Total pages in book: 156
Estimated words: 160192 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 801(@200wpm)___ 641(@250wpm)___ 534(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 160192 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 801(@200wpm)___ 641(@250wpm)___ 534(@300wpm)
“Theo and Theo?” he asked, confused as she reached for her whales.
“Wally and Wallina.” She gave him her back again. “I’m just gonna lie here with them and die.”
Fuck.
For the first time in a long, long time, North was worried.
He left the room, locking the door behind him. What was he going to do?
Shit.
16
Jared answered his phone with a frown. Who would be calling from an unknown number?
“Yes?” he asked.
“Bartolli! Where is she? Did you take her?”
He frowned. “Who is this?”
“Where is Angie?” the voice boomed.
Jared sat up straight.
Angie was missing?
How the fuck could she be missing?
“What do you mean where is Angie?” he snapped. “She’s supposed to be with you.”
“If you’ve taken her, Bartolli, I am going to rain hell down on you. They will not be able to find all of the pieces to put you back-the-fuck-together. Do you understand me?”
“What do you mean she is missing?” Jared asked icily. “You are meant to be taking care of her.”
“I am going to fucking kill you!”
“Zander, give me the phone!” a woman said.
“Keira, baby, what are you doing up? You’re supposed to be in bed.”
Zander’s voice changed as he spoke to his wife. It became soft, cajoling.
“Like I can sleep while my sister is missing. Let me talk to Jared.”
“No. You don’t need the stress.”
“Zander! Let me talk to him. You’re getting nowhere with him.”
There were some whispers and then a sigh.
“Bartolli, you’re on speaker with both of us,” Zander said.
Good. Finally, someone reasonable to deal with.
“Keira,” he said. “Angie is missing?”
He tried to rein in his anger and worry.
“Yes, you don’t know anything about it?” Keira asked.
“Of course not. Why would I?”
Keira sighed. “Shit. It’s nothing against you, but she’s missing and we don’t know where she’s gone. All of the cameras went offline and her phone was turned off. We don’t know where she is.”
“When did this happen? How? Isn’t Zander’s place locked down tight?” he asked.
He’d gotten North to look into Zander and his security when he’d learned Angie was with him.
He’d needed to make sure that she was safe.
“She wasn’t living with us at the time. She had her own place,” Keira told him.
“Her own place!” he yelled.
What the fuck were they thinking?
“Don’t you yell at my wife or I’ll rain the fires of hell down on you,” Zander threatened.
“You’ve already said that,” Jared pointed out.
“You need better threats, boss,” another woman said. “Bartolli doesn’t know who has her?”
“It doesn’t seem so,” Keira said tiredly. “Thanks for answering our call, Jared.”
“Wait, how long has she been missing?” he asked.
“We think the day before yesterday,” Keira said. “If you hear anything can you call us?”
“You will do the same.” Jared ended the call and got up to pace and think.
Fuck.
Where was she? Who had gotten to her?
He’d worked hard to keep her hidden and safe.
The door to his office opened and North walked in.
“Angie is missing,” he told the other man.
“I know,” North said, shocking him. “I need your help.”
“Where the hell are you taking me?” Jared asked as they walked along the path away from the house. “I have stuff to do. I need to find Angie.”
If someone had gotten to her . . . fuck!
This is why he could no longer care about people. Because he couldn’t keep them safe.
Obviously Zander had been a poor guardian to her.
It made Jared sick to think about all the stuff she’d been through. All the pain and suffering at his father’s hands. If she’d been kidnapped by someone, what were they doing to her right now?
Jared was trying to keep those thoughts out of his head. To remind himself that they had no proof that she’d been taken.
But where else would she be?
What had that fuckwit Zander been thinking, letting her live alone?
“Zander is on the list,” he told North.
North nodded.
The list was filled with people that Jared intended to destroy.
“I’ll add him.”
“Good. Now, we need to get to Wyoming. I need to see for myself where she was taken from. The kidnapper may have left some trace that Zander’s idiot team didn’t find.”
“Trust me,” North said. “He didn’t leave any trace.”
They entered an old building where no one lived any longer. There were barracks for his men on the other side of the large property. What were they doing here?
And what did North mean? Trust me? Huh? How would he know that the kidnapper hadn’t left any trace?
North led him toward a door in the derelict kitchen that he was pretty certain would take them down to the basement.
“North?” he asked in a low voice. “What is going on?”
“Just follow me down. But prepare yourself. It might not be pretty.”
Jared’s heart was racing as North unlocked what looked to be a new door. Why would he put a new door in? Why would North be bringing him down here?