Chapter Seventy
TYLER
Once my home is cleared and secured, Cole and I jump into my truck to take on Sunny’s apartment. I was hopeful that maybe she was hiding somewhere, waiting for me to get there.
But she wasn’t. Of course she wasn’t. I should know better by this point.
My jaw flexes, the pain of my grinding teeth radiating through my temples as we drive to her apartment. My grip tightens on the wheel, a useless attempt at trying to contain my anxiety.
“We’re going to find her.” Cole looks at me.
I don’t say anything because I feel like I’m going to fucking combust. If Ryan had been here, I would’ve known. I would’ve fucking known.
Cole checks the security footage on his phone. “It looks like she smashed her phone herself. Then she took off.” He’s still watching the tapes. “I don’t see any points of which Ryan was here or anyone else.”
Relief fills my chest. I’m not sure if Ryan has someone helping him or if he is a lot smarter than I give him credit for. I really can’t credit a man on brains when he lays hands on a woman. But he’s doing a pretty damn good job of laying low and flying under the radar.
I’m not sure of the extent of his capabilities. We’d be able to tell if my cameras were hacked, but I made it almost impossible for that to happen. Same with my alarm system and entry system. My home is a fortress only my family can access.
“Okay,” I say, still gripping the steering wheel. “Check the cameras at her place.”
When I installed her security system, that included cameras. To which I had access too. But of course she will never know that.
Only outside her door and windows where someone could access. Not inside her home. I won’t invade her privacy like that, even though I really wanted to. Cole had to be my voice of reason for that decision. Now looking back, I wished I’d just done it.
It needed to be done. It just needed to fucking be done.
“On it.” Cole pulls up the feed.
I don’t peg Ryan to be able to hack into systems or even know I placed one. But we still have to clear her apartment before we assume anything.
“I don’t see any point of entry except for her about a half hour ago. But she doesn’t leave. So maybe she is still there,” Cole says, watching the tapes. “Let me check the windows to be safe.” But before he can, we’re pulling up at her complex.
My heart beats frantically in my chest, but I already know she isn’t here. I just do. Still, I run up the stairs and kick in the damn door, clearing her studio to see scrubs strewn across the floor.
She was here. And I barely missed her.
“Fuck,” I groan, holstering the gun in my waistband.
Cole watches me. “I can start contacting car companies, taxis…” he starts.
“She was supposed to be dropped off by the car company.”
“I’ll have Anthony hack their system.”
I blow out a frustrated breath and pinch the bridge of my nose. Where the fuck is she?
Cole watches more of the feed. “I can hack the street cameras to see where she went. Use facial recognition. She was wearing a hoodie when she left though. She went through the window to leave, I guess. Maybe she knew we had a camera at the door?”
My phone rings. “Sam?” I answer.
“She isn’t at Betty’s Beans, the studio or Martha’s,” she says over music and people.
“Sam, I told you to go home.”
I know a man on a mission would do anything to anyone to find her. Because now I’m that man. But so is Ryan.
“You really think I’m just going to sit my ass at home while my best friend is missing?”
“Okay, well you have done your part now. So please, go home,” I push.
“Yeah, yeah. Keep me posted. I love you.”
“I love you too.” Then I hang up.
“I’ll start making some calls. I can try and hack the street cameras from my phone. See where she went. If she used a car service,” Cole says, tapping away on his phone. “She climbed out the damn window down the fire escape.”
I start pacing her apartment, trying to control all the panicked thoughts haunting my mind. It’s barely been an hour and I’m fucking losing it.
“She always talks about the plan. What if she had an escape plan in case he made his appearance here?” I place my hands on my hips.
“So maybe the airports.” He meets my stare.
Then my phone rings again. “It’s Anthony.” I answer. “Anything?”
“I found her.”
“Bring her home.” I hang up.
I pull her shattered phone out of my pocket and hand it to Cole.
“You know what to do.”