Total pages in book: 171
Estimated words: 162003 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 810(@200wpm)___ 648(@250wpm)___ 540(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 162003 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 810(@200wpm)___ 648(@250wpm)___ 540(@300wpm)
The phone went to voicemail, only to start ringing again. And again. And by the fourth time, I couldn’t ignore the tightness in my chest as I answered.
“Hello?”
“Brighton,” Brayden breathed a sigh of relief. “Please don’t hang up.”
“I’m not,” I said quietly. “Not yet, anyway.”
“I know things have been crazy. And I know you don’t want to hear this, but you need to.”
I sighed and rubbed my tired eyes. “What is it?”
“Norma-Jean has been missing for over a month now,” he said. “I think… I think Ryland might have…”
“Just stop,” I grated. “Don’t finish that sentence.”
Brayden did as I requested though I could tell by his breathing he was irritated.
“How do you know she’s missing?” I asked calmly. Too calmly. I was getting far too used to calls of this nature.
“Because I haven’t heard from her,” he groused. “Her phone’s disconnected, and nobody else has seen her either.”
“She said she was staying with a cousin in Springfield.” My voice was light though the feeling in my gut wasn’t as positive.
“Yeah, I’ve talked to her,” Brayden replied. “She said she was there for a week and then she split. Hasn’t heard from her since.”
I wrung my hands together as I paced back and forth in the tiny apartment I shared with Nicole. After paying the rent for the next six months in advance, I’d been living off fumes. I didn’t have enough money to get to Illinois. I would have borrowed the money from Nicole if I could, but she didn’t have it either. We were both in the same boat, and it was sinking fast.
But there was one option, even though I didn’t want to use it.
I pulled out the credit card with both Ryland’s name and mine printed on it and glared at it for a long pause.
“Are you still there?” Brayden asked.
“Yes,” I answered. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
I hung up the phone and started to look at flights. As I typed the credit card number into the payment box, I told myself that even if I had to start scrubbing toilets for a living, I would find a way to pay it back.
***
When I walked down to the curb an hour later, I was shocked as hell to see Ted standing there as if he were waiting for me.
“What are you doing here?” I glanced around suspiciously.
“Mr. Bennett isn’t here,” he said quickly, and obviously under instruction. “But he sent me to see that you are escorted to see your mother safely.”
“Excuse me?” I winced. “But how…”
The credit card.
Of course, he knew what I was booking the flight for. And if he didn’t have my address before, I’d just handed it to him on a silver platter. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
“Where is she?” I demanded.
Ted held up his hands in mock surrender. “I can assure you, she’s safe and sound. I’m only here to drive you, Miss Valentine. So if you’ll please get in the car…”
I crossed my arms and glared. “How do I know I can trust you to take me to her?”
Poor Ted didn’t stand a chance against my hormones or my emotions today.
“I guess you don’t know for certain,” he admitted. “But I give you my word if that makes any difference.”
He looked so distraught that I’d lashed out at him that I felt a little bad. So reluctantly, I climbed into the car.
“Okay, but I swear to you Ted, if I see Ryland, I have the police on speed dial.”
“I don’t doubt that, Miss.” He bowed his head and shut the door.
Like the handful of other times he’d driven me, he put on some soothing classical music. It did nothing to calm me as I bounced my knee up and down on the leather seat impatiently. We drove through the city and started to wind our way into a more suburban area where the houses became fewer and farther apart. It was making me nervous, and I clutched my phone as I called out to Ted.
“This isn’t the way to the airport.”
“No, Miss Valentine, it isn’t,” he replied calmly. “Your mother is here in California. Please, just be patient.”
Being patient was the last thing I wanted to do. And Norma in California? I was going to have to see it to believe it. But I held on for a little longer, at least until we pulled up to a gated area of some sort of mansion in the hills.
“What is this place?” I asked.
Ted didn’t hear me as he spoke into the intercom. Whatever he said caused the gate to swing open, and he drove right on through. The car stopped in a circular drive surrounded by greenery and an ornate water fountain out the front. Whatever this place was, it was too big to be a house, but it didn’t look like a hotel either. Ted got out to open my door and gestured me towards the large glass doors at the top of the staircase.