Chapter 43
forty-three
I’ve been stuck inside this hallway forever.
Have even memorized how the grains of the wood across from me shift with every breath I take. If I hold it long enough, they start to dance.
“Where’s your girl?” Aiden growls as he exits the locker room.
“My girl?” I bristle at the word. “You mean Mrs. Griffin. My wife.”
Aiden doesn’t seem to get angry. Instead, his lips curl into a nefarious grin. “Kid Scout is how I know her. My best friend’s little sister.” That changes things for me. Now, with the realization and the glimmer in his eyes…I get that he cares, too. “So where is she?”
“In the locker room, I guess.”
Aiden’s brow furrows. His sassy, golden-haired girlfriend escapes and steals a glance at me before he gathers her into his arms. “Was Scout in there with you?”
She blinks a few times. “No. I thought she was already out here.”
My heart races. Something…is wrong.
Instead of waiting for a word, I barrel into the women’s locker area and shove open stall doors, hinges slamming against tile. I don’t care who’s inside. Don’t care who screams. Aiden’s right at my shoulder, Ashlyn behind him.
Air settles heavily in my lungs. “Where is she?” But there’s no reply.
Aiden lifts his phone. “We need to find Scout Turner—Griffin.” He corrects her name as I glare at him. “She’s somewhere in the manor. Find her.”
A voice responds over the speaker. “Got it. Want Duke and Bo to help, too?”
“Yes. All initiates on board.” Aiden snaps his fingers at me and points to the door. “Come on, Romeo. Let’s check the camera feed.”
He snags Ashlyn’s hand and ushers us both back to the office. Tracers line every light, but instead of becoming distracted by their glow, I focus.
Before we reach the back hall, Landon Turner trips into it from a set of French doors opening to an outdoor pool area. And hot tub.
He’s wearing a pair of neon swim trunks. Hair soaked and clinging to his back.
Without a moment’s hesitation, I rush toward him as he practically falls into me.
“Where’s your sister?”
Studying me, he blinks several times. “Holy shit… You can see your soul in those deep eyes.”
The crystal blue of his almost sucks me in. I get lost for a moment, watching the red meld into the irises. I squeeze my eyes shut. “Where is she?”
“Fuck if I know. She’s here?”
“She was!”
“Why aren’t you with her?”
“I lost her!”
He straightens up and scratches his head. “Like…in the garbage can?”
Aiden hurls his glass, shattering against the wall. Whiskey explodes over Lan’s head. We whip our heads toward him. Lan’s full body shakes.
“Fucker. Your sister is lost and high because you dosed her with some X. Help us find her.”
As if Aiden just said the funniest joke ever, he keels over laughing. “Scout would never do drugs. Ever. And I’m sober, too.”
Aiden meets my gaze, then waves me toward his office.
“Valen would be better at this,” I grunt.
Without looking at me, Aiden nods and sits in front of his monitors. “Then tell him to hack in. Let’s go.”
I pause. “You’re serious? You’re okay with Valen plugging in—”
“It’s not like it’d be the first time.” His icy-blue stare nearly cuts through me with an accusation. “So have him take over. Find her.”
Lan rips his hands through his hair and paces up and down the back of the room. Muttering and moaning to himself.
Pulling out my phone, I find Valen’s number. He picks up on the first ring. After I explain the situation, he simply says, “I’ll handle it. Give me fifteen, and I’ll be there.”
Aiden sits back and pulls his appointed into his lap.
I tap the desk a few times, and he eyes me carefully.
“Why are you doing this? Because it’s not just that fucker’s sister.” I shove a thumb in Lan’s direction. “So what is it?”
He smirks as if I called him out, then shrugs. “You helped me.” His eyes never leave mine as he presses a kiss to Ashlyn’s temple. Serious and steady, he tells me, “And I’ll never forget it.”
I remember that night a couple of months ago. The frantic look on his face. The same that’s probably on mine now.
Despite flicking through every camera feed in the manor, we can’t find Scout. Each image makes my pulse skyrocket. I’ve never felt so fucking helpless.
And it only gets worse when Valen arrives. He slides into Aiden’s seat as Aiden and Ashlyn perch on the sofa. Lan’s now sitting on the floor, rocking slowly while hugging his knees.
“Here she was…” Valen says, tapping the screen with a gloved finger.
I almost shove him aside to get a better view. “The kitchen? What was— Oh, shit.”
Stomach hardening and bile rising to the back of my throat, I watch in horror.
My wife bends to pick up lollipops from the ground. Plucking them one by one. Unaware of the shadowy figure lingering just behind her.
Valen takes a deep breath as Aiden nods slowly.
“GNU,” Aiden announces.
“Grayson Noel Umbridge,” Valen says at the same time.
“Where did he take her?” I demand to know, and Valen flicks through the previous images carefully.
“About ten minutes later? He took her here.”
He’s already got her.
Her body slack. Head lolling.
Dragged through the woods.
“Where’s the rest of the video?” My teeth clench as the two disappear behind some trees. Minutes of no movement pass.
“Shh!” Valen says. He taps the button for the volume and replays the last bit. The part where only the bare branches wave in the winter wind.
“There… Listen.”
We all lean toward the speakers and strain our ears. Even Landon joins us.
“A car door,” I say.
Valen switches to a camera view of the front gate. The country road winding in front of Theta Manor’s entrance.
A white car tears past the camera. My wife slumps in the passenger seat.
My chest caves in.
Heart sinking.
Air—gone.
Like something inside me just…stopped.
“She’s gone.”
Lan’s voice chokes as he lifts his tear-filled eyes to mine.
“We’ll never find her now.”