Lorcan
“She’s gone,” Dino says down the phone.
“What do you mean she’s fucking gone?” I say as I sit up, hissing the stitches in my side pulls.
“Careful, you’ll open them again,” says Sas. She hasn’t left my bedside once. Even when I have to pee, she stands outside the door incase I fucking fall over. It’s bloody annoying, and at times I want her to piss off, but if I ever told my sister that she’d castrate me in a heartbeat.
Where the hell is Viola.
After she left the hospital, Dino took her to see Jude. And then, she just fucking vanished. Her phone is going straight to answer phone and she’s not answering her messages. The tracker in her Audi says she’s at the airport. Dino went and checked it out this morning. She returned the car. She could be fucking anywhere.
My chest fucking burns every time I think of it but…
I know Dante has her. I just fucking know it. And here I am, I’m trapped in my own fucking bed, unable to do anything but hobble to the bathroom. I can’t even take a piss by myself. Balling my fists until my knuckles crack, I drag in a ragged breath as my whole world fucking tips upside down.
As soon as I can get out of this fucking bed…
Dino sighs down the phone. I forgot he was even there. “I don’t know. All her clothes and things are here. She took her rented Audi back, I think she left on purpose.”
None of what he just said helps.
“Just find her,” I snap. I hang up and Sas is giving me that look. The one that says I’m acting like a fucking psycho.
“She’s probably just decided enough is enough,” she shrugs.
“No.” I shake my head. “Something is wrong, I can tell. I need to get out of this fucking bed.” I haul back the covers and move to sit up straight. Pain slices through my side and my back, but fuck it. I’ve coped with worse. I grit my teeth and swing my legs over the side.
“What are you doing? The doctor said you need bed rest for another four weeks!” My sister sounds like a mouse is stuck in her goddam throat with all the fucking squeaking she’s doing.
“Just get me my fucking clothes,” I snap at her.
I say it more harshly than I intend and her expression shuts down, closing off. “Get your own fucking clothes,” she says acidly and leaves the room.
Why do I have to have a fucking bitch of a sister?
I find my clothes and it takes an age to dress myself, but as soon as I’m able to walk out the front door, I’m gone. Keys in hand, I limp over to Jude’s Aston. After the Bugatti, it’s like driving a pickup truck but fuck, who cares.
I’ve actually no idea where I’m going, but auto-pilot takes me to the frat house. Dino gives me a look that says I’ve lost it as I tear her room apart looking for something that will give me a hint as to where she is.
Finally I find it. A USB drive full of information about her so-called mentor, Dante.
I send a message to the number in the file to meet.
An hour later there’s reply.
I thought you’d never ask.
I seethe brown mustang as I arrive at the service station in Jude’s Aston. The last time I saw this fucker, he was holding a gun to my head. With that in mind, I park up and open up my glove compartment. There’s a pistol inside. I take it out and conceal it in my coat, eat a shit load of painkillers to stop myself from passing out, and get out of the car.
Meeting with Dante comes with risk. He could shoot me where I stand, I know that. But the alternative is that he has V and he fucking hurts her…
But coming here. I’m not thinking straight. I’m not thinking at all. I don’t even know what my fucking plan is to get him to talk. All I know is Dante has her, and I’m going to have to go through him to get her back. If V wants to leave she can, but I need to make sure she’s okay.
I walk slowly, trying not to wince over with every agonizing fucking step.
“Where is she,” I say as soon as I’m within hearing distance, stopping in the middle of the lot. He can meet me halfway or he can fuck off.
At first, he doesn’t say anything or look at me. The bastard is still sitting in his car. He has the window open so I know he can hear me. I place my hand on the gun in my pocket. Suddenly, he opens the door and gets out. He grins at me, like I’m a joke to him.