Page 7

“I’m sorry, Miss Ryke. He isn’t in today.”

My heart drops. “He isn’t? Did he call out?”

“I’m afraid I don’t know.”

I grip the edge of my desk and infuse the warmth I don’t feel into my voice. “Okay, thanks. If he shows up, tell him I called.”

“Will do.”

I end the call and close my eyes. I think my father might be in more danger than Roman has let on. My chest tightens.

“I have to go to D.C,” I say again.

Roman steps closer. The heat from his body sends a shiver through me and my insides pulse. “No.”

I glare at him. “Why do you keep saying that?”

“Because going to his house isn’t going to help if the people your father was investigating are looking for you.”

I laugh bitterly. “I can’t just sit here.”

“You won’t. You’ll be coming with me to Atlanta.”

I blink. “What?”

“My friends and I have resources there. I can get someone to check your father’s house and start looking for him while I keep you somewhere safe.”

“You want me to leave the state with you?”

“Yes.”

“You are basically a stranger,” I reply.

“Your father trusted me.”

The words hit harder than I expect. Roman takes another step toward me, and my breath catches for reasons that have nothing to do with fear.

That unsettles me almost as much as everything else.

I’ve had crushes before, obviously, but no man has ever made me this intensely aware of him just by standing close. I don’t even know what to do with the feeling, especially now, when my father is missing and attraction should be the last thing on my mind.

I force myself to focus on the issue at hand.

“Cora, I understand that you’re scared.”

“I’m not scared.”

His eyebrow lifts, calling out my lie. It makes me hate him a little. How can someone I’ve barely met read me so well.

“Fine,” I mutter. “I’m terrified.”

His expression softens again. “And I’m telling you that I’m going to do everything I can to find your father. But right now, if what he told me is true, staying here is dangerous. We need to move. Fast.”

The urgency in his tone starts to put things in perspective for me. I look around my dorm room, wondering when I’ll be back. Everything suddenly feels fragile.

Roman’s gaze moves to the desk beside me. “Did you get a package today? Your father told me he sent you a drive.”

I turn toward the package in horror. The small box has been sitting there since this morning. “Yeah. I got a package from Dad.”