Chained - Zara Novak Page 0,62

look after you.”

I kissed Vincent and exited the car, following Wardorf into the building and into the elevator. There was a man behind the desk in the lobby, but he didn’t look up as we entered.

“Mesmerized him,” Wardorf said. “An elephant could walk in and he wouldn’t look up.”

I noticed a flyer posted on the inside of the elevator. It was a missing persons poster with my picture and a number, appealing for people to call with any information.

“She looks familiar,” I said to Wardorf while looking at the poster.

“Those feds really want their star witness back,” he said.

Too bad. They weren’t getting her.

The elevator dinged and the doors opened. I walked down the familiar hallway and stopped outside my door. Police tape zigzagged across the doorway. The feds had obviously taped this off as a crime scene and interpreted my disappearance as cause for concern.

Wardorf picked the lock and the door swung open. I stepped through the tape and froze as I heard a voice inside.

“Miss Chase. I was wondering where you’d got to.”

Both Wardorf and I about jumped out of our skin. The lights turned on, revealing an agent waiting in the darkness. He had a cigarette in one hand, and he was wearing a baggy black suit. So much for clearing the apartment.

“This is private property,” Wardorf growled. I had to contain him before this got out of hand. I knew the vampire wouldn’t hesitate to fly forward and kill the agent.

“Wait outside Wardorf,” I said. “It’s fine. I’ll only be a minute.”

“Rachel I’m under strict—”

“Outside, now,” I commanded, putting an edge in my voice to suggest that I would control him if he argued against me again.

The giant huffed and weaved back through the police tape, closing the door behind him.

“I’m glad we could finally meet and talk in private,” the agent said.

“Who are you and what are you doing in my apartment?”

“Agent Harper,” he said and took another drag of his cigarette. “We talked on the phone nearly two months ago. Remember? You were going into witness protection. You wanted to talk to us about your involvement with the Cartello crime family.”

I looked at the cigarette in his hand and said nothing at first. “This is a non-smoking apartment.”

The agent stubbed out the cigarette and pushed away from the counter he was leaning on. “So, what will it be? Ready to talk Miss Chase?”

“It’s Mrs. Cartello,” I said. “I expect you can already put the rest of that puzzle together.”

He raised a brow. “Marrying a witness. That’s a new one. How does it work? You pretend to be his wife and you don’t get killed? You’re the only person that’s ever come close to putting Vincent Cartello behind bars. Come with me and you’ll be safe. Once the divorce is clear you can start singing like a bird.”

I looked around my old apartment. “How did you know I would be here?”

“Call it luck,” he said. “I haven’t been able to give up on this thread since you went missing. I’ve come back here two or three times a week, waiting for someone to return. You or the person that took you. Someone always comes back for something. There are people here that miss you, Rachel. Your parents are worried.”

“Are they?” I said, holding back the laugh that prompted. I picked up the phone on the table beside me and pressed the speed dial.

“What are you doing?” Harper said, looking worried all of a sudden. The line connected and my Dad answered. I put the phone on speaker.

“Hello?” he said.

“Hi Dad, it’s Rachel.”

“Oh, Rachel. What is it? I was just about to go to bed.”

“It won’t take long. Did you hear something about me going missing?”

He sighed down the line. “Yeah. Someone contacted us to say as much, I think. Your mother said it was probably just a misunderstanding. You were always such an unorganized girl.”

I feigned a laugh. How could they care so little? “That’s it. She was right. Just a crossed wire. I have to go now. I don’t think you’ll be hearing from me anytime soon.”

“Rachel I’d love to keep talking but I really have to go.”

The line went dead. Not even a bye. It was the kind of affection I had come to expect from my parents.

“Jesus,” Harper sighed.

“Yeah,” I said as I returned the phone to its cradle. “So, I think I’m good. Now if you’ll excuse me, I think I’m done talking.”

“Just tell me what you’re getting out of this,”