Page 74 of Die For Me

I had to take action immediately. Jackie was involved—I needed to get to her.She’s at Billie’s apartment. I sprung to my feet, feeling my gun still securely in the waist of my jeans, and shot out the front door. I immediately dialed Billie as I took the elevator down. I was shocked at how quickly she answered.

“Jack?” She sounded surprised to hear from me.

“Billie, Hana is in trouble. Michael has taken her against her will. Jackie helped him.”

There was silence. “Billie!”

“Jackiehelped him? My roommate Jackie?”

“Yes!” I huffed. “She’s Michael ex. I assume she wanted to be closer to Hana and Michael through you. Where is she?”

“She’s uh—fuck, I don’t know! Let me call her,” she replied nervously. “What do I say?!”

“Tell her it’s an emergency. Tell her the landlord is kicking you out. Make something up, Billie!” I didn’t have any patience. I couldn’t when Hana’s safety was on the line.

“Okay!” she snapped. “Then what?”

I was already out the lobby’s door, racing toward a cab.

“I’m on my way. I’ll take care of it.”

I already had a key to Billie’s apartment; Jessica got one made when I started watching Hana the first time. Speaking of Jessica, I needed to fill her in. Maybe she could help find Hana. I quickly dialed her as I got into a cab.

“Hello, brother,” she answered cheerfully.

“Jessica, Michael took Hana. Jackie helped him. He fucking sucker punched me and took her,” I explained, my voice shaky; saying it aloud more and more made it start to sink in even deeper.

Jessica gasped. “No…”

“I’m on my way to Billie’s apartment. Your friend Jackie is her roommate—did you know that?” I was angry and desperate to point the blame at anyone I could.

“Of course I didn’t know that, Jack! Jesus Christ. What can I do to help?” She sounded frantic as well.

I put my hand to my forehead. “Fuck, I don’t know. See if Michael has any other residences he’s associated with. Call his aunt and uncle, every single person he knows. Just fucking find out everything you can,” I ordered.

“Okay. Okay, Jack. Please be careful.” Her voice was shaky and hesitant.

“I will, Jess. I love you.” If I got myself killed somehow, I needed her to know that.

Her breath hitched a little. “I love you too, Jack.”

I hung up as the cab pulled up to Billie’s apartment. If Jackie was there, she was a lot more idiotic than I thought. I jogged upstairs, stopped in front of their door, and unlocked it. I quicklysearched Jackie’s room. It was fucking empty. I went into Billie’s room and then the bathroom. Empty. I slowly walked into Jackie’s room again, waiting for her impatiently. I sat on the bed and looked at my phone, waiting for any word from anyone. Why didn’t it cross my mind before to call the direct source of this destruction?

It rang three times before he answered. I shot up off the bed.

“Hi there, mate.” He sounded so smug, fucking bastard.

“Tell me where you are. Where the fuck is my wife?” I snarled into the phone, my face on fire with anger.

“She’s with me. She’s not yours anymore, Jack.”

I could hear crying in the background. It hadn’t sunk in that I may never see her again, but it hit me now. I started to panic.Fuck, I should involve the police.

“Once I find you, Michael, I’m going to fucking kill you,” I snapped.

The bastard laughed. “Okay, Jack. Good luck with that.” He hung up.

I wanted to crush my phone in my hand. Red clouded my vision as I heard the front door open. I swung Jackie’s door open as the front door shut behind her, a look of pure shock on her face. I walked right up to her, pushed her against the wall, and pressed my hand up to her throat.

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