Page 43 of Rectify

“I can’t just sit here and wait! Give me something to do, or I’ll damn well go out there and start searching for him on my own.”

Tanner glanced first at Aedan, then at Rogan, as though expecting them to step in.

“Don’t look at them,” she said. “Look at me. You’re trying to handle me, and I don’t like it.”

“Listen, I know it’s difficult for you?—”

“Do you? Really?” she snapped at him.

Tanner’s gaze grew glacial as he stared back at her. “Actually, I do.”

Natalya froze. His voice was filled with pain. Had Tanner been through something traumatic? Shame filled her at the way she was acting.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “I’m just over being terrified, and my next natural reaction was fury.”

“I know. No need to apologize. That’s what I’m here for, to take the hits.” Tanner smiled wryly.

She shook her head. “I shouldn’t be yelling at you, and I don’t want to make your job any harder. You’re doing this wonderful thing for me, and I’m acting like a total bitch. It’s just that I have to do something, or I will go insane!”

“Can you use a computer?” Samantha asked from behind her computer screen. It was the first time Natalya had heard her speak unless she was answering a direct question.

“I’ve got some experience,” she answered dryly. “I worked in IT when I lived in San Antonio years ago.”

“So you’re rusty,” Samantha replied. “I’ll put you on the easy stuff.”

Calm. Breathe. Ignore her rudeness. You don’t need to rise to the bait.

“Well? Stop moaning and get over here. I’ll show you what to do.”

I did ask for something to do.

Natalya rose, pausing as her cell phone rang. It was sitting on the bookshelf, charging. She raced over and snatched it up.

“Unknown number.” She glanced around nervously. Could it be the kidnappers?

“Put your phone on speaker,” Tanner decreed, waving his arm around to quieten everyone.

Shaking, she placed the phone down and hit the speaker button.

“Natalya!” Diego’s voice blasted on the phone, making her jolt. He was always so calm and disciplined. But the anger in his voice was unmistakable. “What the hell is going on?”

“Diego? Where are you? I’ve been trying to call you. Do you know where Mateo is?” She held herself back from grabbing her phone and screaming at him.

“That’s why I’m calling you!” he snapped back. “I just listened to your voicemail. I had that phone switched off. What the hell is going on? He’s missing?”

She sat back in her seat, her legs turning to jelly. “So you truly don’t have him?” she whispered.

“What? I can hardly hear you. Am I on speakerphone? Who’s there with you?”

She grabbed the phone, switched it off speakerphone, and moved over to the corner of the room. If Diego didn’t have Mateo, then this phone call was no one else’s business.

Jealousy threatenedto rear its ugly head at how she’d shut him out and was now hunched over her phone, talking to her ex. It pulled at his insecurities, but he also recognized that his judgment was clouded by their past. Aedan took a deep breath, trying to ease the tightness in his gut, pushing the jealousy away.

She peered over at him. He smiled at her reassuringly, and some of the tension in her shoulders visibly dissipated. Maybe her relationship with Diego wasn’t something he could, or should, be involved in, but he could be there for her.

But I can’t fully trust her. Not yet.

Natalya watchedas Aedan walked from the room. There had been a look on his face that worried her, but now wasn’t the time to figure it out.

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