Page 104 of The Bad Brother

“She won’t call Cade,” River says on our way to the skybridge. “She won’t call anyone.”

“I know,” I say on a laugh while digging my badge out of my bag. “I may not know her very well but from what I do know, she’s as stubborn as the day is long.”

“After everything that happened with her mom, I can’t really blame her,” River says while she digs around in her own bag. Pulling out her cellphone, she scrolls through it with a flat smile. “From what I heard, Red kinda fell apart after his wife died and Billy’s always been...Billy.She’s kinda the glue that holds them all together.” Finding what she’s looking for, she hits send and lifts the phone to her ear while I swipe my badge to access the skybridge.

“Hey Cal, it’s River,” she says behind me while I push the door open and make my way through it and into the parking garage. “I’m at the hospital—” There’s a pause in her conversation and even from where I am, several yards ahead of her, I can hear a deep, rumbly male voice chastising her on the other end of the phone. “You said if I went anywherealone. I’m not alone—” More rumbly chastising. “I’m with Sloane.Sloane—yes, the doctor. No, don’t do that. We’re already on our way home. I just called to ask you if you’d come here and sit with Red. Reese is being stub—” Spotting my car at the end of the row, I reach my hand into my bag for my keys, just as I hear River drop her coffee cup, the echo of it ricocheting around the parking garage like a gunshot. Hand still buried in my bag, I turnaround to find her about six feet behind me, coffee cup broken, ice and watered down coffee flooding the concrete between us, running like a river from her feet to mine.

Ethan is standing next to her, a gun dug into her side, a cruel smile aimed in my direction. “Good morning, sweetheart... where you off to in such a hurry?”

IKNEW, A SECOND BEFORE I OPENED MYeyes that Sloane wasn’t in bed with me.

Remembering a groggy conversation about water and calling the hospital to check on Red, I crack an eyelid to find that sure enough, Sloane’s side of the bed is empty and her phone is gone.

Turning, I reach for my own phone on the nightstand next to me and check the time. It’s just before 8:30.

Sitting up in bed, I listen carefully for signs of life. Water running in the kitchen. The faint hum of the microwave. The soft hiss of the shower. The murmuring rumble of the TV, downstairs.

I don’t hear anything.

The loft is completely silent.

Suddenly sure I’m alone, that Sloane is gone, I feel my heart give a single, painful lurch before it catapults itself into my throat.

“Sloane?”

Nothing.

Fuck.

“Sloane.” This time the frantic shout of it, launches me out of bed.

Nononono...

Finding my pants on the floor, at the foot of the bed, I pull them on while telling myself to calm down. That she’s okay. That she’s not stupid. She wouldn’t just leave without?—

Tearing across the room, I do a quick check on the bathroom before I head downstairs, taking the steps two at a time while scanning the open space of the first floor.

Empty.

It’s completely empty.

Shit.

Even though I know it’s useless—that if Sloane were here, she would’ve heard me calling her and answered me by now—I check the half bath and the laundry room behind the kitchen. She isn’t there either.

River.

Last night, I told Sloane that River was here. That she fell asleep watching TV and that I carried her across the hall to my place to put her to bed. Maybe after checking on Red, she couldn’t get back to sleep. River’s always been an early riser. She’s undoubtedly awake.

Heart hammering painfully in my chest, I charge my way across the room, flinging the front door open on an empty hallway. Shooting across it, I damn near kick the door open to find my living room as empty as the onebehind me. Checking my bedroom and the attached bath, I confirm what I already know.

River is gone.

They both are.

Back in my bedroom, I rip the curtains open to scan the parking lot below me. River’s jeep is still parked where she left it but Sloane’s car is gone. Wherever they went, they went there together.

Goddamn it.

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