Page 48 of North (The Moral Compass 2)

“What’s happening? Why do you look like you’ve seen a ghost?” I ask him whilst he’s wandering around the living room, texting West.

“Princess. You better sit down. I’ve got something to tell you.”

“Are Sutton and the girls okay?” I ask, panicking as I sit down on the sofa.

“Yeah, they are fine. It’s Stella… She’s dead. West says we might have to go back earlier than I planned, but we can wait and see if we get called back.”

“Is Sutton okay? I need to ring her. Fuck, where is my phone?” I jump up and start searching. I could have sworn I left it in the kitchen by the washer when we came in. It’s not in the kitchen, so I run up the stairs and check the bedroom and then the bathroom, but it isn’t there.

“Hey, can you track my phone? I can’t find it. I know I didn’t leave it on the beach because I took a photo of the sunset from the patio before we came inside.”

“It’ll be here somewhere, so stop worrying. Here, use mine to ring Sutton, and I’ll have a look for yours.” He hands me the phone, and I dial out and get Sutton straight away. We exchange a few “how are you’s” and check that we are both okay with the news. She’s as I expected, not the least bit bothered. Me, on the other hand, well, I’m relieved. It’s one less person I have to go up against in court.

The call is short. Now that I know they are all okay, I can concentrate on finding my phone.

I ring my number from North’s phone, and it rings out, but I can’t hear it. I can’t hear it vibrating, either. Where the hell has it gone?

Panic-stricken, I stop the washer, pull out the wet duvet, and shake it all over the floor. Nope, it didn’t get put in there by accident.

“North, have you found it?” I shout upstairs.

Fuck, where the hell can it be?

“North…? Have you found it?” I shout again, but again, there is no answer.

Fucking hell, what is that guy doing?

I stomp up the stairs, enter the bedroom, and stop dead.

North is standing by the bed with his hands over his face. All my clothes are scattered over the bed, and some of them have been shredded with a pair of scissors that have been left pointing upwards in a “V” on the bed.

“What the hell is going on?” I go towards the clothing as North grabs my hands.

“Don’t touch anything. We need to call the police.”

“North, I don’t understand. Who would have done this?” Anger rises in my voice. “I don’t have any clothes left. Everything I had is cut to pieces.”

He takes his phone from me and calls the police. Then, he calls West before he makes another call. He’s calling the private jet back.

I look at all the beautiful clothes ruined on the bed. Tears spring to my eyes. I just don’t know anyone who would do this to me. Especially here in Mexico. I’ve not even spoken to a single person, so I can’t have pissed anyone off.

North takes my hand and leads me back downstairs.

“I need you to stay here, Kara, and not leave this room. Take my phone. I’m going to search the house and make sure no one is hiding. If I’m not back in five minutes, call the police again.” He sets the timer on the phone and then fumbles around in a cupboard. Then, I see the gun in his hand as he puts it down the back of his jeans. It’s a fucking hot move, and it would turn me on if I weren’t so fucking scared.

With a quick peck on my lips and a sexy smile, he’s gone. I sit, watching the timer count down.

4:20… 4:01… 3:37 and so on until it gets to 0:24. The phone is shaking in my hand as I hear footsteps behind me. Oh shit. I turn to look.

“There’s no one here,” he says as he walks back over to the cupboard and puts the gun away.

“I don’t like this one bit,” I say as he takes me in his arms. “I will fucking kill who ever has done this.” I look down at the robe. “I need to borrow some of your clothes.”

“Anything you want, Princess.” He takes his T-shirt off and hands if over to me. I quickly throw it on and pull the robe back across my body.

“I need some underwear, too.” I look at his boxers. He just shakes his head with his cheeky smile.

“Hang on, I’ll be right back. Stay here.” He runs off upstairs whilst I admire the beautiful body moving like an athlete. Two stairs at a time. Fuck, he is hot.

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