Page 66 of Virtue & Vengeance

17

ZANDER

WHAT KIND OF GAME was she playing?

As I sat outside the impound lot waiting for her to show, my fury grew every minute that she was late. When seven o’clock rolled around, I was beyond furious.

About ten minutes after seven my phone began to ring and vibrate in my jacket pocket. When I pulled it out of my pocket, the number for Empire Sevens danced across the screen.

“What?” I yelled into the phone.

“Sir, Ms. Vaughn called with a message for you,” the receptionist said.

“What did she say?”

“She said she can’t meet you at six and asked if you could please meet her at Kennedy’s place. She said it was an emergency.”

I didn’t wait to hear more.

I hung up and made my way to my car.

I sped across town, passing cars and narrowly missing several tourists. I was driving dangerously, but I needed to get to her.

I barely turned my car off before I jumped out and jogged into Kennedy’s complex. The elevator ride to the top floor took forever, but when I finally made it, I wasted no time pulling out my key and opening the door to Kennedy’s place.

The place looked the same. Things were still tossed around with broken glass on the floor. I wasn’t going to call to have the place cleaned yet. Not until I found Eden.

Once again, I searched the condo only to find it still empty.

Once again, I was being played the fool.

No fucking more.

I pulled my phone out again and quickly dialed. The phone rang twice before he answered.

“It’s me,” I said into the phone. “Send them out. Have them search the entire fucking city until they find her.”

I hung up without waiting for a response.

Involving the police wasn’t an option, but it was more than evident to me that Eden was in trouble and she was hiding it from me.

Part of me wanted to call Kennedy and question her, but I knew that was a terrible idea. Kennedy would never be involved with anything that would put Eden’s life in danger. Calling her would only alarm her, and after all the time she had spent in New York City, she and Kade were almost done dealing with all the contracts and building permits.

No.

I wouldn’t involve Kennedy.

But slowly my anger was being replaced with something much more dangerous.

Fear.

I was afraid for Eden. If something happened to her, I wasn’t sure what I would do. The loss of her would alter me. I was sure of that. Thinking about losing her sickened me, and I’d never felt that before except for when it came to my sister.

I loved my sister.

But I couldn’t love Eden.

It didn’t make any sense to me.

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