Page 49 of A Man of Power

“She was because you’re a dick,” Whitney says from behind the kitchen counter.

I glare at her.

“Not helpful,” Erin mutters.

“What? He is.” She turns back to me. “You know if you hadn’t been such a jackass to her, then she’d probably have been with you and not out running by herself.”

Her words sting because they are true.

“I’m going to the trail.”

“I’ll come with you,” Erin says.

“I’ll wait here, just in case,” Whitney adds as we leave.

Neither one of us says another word as we walk down the hall, take the elevator, and walk out on the busy midday sidewalk. The entrance to the trail isn’t far, just a few blocks.

“Does she come here often?” I ask as we follow the trail.

“Sometimes,” Erin answers. Not far down the trail, a small clearing cuts through the trees.

“Give me the phone,” I command, motioning for it with my hand. “Where exactly did you say you checked?”

“All up there. We even went in the woods a bit,” she says, motioning to the trail ahead of us.

But my gut tells me Alexis didn’t stay on the trail. I step onto what looks like a small deer trail in the brush and follow it with Erin in tow. It opens up to a slightly larger unpaved trail along a stream.

“Did you check all of this area too?” I ask as we walk.

“Yeah, but it’s just a bunch of rocks up there. It dead-ends,” she explains.

I climb up on the boulders and look around. That’s when I see the phone. It’s hidden under a rock and is only visible from a very specific angle. I climb down and grab it, pressing the side button. It turns on and the sight of a photo of Erin, Whitney, and Alexis has my heart stopping mid-beat.

“Oh God!” Erin cries out when she sees the phone in my hand.

I climb down and start running over rocks and across the stream, but I find nothing, not a single trace of Alexis. I sink to the ground, placing my head in my hands. What have I done? There is one hundred percent zero doubt in my mind that this was all orchestrated because they didn’t like what she was finding, and they didn’t like what was happening between us.

“Fuck!” I yell.

“What?” Erin asks. I look up to find her standing in front of me, eyes wide.

“I…I’m going to find her,” I stammer as I rise to my feet. I check the time. “I’ll keep looking, if we don’t find her in another hour, call the police and file a missing person report.”

I walk her back to the apartment building. “I’ll be in touch,” I add as I go to my car and toss the parking ticket on the windshield into my glovebox.

Sighing, I call Conner.

“She’s missing. I think…it’s them,” I state.

“Could you be more cryptic?”

“Someone took Alexis,” I start, and I hear Conner suck in a breath. “She went for a run by her apartment and never came back. I’m going to keep looking. Can you grab Aiden and try looking at the trails near this address that I just texted you?”

“Just call the police,” he urges.

“I will. But…I have a bad feeling about this.”

“OK, OK, I’ll come over there. Give me thirty minutes,” he says as he hangs up.

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