“Gonna be a wild night,” Bishop comments. With the way the sky has gone from bright to ominous, I tend to agree with him.
“Oh, thank god.” I hear Lilith’s concerned voice as I climb the steps. “Have you heard from Aria?”
My eyes find Severo to see him frowning. Reaching into my pocket for my phone, I don’t have any messages. “No. Why didn’t you call sooner?” King and Holden come out of the war room with matching expressions.
“No. Don’t fucking say it. Not again.” My brother’s panicked voice expresses my own fears because we know that look. It haunted us for months, even after we got her back the last time.
“I’m afraid it might be,” King seethes calmly.
“What was she doing today? We dropped her off, but she never mentioned any plans. Where’s Hadley? She always knows.” Ro begins to pace as I text Aria and then call her.
“It’s me. Text me; no one calls anymore.” That message has always made me laugh in the past, but now I’m annoyed. I don’t leave a message because there’s no point. If she’s not answering, there’s a reason.
“Hadley has no idea. I’m waiting to hear from your parents. They spoke to her before they went home this afternoon,” Lilith says, hands ringing in front of her as I call my father.
“Hello?” He’s out of breath, and I immediately know why.
“Where’d Aria go?”
“What? What’s going on?” I can hear Mom and Dimitri in the background now.
“Lil said you and Mom talked to Aria this afternoon. She mention any plans?” I don’t have time to wait around searching. None of us can survive another attempted murder.
“Her friend texted her, asked her for lunch. I think she was going. She wanted to see if they could mend their friendship because Aria is almost positive the other girl has a crush on her.”Jealousy.
Again.
From a fucking girl this time.
“Get here. Aria is missing, and we need to find her.” I hang up before anything else can be said. I fucking hate this. For her. For us. For the family.
We don’t fuck around with people. We sure as hell aren’t perfect, but in the last thirty years, I know the worst thing my dads and uncles have done is take women out of shitty situations and give them a better life.
We don’t fucking deserve this.
My rage grows uncontrollably, and before I know it, my fist is embedded in the plaster beside the front door, and my phone is smashed on the ground on the other side of the room. I’m fucking livid at myself. At Kelsey. At my brother.
Rationally, the only one I should be angry at is this Kelsey bitch. Never did I think I could lay hands on a woman, but if she’s hurt one hair on Aria’s head, I’ll cut her head off her shoulders and mount it on my fucking wall.
* * *
Severo
I can see Sev losing his grip on reality. He’s blaming himself and plotting this girl's death, even as he smashes his other hand through the wall. Nobody disturbs him because Seven needs an outlet. We’ll fix the plaster later.
Knowing Aria is out there without our protection—likely afraid—pisses me off in ways I can’t think about. Not yet. Not until we find her. Because if I do, I might get locked in old memories of watching her die again, and I can’t let that happen. I can’t fail Aria and Seven like that. I fell apart last time; I need to be the rock for them both this time. Because if they lose it, then so will I, and nobody needs that.
“We found her once, we’ll do it again,” I reassure Sev, but he just shakes his head.
“She’s a fucking cunt who is going to die at the bottom of the sea, right?” Hadley slams through the door with Lake in tow.
“What?” I snap at her.
“I went to her house. She has pictures of Aria everywhere. She’s in love with her, and I’m betting she kidnapped her because you two finally manned-up and laid claim.” Tugging her hair back into a rough bun, Hadley drops her hands on her hips aggressively. “If you don’t kill her, I will.” And as I watch her twitch and pace around the room, Lake is gripping onto her own suspenders, trying to calm herself down.
I could see Hadley doing it too.
The image makes me laugh, and the whole room looks at me like I’ve lost my fucking mind. Maybe I have. “Can you picture Hads killing someone?” Christ, this woman is going to put some man through his paces one day.