Page 163 of Enigma: The Complete Collection
“How long will it take to find her?”
A keyboard being tapped sounds down the line. “Ten, twenty minutes, max.”
I’m about to reply, but a figure outside of my office steals my attention. Nick is standing in the middle of the nearly empty dance floor. My club won’t fill with patrons for a few more hours. Even being a Monday won’t stop hundreds of people from milling through my doors before midnight.
I divert my attention back to my phone. “Let me know as soon as you've found her.”
“Will do.”
Snapping the phone shut, I stride toward my office door to prop my shoulder on the doorframe. “You know how to fucking pick them.” My tone is harsh, still pissed at Nick’s stupidity on how he handled the entire Megan incident. He's only twenty-two, but he's an adult, and now a father, so he needs to take care of his responsibilities.
Nick’s head shoots sideways as his eyes widen. “Do you know where she is?”
“I’m taking care of it.”
When I walk back into my office, Nick quickly follows after me. “What do you mean you’re taking care of it?”
I sink into my leather chair before requesting for him to sit in the chair across from me. When he denies my request with a brisk shake of his head, I gesture more firmly. If I know my brother as well as I think I do, he will want to be seated when I show him the information Isabelle unearthed.
Nick sits across from me, his knee bobbing up and down as his nerves get the better of him. I wait for him to hide his nervous twitch before asking, “Why didn’t you read the documents your lawyer gave you?”
“What are you talking about?” His high tone exposes his bewilderment. He’s genuinely shocked.
I snatch up the original envelope from his lawyer to throw it into his chest. When he realizes what it is, his lips furl. “She told me everything I needed to know—”
“No, she fucking didn’t!”
When he continues glaring at me in confusion, I snatch the envelope out of his hand to pull out the documents inside. I flick through the pages until I reach the page Isabelle displayed to me at the motel before returning it to Nick’s chest with a shove. “Read it!”
His throat works hard to swallow as he absorbs the information in front of him. “She was never pregnant?”
“She's a fucking virgin.”
He stares up at me, disbelief etched all over his pale face.
“When the gynecologist’s scan didn’t find a fetus, he did a little more research. Her hymen was still intact. You went and got yourself a fucking psycho.” My angry roar bounces around my office. “She’s been in and out of the psychiatric ward the past year. She fled a few months ago after knocking the orderly out cold.”
Nick’s face goes white before he jumps out of his chair to pace back and forth in my office. “I fucking knew she wasn’t quite right.”
His bugged eyes lift to me when my outdated cell phone skates across my desk. I answer it while gathering photos out of my drawer to hand to Nick.
“Yes,” I snap down the phone, my mood surly.
“She's staying in a rundown motel on the outskirts of town,” Hunter informs me.
My heart rate kicks into overdrive. “Get one of my men to that motel immediately.”
“What do you want him to do once he arrives?”
My eyes shift to the photo of Isabelle I just placed on my desk. Several seconds pass in silence as I recall what she said in my town car when we arrived at Megan’s family residence. I want to be the man she believes I am, but I also need to protect the people I love.
“Tell him to await further instructions.” I’m trying to bide some time so I can properly assess the situation, so careless mistakes aren’t made.
“Okay.”
When Hunter disconnects our call, heaving echoes through my office. The graphic images on how to complete an illegal cesarean were obviously too much for Nick’s stomach to handle. As he wipes away vomit from his bottom lip with the sleeve of his shirt, his pale, sweat-drenched face rises from the waste bin to me.
“How are you taking care of this?” His voice is hoarse from being sick, but there’s no denying it’s plea. He’s begging for me to ensure Megan will never have the chance to hurt him or his family again.
