Page 98 of Savage Grace

“He’s not at the house?”

“No one’s at the house.”

A few heavy beats of silence hung between me and my sister, like she was jumping to the same horrible conclusion that I was. It was something that I had considered before, something that had always been a possibility. But the real thing was so much worse.

I wanted to vomit.

“Ren didn’t come home last night,” Valerie said quietly.

I swallowed the lump in my throat.

“Toni’s not answering his phone. Neither is Rome. Neither is Sam. Neither is Livie,” her voice was stringing higher and higher with each sentence. I could hear the twins through the phone nearby, probably tugging on Val’s shirt and demanding her attention—blissfully unaware of what was a very real possibility.

“I’m sure they’re fine,” I lied through my fucking teeth. “Maybe they’re just caught up with something.”

“Mmm.”

“Let me, uh—” I had to keep it together for Valerie right now. She would go insane just waiting at home and wondering. She couldn’t leave, not with the girls, couldn’t do anything. “Let me ring around. I’ll try and get onto Dimitri. Maybe go for a drive to Lilith’s. See if someone there knows anything.”

I tried my best to keep the wobble out of my voice, but it didn’t work.

“Okay,” Valerie said on a sigh.

“I love you.”

“I love you too,” her voice cracked then, and my heart broke.

“I’ll find him, Val. I’ll call you back soon, okay?”

A strained, high-pitched, “Mmhm,” was all she managed before her sobs crackled through the phone, and then she hung up.

I steadied myself on the kitchen counter, taking a few long, deep breaths and trying to push down the overwhelming sense of nausea that was rising up.

What the fuck wasIsupposed to do?

What fucking good wasIin this situation?

I slid down to the floor, gripping my phone like a vice.

I called Toni.

I called Rome.

I called Sam, Livie, Angel, Dimitri—even fucking Theo.

No answer.

I called Ashe.

“Please, please, please,” I begged as the phone rang and rang and rang.

Eventually, it went to voicemail.

“Fuck!” I screamed, throwing my phone as hard as I could and putting my head in my hands. My body shook with something like anxiety, maybe rage, maybe fear. Because I had no idea what to do.

If Toni was in my situation, he would already be up and moving. He would know exactly where to start and where to go.

I shook it off and stood.

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