Page 129 of An Inconvenient Marriage
Fuck.
I sucked in a deep breath, then blew it out through my nose. Panicking wouldn’t get me anywhere. After another breath, I dried my hand and tried again. A sigh of relief washed over me when the doors parted with a soft whoosh.
Paying no attention to Sophie who was having quite an animated conversation with herself, I stepped onto the elevator and stabbed the button for the first floor. The doors closed, but not before I got a glimpse of Sophie’s face.
I couldn’t tell whether she was shocked or furious. And, frankly, I didn’t care. The only thing that mattered was finding out where Natalie was.
And since the elevator descended at a torturously slow pace, I got my phone out to make a few calls.
The first one was to Natalie, but her cell was off. Because I’d spent the night finding different ways to make her moan, I hadn’t gotten around to installing a tracking app on it. So there was no way for me to know where she was.
The tracker on the car she used showed it was still parked outside House of DuBois. That was my next call. The receptionist remembered seeing Natalie leave, but other than that, she wasn’t very helpful.
By the time I slipped behind the wheel of my car, my entire body vibrated with fear and trepidation. I had one more person to try. It took a bit of digging, but when I finally found Everlee’s number, I couldn’t dial it fast enough.
“This is Ever—”
“Where’s Natalie?”
There was a pause. “Uh, I’m sorry, who is this?”
There was no time. “It’s Zach. Where’s Natalie?”
“Isn’t she at her interview?”
“She’s not.” Rubbing my fingers over my brows, I forced myself to stay calm. “My car is still there. So wherever she is, she didn’t drive herself.”
Then it hit me. Like an anvil dropped from the heavens to land on my chest with a crushing blow.
My heart stopped dead, and when it picked up again, its rhythm was wild and uneven.
“Everlee,” I barely recognized my voice. “Call the cops. Send them to every fucking piece of property Trent owns.”
A gasp filtered through the line. “You don’t think—”
With a shaky hand, I pressed the button to start my car. Without checking for oncoming traffic, I put my foot on the gas and spun away from the curb. “It’s the only explanation that makes sense.”
I was about to hang up when Everlee called my name.
“What?”
Her voice shook with every word she spoke. “If he has her, he would have taken her to his downtown office.” She quickly rattled off the address, and with a promise to call the police, she hung up.
My mind reeled. Too many images flashed before my eyes at once. Natalie in her black wedding gown. Her eyes all big and wide, filled with innocence. Her laughter when I’d tried to teach her to dance. The look on her beautiful face when she’d told me she wanted me.
“Fuck!”
I smacked my palm against the steering wheel. If Trent so much as touched a hair on her head, he was fucking dead.
Stomping down the gas pedal, I ignored the blaring horns as I dodged and swerved through traffic. Needing to get to her as fast as possible, I paid no attention to red lights or any other road signs.
I made it to the address in record time, and still it didn’t feel fast enough. Wheels barely rolling to a stop, I shoved my door open and hopped out. Fear immediately sank its claws into me. Besides a black Hummer parked curbside, there was nothing much going on.
Which meant cries for help would probably go unnoticed.
My insides twisted and churned. The fear that’d been simmering below the surface finally took over and held me in a chokehold. What if I never found her? What if Trent decided no one was going to have her?
No! I couldn’t afford to think like that. I’d find her and I’d never let her go.
