it affects my life.”
“It affects my life,” he said on a laugh, driving quietly out of the residential area. “Where to first on this lovely Saturday, my lovely wife?”
“To the Purple Plate for breakfast.” Bobbi partially turned, her eyes sparkling. “You and I used to meet there once a week, Grace. Let’s see if you remember the place, or if you order the same thing you used to.” She grinned. “It’s like an experiment.”
Yet another one, but maybe this time it would have better results. “What’s up with your sister, Bobbi?”
Bobbi lost her smile. “She’s been dating this total dickhead and finally broke up with him. I think he was pushing her around, but she won’t talk about it. Yet.”
The memory of Grace’s nightmare flashed through her head. Had it been a memory of somebody hitting her? Or was her subconscious just messing around? She frowned.
Bobbi leaned back and patted her hand. “I know we’re going to figure something out today.”
Just so long as no cameras caught them, they were okay. She couldn’t let her friends get hurt. Grace forced a smile. “I hope so.”
Chapter 16
“We’ve been driving all night and have no clue where to go once we get to Denver,” Benny protested, once again. “The satellites caught her heading toward Denver but then lost her. I’m hungry.”
Adare’s fury grew as the sky began to lighten. “This is the only place she could’ve gone, right? I mean, where else would she be?” If she was on her own. Except she wasn’t, because she had to have somehow been forced into renting that car. “I don’t believe Grace would’ve lied to my face like that.” The woman didn’t have it in her.
Benny scrolled through the information on his phone. “She asked for an older vehicle and they had those at this crappy dealership.” He looked up at the snow hitting the windshield. “The car she rented isn’t chipped in any way and doesn’t have GPS, so it was a smart move if she didn’t want to be followed.”
“This still doesn’t make sense,” Adare muttered, pressing harder on the gas pedal. “If somebody has her, she could be anywhere. If she’s following her own plan, then she has to be in Denver, right? It’s where she used to live, and it’s a town she once knew.”
Benny blew out air. “Yeah, but why go back to Denver? She knows she can’t return to her former life.”
Adare lifted a shoulder. “If she went willingly, which I’m still not buying, then maybe she wanted to regain those lost memories?”
“Does she have lost memories?” Benny asked.
“Aye,” Adare said. “I haven’t talked to her about it, but the last time I checked, her memories about her old life were still hazy. Although if she wanted to return to Denver, why didn’t she just say so?”
“Would you have let her?”
Adare slowed his pace to drive around a bus painted a bright purple. “Sure. Up until a month or so ago, I would’ve let her. Before we really started planning for our op.” But she hadn’t asked—hadn’t even reached out.
Benny stared at the morning outside. “I don’t know, brother. We find Grace in the middle of nowhere trying to buy vampire blood, then we get attacked by Kurjans, and now she’s broken a promise and rented a vehicle in Colorado so she can disappear? What is up with your mate?”
That was a damn good question. Adare had been too busy with his fangs in her thigh to question her; apparently he shouldn’t have been satisfied with her explanation of why she couldn’t heal herself. “I’m not easy to fool,” he muttered.
“No shit. You can detect a lie a mile away,” Benny agreed. “If she lied, she must be good at it.”
Anger spiraled through Adare so quickly his hands tightened on the steering wheel. “There’s no way Grace is a good liar.”
“I guess we’re about to find out.” Benny looked down at his phone. “Chalton and the Realm computer experts are trying to catch her trail again with traffic cameras and other surveillance, and they’re looking at downtown Denver as well as the neighborhood where she used to live.”
Adare swallowed. “She’s been gone for nearly twenty-four hours, Benny.”
Ben sobered. “I know.”
“If we’re looking for her, so are the Kurjans.” It was too much to hope that the Kurjans had just given up after the fight the other day. They probably had a satellite feed searching the state of Colorado at that very moment. Adare took the next exit. “Give