Page 122 of Vices and Vows

“We argued. I left her cuffed to the bed.”

“Are you nuts? She’ll kill you.”

I get in the car and wait for them to climb in with Conner in the driver’s seat. “Come on, hurry the fuck up.”

Conner peels out of the lot, and Isaac leans over to look at me. “She’ll get over it, Vice, whatever it is you did. She’ll forgive you. She always does.”

I look out the window and swallow around the lump in my throat. Not this time, she won’t. She’ll never get past this. Every time she looks at me, she’ll see her dead mother.

I pull the chain out of my pocket. I should have gotten rid of it, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.

TheNcatches in the light, and I get this horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach. I slip the chain over my head and tuck it in my shirt. Yanking my tie off, I toss it on the seat next to me before I give in to temptation and check my phone. I log into the camera feed only to sit up when I find the bedroom empty.

I check the rest of the cameras and can’t find her anywhere. Flipping through the apps, I hit the tracking one on her watch, but it’s telling me she’s at home.

“Something’s wrong. I can’t find Nova.”

“Call her,” Isaac says.

I do, even though I know she won’t answer my call. I let it keep ringing until a male voice answers. “Nova’s phone.”

“Miles? Where the fuck is Nova?”

“What do you mean, where’s Nova? I thought she was with you.”

“Check the house, Miles. Find her.”

I stay on the line as he searches for her. Conner and Isaac are silent as we speed home. The car barely stops before I’m out and running up to the house.

Miles is waiting for me with a shake of his head. “She’s gone.”

I grab her cell phone from his hand and scroll through it, seeing she has seven missed calls from Steven, the guy she said was head of security.

I hit dial and wait for him to answer.

“Nova, thank fuck. Are you okay?”

“Not Nova.” I grit out. “Where the fuck is my wife?”

“Shit, fuck. I don’t know, man. I’m following a lead, but I hoped I was overreacting. I heard some assholes talking about how the boss man grabbed Nova. He was going to make her pay.”

“Fuck!” I roar, gripping my hair. “Where would he take her? Think.”

“I don’t know, but I’m following Gia. She just flew out of here like a bat out of hell. If anyone knows, it’s that bitch.”

“Where are you now?”

“Corner of Bennet and Melbourne. If you’ve got Nova’s cell, she has an app on it to track Gia for all the times she would sneak off. Fuck, I think she spotted me. I’ll call you back if I find anything.”

He hangs up as I swipe through the phone and find the Life360 app. I open it, and sure enough, there she is.

“This is my fault. I was trying to find the fucking glitch in the system. I should have checked on her,” Miles curses.

“You thought she was with us,” Conner reassures him.

“Wait, what glitch?” Isaac questions.

“Turner reported that the camera in the kitchen that shows the back gate kept distorting the image. I’ve been trying to figure out the problem for the last hour.”

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