Page 3 of Lost
The conversation is directed at me, and I wish that I’d thought to give her something else to track her location. As soon as I get her back, I’m getting something designed. If they can put GPS in a goddamned toy, they can do it in jewelry.
Fuck, is it too psychotic to simply inject a tracker under her skin? The mafia must be rubbing off on me, but if it means I never have to go through this clawing, mind numbing terror, then so be it.
“No,” Felix replies in a clipped tone. “I found her purse back there. It has her phone in it, which has her location turned on and shared with me so I can track her. It looks like it was tossed out the window as an afterthought.”
Felix lifts his clenched hand to show the purse, and Caleb nods curtly.
“She said your name through the bond,” I remember, turning to Nova. “Her entire life has revolved around finding you.”
“It has,” Lars grunts. “Today, she spent the day grieving you.”
“What?” Nova sobs, shoving her fist against her mouth to attempt to hold them back.
“One day a year, she disappears and does things with you in mind,” Caleb says, a tear falling from his eye. “She never lets any of us forget you. Hollis has always been your champion, even if you thought you were alone.”
“Now we have to find her,” I murmur.
“I can’t tell you how sorry I am,” Nova says, her fingers moving to her hair to pull sharply on it. I recognize it as a grounding technique, but my fingers still spasm because I want to make her stop.
“Tell her when she’s back, not us,” Caleb grunts, turning as an SUV joins us. “Hollis will probably tell you to stop being stupid though.”
“Excuse me?” she asks, wide eyed.
Caleb and Lars aren’t pulling a single punch. They are both giving her a lot of tough love at the moment.
“Hollis is trained to be kidnapped,” Caleb sighs. “We’ve been teaching her self defense since she was a teen. I wouldn’t be surprised if she asks us why we took so long when we get there.”
A tiny, hysterical giggle escapes from Nova’s mouth before she clamps her hand down over it. I really hope she’s able to keep her shit together.
So much is starting to fall into place, including her panic attack about not being able to get through the gate.
“Those people kept you trapped, didn’t they?” I ask.
Nova’s eyes grow wide as she takes a breath, and I can see her thinking of things to keep her calm. Slowly, she removes her hand as she nods.
“The doors were locked sometimes, but typically the gates were why I couldn’t leave,” she says. “They insisted that there were bad people who would try to take me away from them, so I had to stay at home. I studied as much as I could for my doulaship online until I was able to leave.”
“How old were you when you left?” Lars asks, watching as two large men lumber over to us.
“Sixteen,” she whispers. Lars’ face whips back so quickly, he winces, and Caleb growls.
“Fuck,” Remy mutters. “It was bad, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah. I hope Hollis kills them both,” she says.
“There’s blood,” one of the men joining us grunts, his eyes on the ground.
“I don’t think it’s hers, Shaw,” Caleb says. “I’m in fact about ninety-nine percent sure that she defended herself when they attacked her and it’s not her blood.”
Shaw glares at the ground again before nodding. “Hollis is a bad bitch. It’s clear she fought based on the snow disturbance and her bags. Thoughts on who did this?”
“John and Louise Taylor,” Nova says, pushing her voice to be louder than the meekness she’s been showing. “Apparently my kidnappers as well.”
Shaw’s eyes move up to look at Nova and squints his eyes.
“Excuse me?” the man next to him asks.
“I heard her, Evan,” Shaw grunts. I recognize the name as the beta that occasionally drives Hollis to mafia meetings, which means he also works for Cian.
