Page 59 of Hunted Innocence

I blink a couple of times, unsure of what the fuck he’s talking about. I open my mouth but snap it closed when he continues. “Nadine just fucking quit. What did you do?”

“She what?” I ask.

My heart starts to race, panic fills my body, and I can’t help but wonder what the fuck is going on. Theron is fucking pissed. He is almost incoherent. I can’t remember a time when he was this upset, not even when he was going through his shit with Lucille. He’s always been controlled, just like me. It’s what we pride ourselves on, our control and cool heads under pressure.

But at this point, Theron has definitely lost his fucking cool. “She fucking walked into my goddamn office and just gave me her two weeks’ notice,” he growls.

Two weeks. My heart begins to slow, and I know that I can fix whatever this is in two weeks’ time. Nadine won’t be going anywhere, not if I have anything to say about it.

“Is she gone for the day?”

“She’s waiting for Hale to take her home.”

“To my place,” I correct his words.

He laughs, but I can tell it’s not because he finds this funny. It’s more of a scoff, and that is fucking terrifying. I open my mouth to ask him where she’s going, but he doesn’t allow me the opportunity.

Instead, he continues speaking, and when he does, my whole body jerks. I cannot believe that he’s just said what he has. And that’s when I realize just how serious this is. Maybe two weeks won’t be enough time, but it will have to be because that’s all I have.

“She’s going to her apartment,” Theron mutters. “Then she’s informed me that she’s going to get another place of her own.”

“I don’t understand what the hell is going on,” I mutter to myself, but since I’m on the phone with Theron, he thinks that I’m speaking to him and begins to answer.

“She’s decided that she’s ready to live her life. Why the fuck isn’t she going to live said life with you?” he demands but doesn’t let me respond before he continues. He’s on a fucking ranting roll, and I can’t blame him because I’m feeling the same way internally. “Nadine is the only secretary I’ve had. She’s the only one I want, too. Figure it the fuck out before her two weeks are done.”

He ends the call, and I stare at the blank screen of the phone. I don’t know what the fuck just happened here. I think about calling Hale, maybe even Merrick, but decide against it. Next, I scroll through my contacts and see Colette's and Lucille’s numbers. They could possibly help me, but one person’s name flashes in my head.

I find Brody’s number.

Because he’s the only person I can think of who might know what the fuck is going on. He’s the person who was with her this morning, and I can’t help but think that he’s had some kind of hand in this drastic decision Nadine has just made.

The phone only rings twice before he answers. Almost as if he were expecting my call.

Interesting.

“I thought you might be calling me,” he says as his greeting.

So he does know.

Pressing my lips together, I close my eyes and inhale a deep breath before I let it out slowly. I’m trying not to lose my shit on the jobsite. But I’m barely hanging on to my control by a single fucking thread.

I’m ready to cut that fucking thread and completely lose my shit at this point, because what the actual fuck is going on here? I’m trying to calm myself down so I can ask him what the fuck is going on, when he continues.

“It’s not my fucking business, and honest to fuck, I do not give a shit about my sister’s romantic life, unless there’s something I need to give a shit about. She says you’re a good guy, so I’m going to believe her on that one, and I’m going to let it go. I’m her support, but that’s all.”

I almost laugh because this guy is fucking ridiculous. “Are you trying to tell me that you’re not going to inform me of what the fuck is going on?” I demand.

“Not my goddamn story to inform you about. That’s Nadine’s business, not mine.”

As much as I want to end the call immediately, I decide to inhale a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“Nadine isn’t going anywhere,” I state. “I’m going to fix this.”

He grunts at my words before he speaks. “As long as my sister is happy, that is the only thing I give a fuck about. The minute she’s not, we got a goddamn problem.”

“Understood,” I say, and choose to end the call because I have to wrap up this job and find my woman.

NADINE

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