Page 55 of Betrayal & New Beginnings

“Go.I’llcheck the cameras and call you.Go!” he told me asIpushed back my chair and practically sprinted out of the office door to get downstairs.Phonein my hand,Ikept talking toTammy, trying to understand what happened.

“It might beBeth,” she said.

Beth may have had a role in this.Itmade sense because she worked withEllie, so she would have had proximity to get to her, but why?

“I can’t findBeth, but she was also done with her shift, so she may have left and not seen anything,”Tammytried to say, butIknew the other words she was thinking too. “Butwhy would she have told her that you were waiting for her when you had a meeting?Thisisn’t adding up.”

“No, it doesn’t.I’mon my way down there,”Itold her and hung up asIraced as fast asIcould down the stairs.

I passed the front office and yelled toRuthieto get upstairs and helpArcherandVinceimmediately.Weneeded all the help we could get.Iexited the front door and ran around the building to the back entrance, whereTammywas currently standing in the doorway, looking in every direction.

“Talk to me,”Isaid firmly.

“You droppedEllieoff to start her shift.Wewere restocking everything and getting ready for the dinner rush, andBethcame by as she was leaving for the night,”Tammystarted in. “Bethsaid that you told her you needed to seeEllieright away, and then as she was walking back there, she mentioned you were just taking the trash out soEllieshould wait for you by the door.Shesaid she would walk out there with her, soIdidn’t worry initially becauseIknew she wouldn’t be alone.I’man idiot.I’msorry,Wade.”

Knowing she felt terrible,Ishook my head, trying to reassure her.

“Beth has worked here for over a year.It’snormal to trust her.Don’tbeat yourself upTammy.We’llfind her,”Itold her, hoping ifIsaid it out loud, it would come true.Myphone rang in my pocket, and whenIsaw it wasArcher,Ihoped he had good news.

“What,”Isnapped without an introduction.

“He grabbed her,” he said in my ear, andIfelt the anger rising in me and it became harder to breathe. “Hewas waiting right outside the door and hit her on the back of the head with something as soon as she walked out.”

“Where the hell wasBeth?”Iasked, wondering why she didn’t scream or run back inside to getTammyorChuck.

“All evidence is pointing to her helping the dude,” he said angrily, but he also sensed my anger rising, so he continued to talk. “Shehelped him secure her and then left the parking lot swiftly in her car.IsentDaneandAxelover to her place right now to track her down and get answers.Icalled the cops.They’reon their way here to the office.RuthieandDiegoare going to stay here and walk them through what happened while we go get her.”

“We don’t know where he took her, though.Hecould be on his way toTennesseeorFloridafor all we know!”Ipractically yelled into the phone.

“Wade, calm down for just a second and let me explain,” he said in his authoritative, yet surprisingly very calm voice. “Shehas a tracking device on her, andVincejust pulled it up now.It’smoving, so we’re going to follow it.”

“No, her phone is still at the bar.Shedoesn’t have that with her,”Itold him.

“No,Ruthiegave her one, and it’s working,” he said.

While part of me was relieved that we knew where she was.Iwas also livid that he’d kept this from me.

“Ruthie put a tracker on her?Whythe hell didn’t you tell me?”Iyelled.

“It’s not what you think.I’llexplain in the car,” he said suddenly from right behind me.HeandVincewere there, apparently having run down through the building and out back to come get me. “Vincehas the tracker pulled up.Let’sgo,” he said urgently and started jogging to theSUVin the side parking lot.

I turned toTammyand instructed her to callSamand see if he could come back for a bit so she could go helpRuthiewith the cops when they arrived.Shenodded, andIran off to the vehicle.

Vince was in the driver’s seat and starting the car whenIhopped in the back.Archer, who was in the front passenger seat, was already talking to me beforeIcould get my question out.

“Ruthie wears a necklace with pink boxing gloves on it,” he said, andItried to think back to whetherI’dseen her wear it before while he continued. “Igave that to her.Ithas a tracking device built into it in case something ever happened.”

There was a lot to unpack with that statement, andIwanted to ask him more, but right nowIneeded to focus on findingEllie.

“She mentionedElliecommenting on it a while back, and since we all knewElliewas having issues with her ex, she wanted to know if we could give one toEllieas well,”Archerexplained. “Ithought it was a good idea, soRuthiepicked out a yellow pair of gloves forElliethat attached to her necklace, andIadded the tracking device to it.Ruthieonly gave it to her a few days ago.”

I recalled seeing it on her this morning asIwas exploring her body when we woke up but didn’t ask about it because my mind was consumed with other thoughts.

Her beautiful face popped into my mind, and allIcould think of was thatI’dfinally made the decision to take a chance with her, and nowImay not get it.Weneeded to find her.Ihadto find her.

I just hoped we could find her in time before that asshole hurt her—or worse.

22

---