Ellie's boyfriend kissed her goodnight and disappeared without a trace, never to be seen again... until now.
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A week before their high school graduation, Austin and Ellie parted ways with a goodnight kiss, thinking they'd be seeing each...
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"Hey bro, can you come here?" my brother suddenly called from his spot in front of the computer.
"Yeah?" I put down the spoon I'd used to stir my latest attempt to make stew and peeked around the corner.
"We just got an urgent message to call Lloyd," he said in a tense tone as soon as my eyes met his.
That got my attention and increased the uneasiness I'd felt for weeks. We hadn't been in touch with the agency in several years, since before we moved to Boston. Lloyd had always been our contact, but we very rarely heard from him unless there was a problem.
"Did something happen to Ellie?" I asked, since she was always my first thought.
"Not as far as I can tell." His eyebrows narrowed as he scrunched his forehead. "And she's your girl. Wouldn't you know?"
I huffed a sound, but I probably would if I kept in regular contact with her, which I didn't.
"And I'm not sure they even know about her. Why would they?" my brother asked.
"True."
He was right. Why would the agency know? It wasn't like we'd kept them updated. They didn't even know we moved to Kansas.
"You should probably call Ellie if you're worried about her," my brother commented dryly, knowing I'd been avoiding it.
I knew I should call her or at least respond to her texts. Ignoring it was an asshole move. I knew that, but I didn't know what to say to her. Every time I thought about how scared she must've been when that guy came to her job looking for me, I felt guiltier than ever. I'd done that to her. I'd brought her into our dangerous lives.
"Do you know where the man is?" I asked my brother instead. "Did you check?"
"Yes. He's still in Nevada, just like I told you yesterday."
And that was weird and a bit strange since our dad was supposedly in Vegas the week before. It didn't feel like that was just a coincidence.
I turned the stove down to let the stew simmer. Bear raised his head from where he laid on the floor, but didn't bother to get up when I just walked into the dining room.
"Is it weird that we didn't hear back from dad?" I asked, wondering if my brother was on the same wavelength as me.
He shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not sure. Sometimes he goes months without any contact, but I was kind of thinking the same thing."
I rubbed at the beard on my face that I hadn't bothered to shave off. "Especially since his last text was about being careful."
"Yeah, that is kind of strange," my brother agreed.
"I wonder what Lloyd wants."
My brother snorted. "Let's call him back and find out."
I swallowed down the lump that was building in the back of my throat and watched over my brother's shoulder as he pressed some buttons on the keyboard.
"Are you ready?" he asked.
"Sure," I said with a sense of confidence I didn't feel. "As ready as I'll ever be."
