Page 53 of Something Old

Finally, I spot Nathan walking around the garden.

“Nathan, have you seen Leora this morning?”

“No, sir. Not yet. I thought she was still sleeping.”

I shake my head. “No, she wasn’t in bed when I woke up this morning.”

“Her car is still out front.” He says, referring to the pinkest car on the planet.

“Ok, well she has to be around here somewhere.” I shrug, heading back inside.

But my search through the house turns up nothing and soon I start to feel a nauseous tension building in the pit of my stomach.

Where the hell is she?

I dial her phone, but it goes straight to voicemail.

Shit.

Well, she’s definitely not here. There is only one way in and out of this property and the camera would have seen her.

I head to the security room, telling Nathan to meet me there.

We got through the footage from the night before and my heart shatters when I see it.

She is carrying a suitcase out of the main gate and getting into a waiting car outside of the property.

Nathan remains quiet as we watch it - then I tell him to rewind and play it again - and again.

I can’t believe it.

She left.

She left me.

She didn’t ask for a divorce, but I imagine the request will be coming soon. It’s unheard of to divorce from an arranged marriage after such a short time - but she left.

Was I really that terrible?

So terrible that she couldn’t even bear the thought of living with me anymore?

Maybe I need to get a team together to look for her. Just bring her back home and work this out.

I pull my phone out of my pocket again, ignoring all the notifications at the top because I am focused on only one thing - finding out where my wife went.

While I am busy figuring out what to do next an idea sparks.

She still has my card.

Even the Uber would have been booked on it. I can then find out where she went.

I pull all the notifications down, searching for anything that mentions an amount spent on the card I gave her.

My head spins when I see it.

She bought a ticket to Hawaii.

She’s not even in the same city as me anymore. She’s out of my time zone - on a different part of the planet.

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