Over the Edge

Ch.28-Gone

~Rhys~

I felt it in my gut. Something wasn’t right.

I had blown a tire and so I was thirty minutes late as of now, and I couldn’t exactly tell Emma that because my phone had also died. I could only hope she would still be there. I couldn’t blame her if she wasn’t, but I could hope.

After pulling up in front of Vittorio’s, my stomach dropped when I didn’t see her. Okay. So she was home and probably pissed. Excellent. That meant damage control was due.

I was heading back to my car when the glint caught my eye. Curious, I strolled around the side to the lot in the back, and the bad feeling in my stomach worsened tenfold.

Emma’s car was still there.

And she wasn’t inside of it.

I figured I had a right to jump to the conclusions I did. Given what happened to her, and the bastard out looking for her, I had a God-given right.

And also because Rico had called me and told me his buddy told him Mike Packer had been in the area. That he was in North Carolina.

“Shit,” I hissed, running to my car and revving the engine.

Please don’t let me be right.

~*~

“Rhys?”

I pushed passed Emma’s mother into the house. “Is Emma here?” I asked, whirling on her. I was sure I looked half-crazy.

“No, she said she left to go see you . . . What are you doing here?”

“What’s going on?”

I frowned at the man that stepped out. “Who is this?”

“Emma’s father,” her mother explained. “My husband. Where is my daughter?”

“I was on my way to meet her,” I said in a rush. “I got there and she wasn’t—her car was there, but she wasn’t.”

Their eyes widened, clearly sharing in my suspicions.

“Jacob,” her mother gasped fearfully. The man nodded and pulled out his cellphone.

“What? What is he doing?” I demanded. My fists were clenching and unclenching.

“Jacob is a police officer.” She grabbed my shoulders and forced me to look into her eyes. “Rhys, I know what you’re thinking but you can’t okay?  She might have just travelled over to the library or the coffee shop.”

I shook my head. “No,” I countered. “He has her.”

She froze. “Rhys, please don’t—”

“I just know he does, okay?” I quipped. “Your daughter is in trouble, Mrs. Hall. Emma is in trouble.”

At that time her father came back with his badge in his hand and a gun shoved into the waist of his jeans. “I called some back-up,” he told his. “Cops are always headed down to Vittorio’s.”

“I’m coming,” Emma’s mother started, but her husband shot her a cold look.

“I don’t think you will,” he replied. “You know I don’t want you around that kind of stuff. And besides, you have to hold down the fort. Her car might have broken down and she might be on her way back here.”

“Jacob . . .”

“Please,” he whispered, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “For me. I don’t want to have to worry about you.”