Page 55 of Sick Little Devotion

“Uh…” Aaron’s face fills with confusion. “She left? I don’t know. It was probably only about twenty minutes ago, maybe. Your meeting was short.”

“It was canceled,” I growl.

“She said she was going to meet you.”

Rage fills my chest, and I throw him backwards. His body slams into the wall like a rag doll. He grunts upon impact, and I rush him again, violent thoughts consuming my mind. However, I know that won’t fix the problem—and I need all the information I can get from him.

“I swear, I thought she was going to meet with you. She didn’t act as if anything was off, boss,” he whimpers. I give him one swift kick to the stomach, knowing that I’m already on a time crunch. I know where she’s headed, and I have to do everything I can to stop her.

I spin on my heels. “No one comes and no one goes until I get back,” I instruct, spitting my orders out as I leave him there on the floor, hunched over. "And when I come back, we'll finish this conversation… one way or another," I lie, my calm voice hanging heavy in the air. It's a lie because I already know there is only one way this can end for Aaron.

With an introduction to his maker.

Mistakes like this in my circles are fatal.

I push through the door with such force that the wood splinters as the knob punches a hole in the drywall.

Carlos is already in the driver’s seat of the Camaro, waiting for me. “Let’s go, boss. We should only be about thirty minutes behind her.”

I want to force him out of the driver’s seat, but at the moment, I’m seeing fucking red, and I know I’m more likely to get pulled over and arrested if I get behind the wheel. I wouldn’t care—I have contacts everywhere now—but that would delay me from getting to Sara. I don’t know what Will has up his sleeve, and I don’t know if he had something to do with her leaving.

“You think she split on her own?” Carlos offers up as he pulls out of the garage, his pace like a fucking grandma.

“I don’t know,” I say through gritted teeth. “But right now, I think you should just fucking drive.”

“I am, I am.” He holds his hands up in surrender, his expression indignant. “I was just trying to make conversation. It will pass the time much faster than if you sit there seething in your own head. We will get there not long after she does. Nothing is going to happen. If she was going to call the police, I think she would’ve by now. She could’ve pulled off anywhere and called.”

“You’re not making me feel any better,” I grunt, raking my fingers through my hair. What would’ve happened had the meeting not been canceled on my way there? It would’ve put me hours behind her. Was this some kind of fucking plan she had up her sleeve all along? Was she fucking waiting for me to leave her so she could go?

My stomach knots up as I lean back against the seat. She lied. She used me. And I don’t even care about it. I can’t hate her for it. I’ve done enough to her, and the fact I have no hard feelings will more than likely shock her.

“Do you leave your phone out at night?” Carlos’s question cuts through the thoughts I’m drowning in, and I have to admit that it’s a welcome distraction. Maybe it is better to make conversation.

I glance over to him. “I plug it into the charger on my side of the bed. Everyone does that.”

“It got a passcode?”

“No, it’s not the one I use for business.”

He eyes me warily. “You should check it, amigo. She might have communicated with someone. You might be driving right into a trap.”

She wouldn’t do that to me.

But yet, I’m still propelled to check my phone. I dig through the deleted call log which tells me nothing. Next, I make my way to the text threads, searching through the messages. I go to the recently deleted folder, and my stomach drops.

“Fuck,” I mutter, shaking my head. “She’s so fucking gullible. She texted one of her foster sisters last night.”

Carlos nods. “What’s it say?”

“Not much, other than that she promises that she’ll make it back to them. The texts seem like a panic from the other side…” Something doesn’t sit right as I go over them. Is it just a teenage girl freaking out because her missing sister is back? Or is more than that? “I don’t like this.”

“Like I said, it could be a trap.”

“If it was Will, who broke into the courtyard, that means that he knew she was here,” I think aloud, running through the options. “Do you think he was planning to take her back? Or was he coming for me?”

Carlos shrugs. “I don’t have an answer for you. I don’t think you’ll know until we get there, and even then, it’s a toss-up. It could just be a coincidence that he’s hanging around here. We both know that he owes money again to Grenado, and we both know that he hates you.”

“He ruined my life,” I say, but then stop myself. “Actually, that’s not true. It’s because of him that I have my life the way I do. Maybe I owe him a debt of thanks.”