Page 25 of Hacker Salvation

Missing money, and no body all led me to think he was still alive. With someone trying to kill us, I believed he was running from something. I just didn’t know why they would go after Annabella. We needed to figure out what he was running from.

“Deep down, I have this feeling he’s still alive,” Annabella said. “But when we do find him, I might kill him for leaving me with this mess. I wish he would have told me what was wrong or what was going on.”

I didn’t plan on letting Annabella dirty her hands by killing her ex-fiancé. I would do it myself. I planned to find Nate and let Annabella call off the fake engagement before I persuaded her to be mine. Hopefully, she could overlook the scar down the side of my face.

Daisy looked down at her phone. “John, are you going to call your sister?”

“I don’t know where my phone is. I need it to call her.”

“You can use mine.” Annabella started to get up to get her phone, but I pulled her back to my side.

“Neal, can you grab Annabella’s phone?”

Neal set his laptop to the side and tossed me the phone. “Don’t get used to this. I did that because you’re still supposed to be in bed.”

I looked over at Annabella. “Are you sure you want me to use your phone to call my sister? She might call you once she has your number.”

She rolled her pretty green eyes. “Call her.”

Addie picked up on the first ring. “Hello?” Her voice sounded worried.

“Hey, pip-squeak.”

Addie let out a deep breath. “You know how many times I’ve tried to call you? I was about to book a flight. Do you know what that means for me to even go to the airline’s website and start looking for one? Nobody would tell me anything. All I keep seeing on the gossip rags is a picture of you being carted off, John. What the hell is going on?”

My throat closed up. “You almost booked a flight?”

The line was quiet for a second. “Yes.” That was all I needed to hear to know how worried she was. A flight for Addie would have been really hard for her.

“I’m fine. A couple stitches and a concussion. Annabella is going to watch me tonight. But I might not be able to talk for a few days. We need to figure out who’s after her.”

I heard the rustling of papers on the other end of the phone. If I were a betting man, I would bet she contacted Brock, got information on Annabella’s case, and spent the last few hours looking to see what she could find. When her anxiety increased, research helped keep her mind off the surrounding problems.

“He didn’t leave the country,” Addie said.

“Who?” I had a feeling I knew who she was going to say, but I wanted to hear the words from her. Neal motioned for me to put the phone on speaker, so I tapped the screen.

“Nate,” Addie answered.

Neal set his laptop to the side. “What have you found, pip-squeak?”

I could almost see Addie roll her eyes. “I’m not a pip-squeak. You guys need to stop calling me that. I understand why you think he might’ve gone to Nicaragua, but I pulled security footage from the night he and Pedro left. They didn’t head towards an airport or the boat docks. When they left, they went north on the 495 towards Santa Clarita. Last year, Nate bought a house in Santa Clarita and signed it over to Pedro.”

Annabella gasped. I pulled her in closer, and she laid her head on my chest.

“Were you able to find any camera footage showing they’re in Santa Clarita?” I asked.

“No.”

Now we had two possible locations they could be, and we needed to decide which one to visit. “Thanks for the info, pip-squeak.” Addie huffed on the other end, making me smirk. “Let us know if you find anything else. Be careful.”

“You too, big bro.” The line went dead.

Neal had picked his laptop back up, and I used Annabella’s phone to call Brock.

“Addie gave us another lead.”

The sound of the keyboard clicking in the background let me know Brock was in his usual location—in front of his monitors, looking at the world. “Yeah, we talked earlier. I planned to call you when the doctor let you go. I’m doing some more research. Call me when you get back to Daisy’s house.”

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