Page 86 of Bound and Blitzed

“Missing?” I repeat.

Cohen swears beside me. I feel his heavy hand on my shoulder.

“What does that mean? When was she last seen? What are you doing about it?” I rattle off questions as soon as they filter through my mind.

“It’s been close to twenty-two hours since she broke from the group. She was conducting research in a well-known area, but a rainstorm and heavy winds swept through the region. We think she got lost, or took a fall, but she hasn’t been located yet. There are teams looking for her—teams from the university as well as emergency personnel. Considering you’re her husband…” Dr. Mendoza’s voice hitches. “Well, I thought you should know. I would have called earlier but Valentina didn’t have you listed on any of her emergency contact information.”

I grip the phone tighter as that nugget of information lands in my gut.

She didn’t fucking list me on her papers. Because when she filled them out, our marriage was still an arrangement. Or we were on a fucking break. Either way, it doesn’t matter. What does matter is my wife didn’t trust me to have her back, to step up for her, the way I promised I would. And that fucking scrapes me raw.

“What can I do?” I whisper.

“You can come down to the area, if you’d like. But it’s best to leave the search and rescue to the professionals. I’ll call you as soon as I have any information.”

“Anything. Please call me with any update,” I bite out.

“I will. You can ring this number too. It’s my personal cell phone,” Dr. Mendoza adds.

“Thanks for calling, Dr. Mendoza.”

“We’re going to find her, Avery.”

“I know,” I say. Because what the fuck is the alternative?

The call disconnects and I look at my best friend.

“She’s missing,” he confirms.

I nod, feeling the panic swirl through me. I blink rapidly, grains of sand burning my eyes. “I need to find her.” I stand quickly, reaching into my locker to gather my shit.

“Hang on.” Cohen’s beside me. “You don’t have enough information. You’re hardly a fucking camper, Ave. Your idea of hunkering down is staying at an Airbnb.”

“My wife is missing in the fucking mountains, Cohen. What would you do if it was my sister? Would you sit here and wait for some other fucking person to figure it out?”

Cohen rears back at the venom in my voice, but I know he reads my panic too. How can he not? I’m fucking spiraling right now. I’m scared out of my mind.

“I need to do everything I can to help Valentina,” I say, my voice a little more restrained.

“Okay,” Cohen agrees. “Then I’ll call Cooper,” he says, referencing his brother, an avid mountain biker. “We’ll put a group together. A group of people with actual experience and necessary skill sets,” he tacks on, lifting his phone to his ear. “Cooper will know who to tag to assemble a group in no time.”

I hear him converse with Cooper, but I don’t make out the words. I can’t. My mind is a fucking vortex. A roar of nonsensical thoughts and suffocating fear.

“I’m going to check in with Raia,” Cohen says. “She’ll talk to your parents. We’re meeting my brother at his place. You want to loop in the team?”

I shake my head. Cohen is my best friend, my family, and I trust him. But I’m not bringing anyone else into this shit.

“I got you, man. We’re going to find her,” Cohen says reassuringly. “The flight to Detroit—right,” he says, correctly reading my expression.

I don’t give a fuck about the flight, about the game in Detroit, or about the playoffs.

I don’t give a shit about football or anything other than making sure Valentina is safe.

Three hours later, with Cohen, Cooper, and some of their friends, I drive down to the meeting point and enter the Great Smoky Mountains, determined to do just that.

Chapter26

Valentina

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