Page 213 of Darling Wildfire
When I didn’t say anything West chuckled. “I never thought I’d see you speechless.”
I ran a hand through my hair, staring at the image of her on the magazine cover. She looked a thousand times better than she had in the Warren and her resume was incredibly impressive. I would be lying if it didn’t make me even more intrigued than I already was if that was even possible.
“This is all from a few months ago,” West said.
He clicked a few more things and article after article popped up all talking about the missing CTO ofPhox. There was everything ranging from conspiracy theories to worries about the company’s stock but the bottom line was no one knew where she was or even how she had disappeared.
“It looks like all they know is she was somewhere in the Arctic Circle visiting a friend. She never made it home when she was scheduled to. They also questioned her fiance—”
“She has a fiance?”
“Looks like you have some competition,” West snickered.
I studied the pictures West pulled up and scoffed. He looked just like every other law firm asshole.
I pulled out my phone and called Cooper.
“Cooper,” he answered.
“It’s North—”
“Ah, I was going to call you,” Cooper cut in. “My partner is interested in contracting for a few hundred thousand rounds.”
“That’s fine. I can draw something up but the deal will need to include Kaelin.”
Cooper was silent, then I heard him sigh.
“Jesus North, you’re like a horny teenager going after your first crush. I told you to forget about her.”
I was quiet, composing myself before I spoke again.
“I can’t do that,” I said firmly.
“Well, I have some bad news anyway,” Cooper sighed. “She’s gone.”
“What do you mean gone?”
“I mean, she’s not here anymore, okay?” Cooper snapped. “Do you want the contract or—”
I hung up before he could finish his sentence.
“She’s not at the Warren anymore,” I said to West.
“Does that mean she’s—” I could tell he didn’t want to ask if that meant she was dead.
“He didn’t say—just that she was gone,” I replied.
I ran a hand over my face and stared at Kaelin’s picture on the screen.
“I’ll keep an eye out for her. Let me know if you want me to dig into anything else,” West said.
I went back to my office to do some work but when I sat down at my desk, I found myself putting her name into Google. An hour later, I’d gone deep down the rabbit hole of Kaelin Bennett. Everything in the Warren made sense now. The things she talked about during cocktail hour, knowing the book on biotech I’d brought—I knew she was a force but knowing what I did now, I had a hard time believing she was dead. She was a survivor, and I hoped she’d found a way out of that hell.
Nyx knocked on the half-open door and when I gestured for him to come in, he plopped down in one of the chairs in front of my desk. I turned the monitor towards him and showed him the image of Kaelin on the magazine cover.
“Who is—no,” he said, eyes wide. “That’s not—she’s actually—T, she’s a big deal! And in the same industry? What are the fucking odds, man?” He grinned. “So, we still going to grab her at some point?”
“She’s missing. Cooper doesn’t know where she is.”
