Page 85 of Miki

“Aw shit!” he said as I pushed past him and headed into Marko’s room.

Marko had his headphones on, listening to some conversation members of the Thomas gang were having, but he removed them the minute he saw me enter.

“What’s up?”

“I need you to bring up Eilidh’s tracker now!” I said, my voice sounding frantic.

Worry flickered across his face, but he said nothing, just did what I asked.

“What’s going on?” Luca asked, emerging from the bathroom.

“Eilidh is missing,” Vlad said.

God, I felt sick at his words.

Where the hell is she?

Eilidh shouldn’t have gone anywhere without Vlad. I was annoyed at her, but tried to stay calm. She wasn’t used to having a bodyguard after all and probably didn’t think.

Also, I realised I only told her to get him if she was going out. She probably assumed that meant if she was going out of the hotel, not just the room. Next time, I would be far more explicit about the rules for her safety.

“Looks like she is in the hotel, the Spa, women’s changing area,” he told me.

“Both her phone and necklace trackers say she’s there,” he added, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I’d assumed that was the most likely option.

She probably thought the hotel spa was safe enough. I knew, however; it wasn’t. If someone wanted to grab her, that was the best place to do it, when she was in the changing room, without her protectors. It was certainly where I would do it.

That thought had my heart pounding hard again and my stomach churning with nerves.

Even though her tracker was there, she might not be safe.

Please let her be safe!

I repeated the plea in my head as I ran to the lift and frantically pressed the button, with Luca and Vlad at my heels.

As the lift took us to down to the spa, I tried to calm myself by taking slow deep, breaths, but my lungs were having none of it as they continued their shallow panicked breathing despite my best efforts.

Calm down, she’s probably only gone for a swim, I told myself, but I couldn’t stop the panic rising inside me or the sense that something was terribly wrong.

Luca and Vlad went to check the pool and gym while I knocked on the women’s changing room door. After a few seconds, when nobody answered, I entered.

It was empty. Only a few lockers were being used, and I noted their numbers and hurried outside just as Luca and Vlad returned, confirming she was nowhere else in the Spa either.

Fuck!

According to Luca, there were only two women using the gym and none in the pool. However, there were three lockers being used, leading us to believe the third might belong to Eilidh.

Luca approached the women and worked his charm, briefly chatting with them while glancing at the numbers on their locker keys.

Once we had the number that might be hers, we headed to the reception. It was the same receptionist who’d checked us in yesterday and arranged for the personal shopper.

Unwilling to divulge the truth yet, I told her Eilidh had intended to use the pool but was unwell and returned to our room. I also said she had lost her locker key and the woman kindly agreed to open the locker and retrieve Eilidh’s belongings.

We waited outside as she returned with Eilidh’s clothes, shoes, and necklace. My stomach clenched at the sight.

She must have planned on swimming after all, and took the necklace off. She probably didn’t want to lose it.

Bile rose in my throat as I stared at it in my hand.

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