Page 70 of Crash and Burn

He laughed. “I walked right through the front door.”

Her stomach rolled. She hadn't even locked it behind her clients. He smiled again. He could probably read her stunned recognition of her own error on her face.

“But,” she started to speak, the anger at herself leaking out around the word even though her mouth felt cottony.

Once again, he grinned. “Feeling a little sluggish, Magdalyn? That was some really good coffee …”

Holy shit.He’d drugged her in her own home. She looked down to her hand, where she could barely form a fist. All the things she planned and practiced—punching him, grabbing her gun, running—none of it mattered.

Because she was moving through jello.

There was nothing she could do. Sebastian wasn't home and Merrit Geller was right in front of her and she couldn’t fight.

Chapter Fifty-Five

Sebastian was exhausted, but he found just enough energy to make a necessary run by his place first.

He was running out of clothes. He needed a second bottle of shampoo from his cabinet. He wanted the number of a florist so he could get flowers for Maggie. Her birthday was coming up.

All the things he needed were still at his place. He climbed the steps and fit the key into the lock. The apartment felt empty now. Aside from a few nights here with Maggie, he hadn’t lived in his own home in a while.

So he gathered the things he needed and checked his phone.

Though Maggie had kept him up to date on her extra meeting and such, she hadn't replied to his previous message. But that was probably because she was still with her client.

Or maybe she was out to lunch with Seline.No, he thought,scratch that. His tired brain rolled over. Seline had left early to work in the city or something. That was why he wouldn’t get to meet her today.

He headed back down to the garage, his bag now heavy in his hand. He aimed automatically for his bike before deciding on the car. Most days the bike was a great idea. But days like today, when he was completely exhausted, simply keeping it up right for the short ride was too much.

Waving to his neighbor as he pulled out, he waited on the gate that was so slow he might just fall asleep. Luckily, the drive to Maggie’s was short and he parked next to her car in the driveway.

His heart loosened at the sight of the car, relieved that she was still here.

He headed through the side gate and walked the short stone path to the laundry room door. Sebastian entered the house trying to make as little noise as possible, something about the backyard bothered him, but he’d ask Maggie later. He just needed to see her.

Hoping not to disturb her with whatever clients she might be seeing, he didn’t yell a ridiculous,Hi, honey, I'm home. But he felt like it. They almost felt like an old married couple to him, and he liked it. Knowing that he was in the right place and that she wanted to be with him as much as he wanted to be with her was freeing.

Once he saw her office door was ajar, he headed upstairs to drop his bag on the bed. But as he came back down the steps, he realized that he didn’t hear her speaking to anyone. And there wasn’t another car parked out front.

Sebastian began calling for her through the house.

But Maggie didn't answer.

He was a firefighter, he looked for kids who were hiding under beds while their house blazed around them. Though the image of the last child he’d found rushed back into his mind, he didn’t panic.

He checked everything before he got worried.

But when his first sweep didn’t reveal Maggie, he ran back through the house. He looked in every room and even knocked on the closed upstairs bathroom door and opened it when he got no answer.

“Maggie? Maggie, I'm home!”

Heading into Sabbie’s office, he unbolted and opened the door to the balcony in case she’d decided to sit out in a chair and enjoy the sun. But Maggie wasn't there either. He ran back down the stairs and checked the front patio, still calling for her.

This time, there was no child under the bed to save. He was starting to get that sinking feeling he had as he handed Tyler Miller’s limp body to his mother. The one that told him the child had been alive moments before …and how had this happened?

He dialed his friend. “Kalan, I can’t find Maggie. Have you heard from her?” He almost hung up when the answer was no.

Sebastian regretted not making Maggie check in everywhere she went. It was daytime and all the break ins had come at night. He told himself she was safe. She was probably just running an errand and giving him a heart attack in the process.

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