the horror of what that meant clawed at his mind.
Alex’s heart stopped for a second. Miranda dead? Shortly after Ava had been there? Had his wife just committed murder?