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She shuffled over to Nikole and said something in a low voice. Nikole looked over at me and fought back a grin. Her lips twitched and her eyes danced.
She moved onto the next aisle, choosing each ingredient carefully. She said she was making tacos and guacamole. I couldn’t wait to try them.
I mentally went through my wine cellar, thinking about which bottle I would uncork tonight. It felt like a special occasion. I’d closed one chapter in my life and was opening another.
Oh, yes, I know. I’ll pop open the French champagne I’ve been saving. The two-million-dollar Taste of Diamonds bottle. If she didn’t want to go to France this weekend, I would bring a taste of France to her.
A man at the other end of the aisle caught my attention. He had his hands in his pockets and wore a long black trench coat. It looked similar to Chapman’s coat, but it wasn’t him. For a moment, I nearly tackled Nikole to the ground, but fortunately, I held back.
I kept my eye on the man. He moved on to the next aisle while Nikole stayed in this one. I breathed a little easier after that.
“Jake, come in, Jake?” a voice called into my earpiece.
“Yes,” I answered while keeping my eye on Nikole.
“We have a problem.” It was Will, and his voice was unusually high.
“What’s going on?”
“I haven’t heard from Christian in a while. I tried contacting him several times, but nothing. Jager is tracing his phone. It shows Christian’s in the governor’s apartment, but he’s not answering. I’m going in with Jager. I wanted to let you know what was happening.”
“All right, keep me posted. Hopefully, he just forgot to charge his phone.”
“No one is picking up the house line, either, but I hope you’re right and there’s a good explanation for all of this.”
I had the same sinking feeling about this, but Christian was good. He was arguably the best bodyguard of all of us. He had been in the military the longest, and he was the strongest. I couldn’t imagine anyone getting through him.
“What’s wrong?” Nikole asked. “Looks like someone messed up your drink order at Starbucks or something.”
“I don’t drink Starbucks,” I mumbled, still thinking about something Will said.
Nikole put her hand on my cheek. “Jake, what’s going on?”
“Nothing to worry about,” I said and turned her hand palm up to kiss it. “Nothing at all.”
She tilted her head and narrowed her eyes. I kissed her lips, hoping to distract her from reading anything further on my face. “Do you have everything you need?”
“I do.” She lifted her shopping basket, and I took it from her.
“Great, let’s get out of here.”
I searched for the man in the trench coat from earlier, but I didn’t see him. I stood behind Nikole the entire time, blocking her from anyone’s reach. If she noticed the stiffness of my movements, she didn’t mention it, but she did hurry through the check-out process, for which I was grateful.
In the car, I texted Will: Any update?
He immediately texted me back that he’d just arrived at the governor’s building and her apartment was empty. He found Christian’s phone on the floor.
Shit. This wasn’t good.
“You seem exceptionally calm,” said Nikole from the passenger seat.
I took a long breath and released it slowly. “Is that a bad thing?”
“No, but there’s an air about you like something is wrong.”
I debated whether to tell her that her mother was missing or wait until I had more information. Why should she panic if this can be easily explained soon? No. I would wait until I knew more.
“Nothing. Just worried about dinner.”
