Page 41 of Mastered By Bliss

No more light.No more noise.Nothing.

* * *

Gage

Leah should be home soon, unless she’s going to Dmitri’s again.I wouldn’t blame her if she did, but I hope she’ll come home.

I should have called her as soon as she confessed that she was wrong about not believing in us.I’ll make it up to her tonight, if she’ll let me.

I put away my groceries, leaving out the ingredients for tonight’s meal.I arrange the flowers in a vase—a bouquet of Gerbera daisies in a variety of colors.

I touch a daisy’s hot pink petals.Flowers won’t fix everything, but I think Leah will enjoy the colors and the thought behind them.

To make the ramen, I’ll need my phone for the recipe.As soon as I pull it from my pocket, a notification glares at me from the screen, accusatory.I missed yet another one of Leah’s calls.This time wasn’t on purpose, but after my behavior the past couple days, I feel worse.

I immediately call her back, because I only missed her by a few minutes.She might see my call.But she doesn’t pick up.

With a sigh, I let the call go to her voicemail and leave a message.“Leah, I’m sorry I didn’t see your call.I’m not avoiding you, I promise.Homemade ramen is in progress so we can eat when you get home.We’ll talk.I love you.”

I wash the mushrooms, then start slicing while I switch over to the voicemail Leah left me.My heart warms at the sound of her voice.“Gage, it’s me.I’m on my way home.”Someone’s talking in the background—her bodyguard, perhaps.She continues, “I’ve missed you, too.I’ll see you soon?—”

Her words break off with a resounding crash.The loud sound fills my empty kitchen, like metal on metal.I set down my knife and look at my phone.The recording is still going.

A man’s voice.I can only pick out a few words.“…get us out of this…what.”And unintelligible sounds, conversations.The tone is strained, though.“Brace yourself?—”

Something went terribly wrong.

The man shouts, “Cover your head, cover your head?—”

And then…silence.

13

Gage

I dial Leah, but the call won’t go through.I want to dial emergency services, but I don’t have any details.A possible car accident—but where?

We don’t have location sharing on our phones.I regret that.As soon as I find her, we’ll set that up for safety.

If I find her.

No, I’m going to find her.

I text Dmitri.Leah’s missing.She’s in trouble.

I call Ironwood next.I’m sure that was Leah’s bodyguard in the background.If they can get in touch with him, we’ll find Leah.

I have Jaxon’s number, so I’ll call him.

Dmitri’s text comes in as I dial.On my way to yours.

Jaxon answers immediately.

“We’re already on it.”He doesn’t even let me say hello, and his voice carries urgency.“I was just about to call you.Brody didn’t check in on the hour, and his phone is out of service.We’re searching his last known location and going from there.”

“It sounded like they were in a car accident, if that helps.”I check the timestamp on Leah’s voicemail.“She was leaving me a voice message.She—we were having trouble, Jaxon, but we were fixing it.”I look up at the ceiling and force myself to take a deep breath.I’m spiraling, and spiraling won’t help locate Leah.Jaxon doesn’t need our backstory, our drama.He needs cold, hard facts.“Thirty minutes ago.That’s when the accident happened.”

“We’ll find her.If there’s anything extra you think we should know…”

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