Page 1 of Break Me
Prologue
Past
The door is unlocked,and I pause as I twist the knob, listening. But beyond the threshold, I hear nothing. It’s nearly two in the morning, and Bianca has been more careless lately, but she’s never left the door unlocked. She knows better.
I drop my keys on the table inside the foyer, close the door behind me and wait, still listening.
I don’t hear a damn thing.
And that’s a problem.
Bianca always falls asleep on Friday night in front of the TV, and she always leaves it on. She hates sleeping without noise if I’m not home. It’s been our routine every Friday night when I get home from Shade to pick her up from the couch, turn off the TV, and carry her to our room.
But there’s absolute silence in this house.
I reach for my phone in my back pocket and call her as I flick on all the lights, walking through the foyer, down the hall, into the empty living room that echoes with a strange silence.
Her number rings and rings and rings but she doesn’t pick up. I check my texts, thinking maybe I missed something from her, even though I never do. The last text she sent said she couldn’t wait for me to get home.
What the hell?
I glance in the kitchen and see nothing. I turn back the way I came, then jog up the stairs, phone still in hand. It’s dark up here and when I reach the landing, I flick on the lights. Nothing. More silence.
I call her again as I search every room in our house. Our bedroom, guest rooms, the bathrooms, my office. All of them are empty. Neat and tidy, too, which means Bianca hasn’t been in them recently.
Her phone goes to voicemail again.
This shit doesn’t make any sense. She would’ve told me if she was going out, and last I recall, she has a photoshoot in the morning at sunrise, so going out didn’t seem like it would be in the cards for her tonight.
But then I remember.
Her car is in the driveway.
Which means if she isn’t here, someone else took her out.
I scroll through my contacts and dial her sister, waiting at the top of the steps as if any minute Bianca might walk inside.
Her sister answers on the third ring, and as soon as she does, my heart sinks. Her voice is groggy on her “Hello?”, which means I just woke her ass up.
“Britt,” I say calmly and clearly, “have you heard from Bianca lately?”
There’s silence for a second, and I pull the phone away from my ear to make sure Brittany didn’t hang up on me for waking her up. Nope. Still connected.
I press the phone to my ear and my other hand curls into a fist at my side as I watch the front door down below.
“Brittany.”
Surprising me, Brittany let’s out a shaky breath.
“Benji,” she says, and she sounds scared. My heart skips a beat in my chest. “There’s something I need to tell you.”
“Go on.” If she doesn’t hurry the fuck up, I might actually have a heart attack. If something is wrong with my girl...
“But first you need to go find her.”
I lean my head against the wall. “Brittany, what the fuck are you—”
“Benji,” she snaps, cutting me off. She sounds angry now and I can relate because I’m feeling the same damn way. “I’m going to give you an address. Do you have something to write it down with? I can’t go because of the kids, but you need to get your ass—”
