Vengeful Lies

I’m groggy as my eyes peel open. I feel around the silk sheets, looking for Jewel, but when I realize she’s not there, I sit up in bed with a pounding headache. I groan as I search the room. “Jewels?” I call out, but it’s deathly quiet. Why the fuck is my head hurting?

My gaze stops on the shiny ring on my bedside table, and my eyes widen. “Jewels?!” I demand, flinging the sheets off. I’m naked, and I can remember being with her last night, but not much past that. I rub my head and grab my favorite Rolex. Five in the morning? What the fuck? “Jewels?!” I shout again. I search every room, dread sinking in.

I lick my dry lips as I grab my phone and call Ford. He answers on the first ring. “Boss, you’re finally calling.”

“She’s gone.” I breathe heavily. And the moment I say it out loud, fury, rage, and sadistic determination kick in.

“Wh—”

“Jewel. She’s gone. I need everyone in action to find her. The moment you have her location, send it to me. I’ll call Will now.”

“Eli, wait. Is it possible she was given the green light for the hit on you? Shouldn’t we be coming to you to make sure she doesn’t follow through?”

My jaw tics. I understand his concern, but right now, I’m anything but rational. “You have your orders,” I bark, then I hang up.

There is every possible chance that Jewel might have gotten the final order, and she might kill me, but I’ll be fucked if I’m willing to die at the hands of anyone but my soon-to-be wife. I knew it. I knew she’d run. And I have no doubt that’s exactly what she’s done. But I’m floundering; a part of me is terrorized by the idea I might not reach her in time.

And even if she does make the hit on me, at least it’ll put me out of this fucking intense sense of fear I’ve never before felt in my life.

I’ve never met a woman so infuriating that I just want to strangle the life out of her and, at the same time, make sure no one could ever hurt her. And I know full well that she can protect herself; she proved that time and time again. I don’t think she’s had anyone other than herself to protect her in a very long time.

Yes, she has Craig, and I’m not denying he’s a special part of her life. He looked after her when she had no one else, but now she has me to depend on, and I don’t know how to prove that to her.

So she fucking drugs me and runs away like a coward. I know she sees this as just a contract. And, yes, that’s exactly what it started off as. But I kept pushing myself closer and closer to her until all I could breathe was her.

I dial one more number before calling Will.

Dutton doesn’t answer, so I call again. On the third try, he answers. “My nose is fine, in case you’re wondering.”

“She’s gone,” I say, defeated, and it’s the first time I’ve let the noticeable change in my voice show. As the fog of whatever she drugged me with clears, I’m facing a startling reality that someone else might get to her first. Or maybe I’m deluded in thinking I could really make her stay. To make her mine.

Dutton’s quiet for a moment, and I consider maybe I really fucked up. I know I’d acted on impulse, hitting him, but we’d come to that point multiple times in the past. But was this time different? Was I wrong to call him for help?

“Have you already called Hawke and Ford?” he asks, and I can hear he’s moving. I take his cue, dressing myself, the sense of urgency crippling me. But it’s his voice that steadies me as we begin to place everything into motion.

“Yes, and I’m about to contact Will.” I tighten my belt.

“Let me work on my end and see what I can find. We’ll find her.” He hangs up, and I let out a shaky breath because I hear what he didn’t say. We’ll find her… dead or alive. But there’s the possibility we won’t find her at all. Because my woman, if nothing else, is cunning and used to running through the shadows.

And I refuse to believe that I was the only one in the quicksand of whatever this is we’ve fallen into.

If I die because of that delusion, then so be it.

I grab the engagement ring before I storm out of the apartment, willing to rain hell on New York if only to smoke her out.noveldrama