“I suspected,” I admit.
Dad nods. “I’m not sure what your brother read or where the journal was, but I’d like to believe your mom is telling the truth and Stephen’s my son. Even if he wasn’t biologically, I loved him as such and that wouldn’t change by knowing his blood type doesn’t match mine. I do hate that he had those suspicions and died with them.”
I place my hand on Dad’s. “He knew you loved him.”
“Is there anything else you needed to talk to me about?”
I open my mouth to tell him about the tumor when a horrible migraine hits me full force.
“Nevaeh?”
“Yeah, sorry.” I close my eyes, counting to ten, hoping it will let up, but it doesn’t. “Do you think we could continue this conversation tomorrow?”
“Of course. Is everything okay?”
“I just—” The feeling of needles being pounded into my skull causes blackness to momentarily overtake me. Once I can see again, I finish what I was trying to say. “I would like to speak to you and Mom together. Can you ask her to please meet with us so I can talk to you both? It’s not about Stephen.”
“Okay.” He gives me a worried look.
I stand, holding on to the arm of the couch. “I love you, Dad.” I give him a hug.
“I love you, too, Nevaeh. I’ll speak to your mom and call you tonight.”
“Thank you.”
With my head throbbing, I send a text to Rosco to let him know I’m done and will meet him downstairs. I say goodbye to Glenda and head to the elevator. Once I’m in, I press the button for the first floor. When it lands, I step out, looking for Rosco. My head is extremely fuzzy, worse than it’s ever been—something is wrong. I spot him standing by the SUV, but before I can get to him, a hand lands on my bicep and I’m yanked in the opposite direction.
Natural instinct has me screaming, but the hallway is empty, and before anyone can hear me, a large hand covers my mouth. I kick and punch, but he’s too strong and hauls me out the back of the building. I get a look at the man, suspecting it to be Logan, but it’s not. Unlike Logan, who looks like an all-American boy, this man screams danger. He has several tattoos covering his sun-wrinkled skin. He’s dressed in a business suit, but his hand, which is reaching for the trunk, is covered in tattoos as well. And unlike Ethan’s beautiful tattoos, these look like they were done in a basement somewhere.
“Your husband thought he could flip sides and go straight. Turn me in…” He picks me up and drops me into the trunk. “Nobody keeps what’s owed to me.”
“Who are you?”
The man smirks evilly. “Most call me Felix, but you can call me your keeper. At least until I get you sold. I would’ve gotten more for you if you had still been a virgin, but with your age and how pretty you are, no doubt I’ll get what’s owed to me.”
Before I can scream, my head pulses and an electric current flows through my body. The trunk begins to close, slowly taking the light with it, but it doesn’t matter, because my entire body begins to spasm and my vision is lost. I try to focus on what’s happening, but my brain and body aren’t computing, and before I can figure out what’s wrong, my body gives out and everything in me shuts down.
Ethan
“Ethan, wake the fuck up,” Rosco booms. His voice has me jumping out of bed.
“What?” I glance around. “What happened?”
“I’ve been calling you! Where the fuck is your phone?”
“Right here.” I grab it off the nightstand. It clicks on from my touch and displays forty-five missed calls. “Fuck, I had it on silent and fell back asleep.” After Nevaeh left, I crashed, all the hours of missing sleep hitting me hard.
“Nevaeh is gone.”
“What?” My eyes lock with his. “What the fuck do you mean she’s gone?”
“She texted me she was leaving her dad’s office and to meet her out front, but she never showed up. I searched everywhere. It’s like she just vanished.”
I pull up the tracking app I have on her phone and it shows it’s off network. “Fuck, it’s shut off.”
I scroll through my missed calls and see several are from Dan Wade. My chest clenches, and a sinking feeling comes over me. His first call was a couple hours earlier—the call I ignored while saying bye to Nevaeh.
I hit call and he picks up on the first ring. “About damn time.”
“I didn’t see your call until now. Nevaeh is missing.”
“Damn it,” he curses. “Felix got out on a technicality. We tried to hold him while we worked to clear it up, but his lawyer fought it and he got out. I had my men try to follow him, but he got away.”