“I’m sure.”
The braids were still in her hair, and I wished I'd taken the time to help her pull them out. Instead, I ran my fingers over them, “She could have just left that behind.”
“She wouldn't have,” Victor said as he turned and walked out, slamming the door against the wall.
“After you, Mrs. Sharp.” I waved toward the open door. She bit her lip and looked around for another moment before she followed Victor.
Hours later, the four of us stood in my office. I slumped in the chair behind my desk while James and Claire each sat in an armchair. Vick paced the room like a caged animal.
“We have to do something now!” Victor shouted again. I tried my hardest to be patient with him, but I was quickly approaching my limits.
“What more would you like me to do?” I had already put men on all the local bus and train stations, airports, and other travel hubs. I reached out to Officer Barns, and he put out an APB under a fake name so we could find her without alerting my father's men as to why we were looking for her. But Victor knew all of this.
“Something that will actually fucking work!” I understood that he was upset, but the depths of it confounded me. If he didn't back down, I would order him back to the gatehouse and take care of this without him. Claire stared at him as he raged with sad but thoughtful eyes, and I wondered what conclusions she was drawing.
“Vick,” she began softly, “I want to find her. We all want to find her, but it is the middle of the night, and we have no leads. We have no other directions to look in. So we're doing everything we can for her.” The words were a mishmash of what we had all told him repeatedly.
“That's if you even believe someone took her.” Victor's pointed remark was aimed at me and the fact I hadn't made a secret of my distrust for the situation.
“She didn't trash the place. I'm sure of it.” Claire said. “A lot of the stuff they ruined belonged to Casey, and she would never do that. It's too disrespectful.”
“She packed her things, Claire,” I argued. “If they meant so much to her, she would have taken them.”
She rolled her eyes, her exasperation with me growing by the minute. “There is a difference between not taking something with you when you're ready to move on and ruining it, throwing it on the floor, and stomping all over it. Come on, Mason!” She threw her hands up, and they dropped dramatically, slapping against her thighs.
“You’re the one who threatened Mila with telling us the real reason she was upset about Casey and followed up with a promise to lock her in her apartment. Maybe that’s why she left!? Did you consider you’re keeping secrets that could help us find her?” I huffed in exasperation.
“Stop it, Mason. It isn't like that, and you should know that,” the sharp tone in her voice softened into something pleading.
“You don't want me to keep things from you. Well, I don't want you to keep things from me either. Your secrets were plenty fucking dangerous, baby. Now, out with it.”
She twisted a curl around her finger in agitation. “You are being an asshole. What I was threatening her with was dickheaded and none of my business. It certainly will not help us now.”
“What is it, Claire?!” Victor practically roared. She visibly jumped in response to him and cowered for a moment before straightening. The protective instinct rising in me was deadly. I stood and stepped toward him, ready to put him flat on his ass when James jumped between us.
“No need for all that, boss. Vicky here has forgotten his manners and is about to apologize to Claire for screaming at her like an animal, aren't you, Victor?”
I took a steadying breath and turned to find Claire with tears in her eyes. The urge to beat the fuck out of Vick rose violently. James shot his hands out to hold us apart. Before I could force him out of my way, Vick stepped towards Claire with his hands up.
“Claire, hey, I am so sorry. Why are you crying? I would never hurt you. You know that, don’t you?”
She dashed her hands against her eyes, “I’m not just crying because you yelled at me. All of this has been a lot, and I wasn’t a particularly good friend to that girl. I don’t want to share her secrets, but since the two of you won’t let it go… It’s just that… She wasn’t in love with Casey.
“When he died, she was trying to figure out if she wanted to let him down easy or give them a chance. She feels so guilty that he died thinking they were in love and going to be together while she wasn't sure of him. So it was a fucked-up thing to threaten her with, but itwon'thelp us find her.”
Vick reached out and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a tighter hug, “I'm sorry I lost my cool. You're right. That doesn't help us find her.”
He released her and turned to me. “Sorry, boss,” his gaze stuck on the floor, and his cheeks flooded with an unusual red.
“Why would someone take her now?” James asked, interrupting the rest of the melting tension. Assuming she had been taken, it was the most critical question and one that hadn't been asked yet.
There were a lot of reasons they might take her. Revenge, information, perhaps a perceived debt, but why did they take her while we were getting married? Was this a matter of convenience or yet another message in a long line of messages intended to disorient?
“The person who was watching us that day at City Hall. It could have been them.” Claire murmured, her voice barely audible.
“It's possible,” I told her, “No one followed us back that night, so whomever it was, had to know she was here. But that's assuming she didn't leave on her own. She was upset about a lot of things, meaning it's not crazy to think she did.”
“You’re wrong, Mason. She wouldn’t leave that picture. I don’t know what happened, but she’s in serious danger.” Her eyebrows pushed together, and I wanted to kiss away the crinkle between them.