Page 79 of Swept for Forever

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“I haven’t told anyone else,” Claire said.

“Thank you. Leave it with me.”

“I’m sorry, Dom. I could see you really liked her.”

“Oh, Claire. You have no idea!” I gave her arm a grateful touch but didn’t wait for another word.

I spun on my heel, moving fast. Out the door, across the lot.

Autumn wouldn’t have known. She couldn’t have.

Could she?

I reached her room in record time and grabbed the handle. Locked.

“Autumn?” I knocked. Then pounded.

Nothing.

The pressure in my chest spiked.

I yanked out my phone and called her. It went straight to voicemail.

No.

No, no, no, no.

I stepped back, scanning the lot. Her rental car was gone. The room was dark.

She was gone.

And I didn’t even have a damn second to process it before something else slammed into me.

Ms. O’Donnell.

The motel owner stood a few doors down, pressing a poster onto the front office window. Her expression pinched as she smoothed the tape down.

I barely looked at her. My focus was on the poster in her hands.

And then?—

Everything. Fucking. Stopped.

Have you seen this person?

It could’ve been her. Maybe it wasn’t. But the moment I connected the dots, the face staring back at me hit like a stun gun. Not missing—wanted.

“Ms. O’Donnell,” I said, my voice sharper than I meant. “Where’d you get that?”

She turned, startled. “Oh, Mr. Powell! Deputy Granger dropped it off earlier. He said to keep an eye out. She may be dangerous.” She tapped the image.“They think she’s still in the area.”

So she hadn’t recognized the sketch as Autumn. Maybe it wasn’t her after all. But logic was gone, shoved aside by instinct. My heart was already ripped in half, and everything I knew was slipping away.

Back at my truck, the old courtroom coin found its way to my palm. I didn’t even remember grabbing it, but I clenched it hard.

Autumn.

The woman I’d held, kissed, wanted, and trusted.

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