Page 58 of Never Finished

As I was shutting down the bar, I phoned Maria to make sure everything was okay at home and to let her know I wouldn't be there tonight. I wanted to make sure I wasn't leaving her in a tough spot, but she quickly connected to the dots and squealed in delight. "I'm so, so happy for you, Jaime. We've got it covered here. Take your time."

I was done in record time and flew to Emma's floor with wings on my feet. My Bella. She was finally mine, really mine. And it wasn't just that she told me she loved me and wanted this life with me that made my heart soar. It was that we'd run into some challenges over the last few days, and we were able to overcome them. They hadn't destroyed us like they had before. It was a relief to know she and I could weather the storms.

But my euphoria came crashing down when I approached Emma's hotel room and the door was standing open.

I stepped inside, calling out Emma's name, but she wasn't there. Her purse was still there. Her phone was lying on the coffee table… "Shit," I cursed, racing out of her room and back towards the elevator, as I pulled out my phone and dialed the head of security.

When he answered, I barked into the phone, "Hey Phil, we have a problem. It's Emma Carter. It looks like someone’s broken into her room and she's been taken. All her stuff is here, but the door is standing wide open."

Phil was doubtful. "Does it look like there was a struggle?" He asked as I punched the “L” on the elevator to get back to the lobby.

"No, but her purse is laying out in the open along with her phone. That’s not like her. Something's wrong."

"Okay, calm down Jaime. Maybe she just forgot to close the door."

The elevator door slid open, and I rushed down the hallway towards the back of the building where the security office was located—where our head of security would be sitting taking this very call.

"No Phil. I am telling you, something is fucking wrong. Pull up the footage," I insisted.

"Come on, Jaime. You know I can't pull up camera footage for every little worry. There has to be a good reason. Oh, wait a minute, can you hold on? Somebody else is here."

Steps away from his office, I screamed into the phone, "No, this cannot wait! This is an emergency!"

I hung up and started to dial 911 when I saw who was approaching Phil’s office.

"Caroline?"

She rushed over to me. "Please tell me you've seen Emma. I went to check on her in her room and the door was standing open, but all her stuff was there."

"I know. That's why I'm here. I'm trying to get this jackass to pull up the security footage."

"What in the actual fuck?" Caroline asked. "I'm calling 911," she said, yanking her phone out of her back pocket.

"Good idea. Let me deal with this dumbass," I said, storming into Phil's office. "We need to pull up that footage now!"

At the sight of two frantic people, Jay stopped arguing and tapped on his keyboard to pull up the footage of the top floor.

"It couldn't have been that long. I just saw her a few minutes ago," I said, helping him narrow down the time window.

"Okay, let me see," he said before his eyes widened. "Oh, shit," he looked up at Caroline, "You said you called 911, right?"

At his question, I rush behind the desk to look at the footage myself. There it was, plain as day—that fucker Andrew was dragging her lifeless form out of the room and then threw her over his shoulder like she was nothing more than a sack of potatoes.

I watched in horror, barely registering Phil barking orders into his walkie-talkie, dispatching all security guards to be on the lookout for Emma and the kidnapper, Andrew Travers Jr.

"You know him?" Caroline asked Phil.

"Yeah, Mr. Carter introduced me to him earlier when they were having a meeting and I passed by. Lucky I know his name."

"Yeah, lucky," she muttered.

"Listen, Jaime, that was only a few minutes ago. They couldn't have gotten far," Phil said.

My mind ran through the grounds of the resort that had been tattooed on my memory for twelve years. My father and I were part of building this place, and I knew every cranny. "There are plenty of places to hide in the hotel. But you’d buy yourself more time by taking her out of the hotel. Phil, is there any footage of him getting into a car?"

Jay's eyes returned to the computer. "That's what I'm looking for. I'm not seeing anything, but oh, wait, here we go. There's no footage because the cameras are blacked out, but one of the emergency exits on the east side has been triggered."

"East side? Heading towards…" I stopped… "The maintenance shed," I fumed. I looked over at Caroline. "You good here?"

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