Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 126003 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 630(@200wpm)___ 504(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126003 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 630(@200wpm)___ 504(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
“Which gym?” Macks asks.
“Dog’s gym. It’s over on Alton and Fourth. Down the street from the marina. I have a boat in that marina, but I can’t see a reason for her to go to the boat. Why would she go to the boat?”
Maart looks pissed for a moment. But then Macks leans in and whispers something into his ear and his expression changes as he blows out a breath. “Fine. You take the beach.” Maart barks this like he’s in charge here. “You go with him.” He sweeps a gesture at all three fighters. “Macks will stay with me and we’ll try to pull up some security footage. Text or call if anything changes. I’ll see if we can pull up a good enough picture of her from the footage so we don’t have to flash that fuckin’ billboard pic around.”
I roll my eyes and head for the beach, Irina’s fight brothers coming up behind me.
CHAPTER 29
We watch them leave and spread out on the beach. Then Beth turns to me. “You’re jumping to conclusions, Lance.”
“I don’t think I am, Beth. She ran. She doesn’t want to see me. Or something worse happened. Someone took her.” I look at Beth, straight in the eyes, wanting her to look at me like I’m crazy.
But that’s not how she’s looking at me. She’s twirling these two scenarios around in her head. Trying them on for size. Maybe even attempting to pick them apart and dismiss them.
But they’re not dismissible. Both are entirely possible.
“She already ran once,” I tell Beth. “And three days ago, I was insisting that Evard stay home because someone might try and snatch him to get revenge on Cort. How far-fetched is it to project that same concern onto Irina?”
“OK.” Beth lets out a breath. Then she starts tapping her phone.
“What are ya doing?”
“I’m going to coordinate a search party.” She looks up at me. “How many helicopters do you think we’ll need? Will we need boats? Local vessels or something that can go out into international waters? Should I get the Coast Guard involved?”
I just… blink at her. “What?”
“How big of a deal would you like to make this, Maart? Just tell me what we need and I’ll make it happen.”
“Who are you?”
She said all those words before with a stoic, serious face, but now she breaks into a laugh. “Hello.” She thrusts her hand at me. “Mackenzie Scott. We’ve already met, but I don’t think you took me seriously.”
I grin at her, then shake her hand. “You’re crazy. And I totally take you seriously. I just… Coast Guard?”
“I’m just giving you options, Maart. Don’t read between the lines.”
I take a deep breath and pull out my phone. “Let me call Cort. Can you go see if they can find us some footage?”
“Consider it done.” Beth leans in and kisses me on the cheek, then offers me one more smile over her shoulder as she disappears back inside the building.
I hate the way phones ring when you’re calling someone very far away. I just don’t like how you can hear the distance. And I hate the way the people you’re calling sound far away too.
Cort picks up third ring. “What’s up? Did you see her yet?”
“Cort…” But then I pause.
“What? What’s happening?”
“She’s not here. She was here, and then she left for a walk or something. She’s been missing for seven hours.” He’s silent on the other side of the phone. “I need you to tell me that this isn’t what I think it is.”
He takes a few more seconds to let it all sink in and then he says, in his most condescending asshole voice, “You’re dumb. She’s fine. She went for a walk. She’s gonna be back any minute. And then she’s gonna run at you, and jump up and hug you, and tell you all about her new life in America, and piss you off because she’s dating a fighter and…” He falters here. “And… and probably never let go of you again.”
Does he believe it? I sure don’t. But I change the subject anyway. “Is Evard OK?”
“He’s pissed at me. Refuses to talk. Not even sign language.”
Some of the tension breaks as I picture Evard’s version of a tantrum. “Sounds just like someone else I know.”
I can hear Cort smiling down in the jungles of Brazil. Then he blows out a breath. “She didn’t run. No one took her. I can’t make you believe this, or prove it, or even explain how I know. But I just know. She can’t wait to see you, Maart. Whatever’s happening right now, it’s got nothing to do with you.”
We stay on the line, silent, for almost a minute, rolling his words around in our heads. And it’s not even awkward. I’ve gone months at a time living with this man—sleeping next to him sometimes—without him ever saying a single word to me.