Silence was all that greeted him. He walked farther in, only to see the pristine condition that all of Silas’s apartments were typically kept in. There wasn’t a single thing to denote that she’d even ever been here. Then another rush of self-condemnation blew over him. Of course it would look as though no one had been here. He’d stripped her of everything. All her clothing, her possessions. He’d thrown her out with nothing.
He hurriedly went through the small apartment, a sick feeling entering his stomach when his search turned up nothing. It was as if she’d never set foot in the place. How unlikely was that?
In the kitchen he finally saw the note affixed to the refrigerator. He rushed over and ripped it down and read her neatly scrawled handwriting. It was addressed to Silas and Maddox.
Thank you so much for everything, both of you. I’ve decided not to stay here in the city any longer. It would be too painful for me to be here, always remembering. You were my absolute best memory of New York City.
Love always,
Evangeline
Drake crumpled the note and then went back through the apartment, searching for what, he wasn’t sure. Some clue as to where she might have gone? In the bathroom, he found the first sign that someone had been here recently. Just a tissue, crumpled and soggy looking, though it was dry. Had she cried here, using the tissue to wipe away her tears?
He closed his eyes and inhaled sharply to prevent his own tears from sliding free. He jumped when his cell phone rang and he automatically reached for it, intending to shut it off, when he saw who the caller was. His pulse immediately began to race when he saw Evangeline’s mom’s name listed as the incoming caller.
“Brenda, how are you?” he greeted her. As if there were nothing wrong. As if his entire world hadn’t vanished.
She sniffed and there was the sound of a faint sob as she spoke. “Drake? Is Evangeline with you?”
Drake froze, his blood turning to ice in his veins. “No,” he said slowly. “She isn’t. I was hoping you could tell me where to find her.”
“She was flying home!” Brenda cried. “She called me this morning to say she was catching a late-afternoon flight and would arrive here thirty minutes ago! She wasn’t on the plane. She didn’t get on the plane. What has happened to my daughter?”
“I’m going to find out, Brenda. I swear to you, I’ll find her. Can you tell me anything that might be helpful?”
“You promised me,” Brenda raged. “You swore to me that you would protect and look out for my baby, but when she called me, you should have heard how upset she was. She was heartbroken! She said that the two of you had broken up and that she was moving home. I had hoped that since she didn’t get on the plane, perhaps the two of you had reconciled.”
“Brenda, listen to me,” Drake said, utter gravity in his tone. “I did a terrible thing to your daughter. I didn’t trust her as I should have. As a result, we had an argument, and yes, we broke up. But I was on my way to where she was staying to apologize and to beg her for forgiveness. She did nothing wrong, except have absolute faith and trust in me when I didn’t give her the same back.”
Emotion knotted his throat, making his speech so thick it was a wonder she could even understand him. He sounded garbled even to his own self.
“Do you love her?” Brenda asked accusingly. “Because if you don’t, then let her go, Drake. No matter how much she’s hurting now, she’ll only hurt more if she becomes more deeply involved with you, or even married to you, and you don’t love her.”
“I love her with everything that I am, everything that I will be and everything that I have. It all belongs to her. My heart, my soul, my life. If she’ll have me, I’ll spend the rest of my life proving myself to her.”
There was a prolonged silence and then Brenda finally spoke again, sounding a little more appeased than she had initially.
“Find my daughter, Drake. And when you do, I want to talk to her. I’m sick with worry and so is her father. Please find her and let us know she’s safe.”
“I will,” he vowed, and then eased the phone down to shove it back into his pocket.
“Oh God. Where are you, Angel?” he said in an anguished tone.
He reached into his pocket for his phone, turning away from the sink to call Silas to see if he knew her whereabouts, when from the corner of his eye he saw something distinctive in the trash can.
He froze in place, all the breath leaving his body in one wicked expulsion. He began to shake violently as he stared, unable to move for the fear paralyzing him. It couldn’t be. Could it?