Page 92 of Devil's Riches

17

Nate

I leanedback in my car seat and smothered a yawn as I scrolled through my phone. Alexis hadn’t texted me in half an hour. I could only assume that meant things were going well.

Some movement on the Paxton estate caught my attention a moment later, and I glanced upward and squinted through the windshield. A black sedan was heading down the driveway.

Curious, I used the zoom function on my phone camera to get a closer look. Even though the driveway was well-lit by spherical lamps on white pillars, I couldn’t see who was inside the car because the windows were tinted.

It skidded to a stop just outside the gates. The back door on the left side opened a few seconds later, and a tall young woman stepped out, clutching her stomach. It was Sascha, Alexis’s sister.

She fell to her knees and puked all over a garden bed that lay by the side of the gate. Then she got back up on shaky legs and returned to the car. It started up again, and soon all I could see were its red taillights as it drove into the night.

I went into my message folder, assuming Alexis would have texted me if she or Sascha decided to leave, but there was nothing there.

I sent a quick text to her. Just saw your sister leave. She threw up in a garden on the way out. Is everything okay?

She didn’t reply.

I checked the Fitbit app on my phone to see where she was. The location data told me she was still at the Paxton estate. She definitely hadn’t left with her sister.

I pressed my lips into a flat line and leaned back in my seat again, figuring she was simply too busy to contact me.

Knowing Sascha and her mental state from everything I’d overheard on the bug I put in her and Alexis’s city apartment a few months ago, she’d probably had far too much to drink and started to embarrass herself at the dinner. Now she was probably headed home for some sappy TV dramas, a few tears on the couch, and a raging hangover in the morning.

That meant Alexis would have to carry the rest of the evening on her own. Hopefully, she could manage that easily enough.

When we first made the plan for tonight, I told her I didn’t like the idea of her being totally alone in the Paxton house, but she eventually convinced me that it was fine, because there was no way her grandparents could have any idea what she was up to. I had to agree in the end. How could they possibly suspect a thing?

I returned to scrolling through websites on my phone to stave off the boredom. Every so often, I looked up at the estate to see if anything new was happening, but everything seemed quiet and normal.

An hour drifted by. Cars began to arrive, snaking up the driveway one after the other. Clearly, the birthday party was about to kick off.

I sent another message to Alexis. Let me know how things are going.

I waited five minutes, but she didn’t reply. Frustrated, I sent another message. Guessing things are going well, and you don’t have much time to check your phone, but when you get this, please let me know you’re okay.

Another twenty minutes crawled by without any response from Alexis. Her Fitbit still said she was in the Paxton house, though.

“Fuck it,” I muttered to myself. I dialed her number and waited for it to ring, but it didn’t. It went straight to voicemail.

My heart thudded as dread filled my veins with ice-water. Alexis wouldn’t turn off her phone for no reason, and there was no way that the battery had died. I bought her a portable charger yesterday just in case it started to run low on power, because I knew it had a shitty battery life.

Something was wrong.

I got out of the car and strode up the driveway, mentally kicking myself for letting Alexis go into the Paxton mansion without me. I should’ve trusted my instincts the other day. Should’ve insisted that there was something strange about that phone call she had with Edward. It was too convenient. Too much of a one-eighty from his past behavior toward her.

I passed her silver car at the end of the driveway. It was parked with all the others in a large space near a garden, off to the left. That confirmed she was still here on the estate… but where, exactly? What the hell was going on with her?

When I reached the portico, I pressed on the doorbell several times, guts twisting with unease. A maid with curly black hair answered a moment later. “Hello, sir,” she said with a polite smile. “May I take your coat?”

I shook my head. “I’m not here for the party. I’m just looking for Alexis.”

The maid gave me a blank look. “Alexis?”

“Alexis Livingston. She came here for dinner. Dark hair, blue eyes, red dress.”

She smiled. “Oh, you mean Mr. Paxton’s granddaughter?”

---