panicking and probably imagining the very worst. I’m sure he was thinking of every catastrophic possibility. Was he afraid I would leave him? That I would want someone else if he couldn’t give me children?
Surely, he remembered what he had always told me about not marrying me for my womb. I hadn’t married him for his sperm. I wanted a family with him, but there were so many ways to build one. More than anything, I wanted to be with him. He was my family. He was the love of my life.
“I have to find him.” I closed my inbox and shut down my computer. Hurrying out of my office, I practically ran to the back of the gym to find Ruby. She had gone to the break room to get her bag, but I didn’t see her when I poked my head through the door. Her old messenger bag was still sitting on a chair, and the trash can was out of its cabinet and empty. Had she taken out the trash?
Needing her to hurry, I made my way through the back storage and supply room, skirted the edge of the utility room, and shoved the heavy rear door. “Ruby?” She didn’t answer, so I stepped into the alley—and froze.
The trash bag had been ripped open, and trash fluttered around the alley. There black tire marks on the pavement, and one of Ruby’s sneakers was on the ground. The evidence told me everything. She had been taken.
Overcome with rage, I stormed back into the Warehouse and stalked to the office, pushing by Ken and Paco to enter it. I headed straight to the security monitors and tapped at the keyboard until I found the feed I needed. I rewound the recording until I saw a truck leaving the alley and kept going until Ruby was just stepping out of the back door. I let it play at regular speed and watched as that son of a bitch Kavanaugh dared to kidnap my sister right there behind our gym. She tried to fight him off, but he hit her with a closed fist, right in the face, and she sagged.
“You motherfu—,” I growled angrily, not finishing the word as adrenaline flooded my system. Spinning around, I strode to Ivan’s desk and reached into the top drawer. I grabbed the box of staples and tore it open, sending staples flying everywhere. The key I was looking for clattered onto the desk. I snatched it up and crouched down to unlock the bottom drawer. Inside, I found what I needed—the VP9SK he kept for security.
“Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!” Ken hurriedly spluttered. “What are you doing with that?”
Pistol and extra magazines in hand, I stated the obvious. “Shoot someone, if I have to.”
“Mi’ja,” Paco urged in his fatherly way, “you can’t leave here with that gun.”
“Actually, I can—and I am.”
They both jumped out of the way as I strode out of the office, my shoulders high, and my legs surprisingly sturdy. The fear and panic from earlier had vanished. Infuriated, I was a woman on a mission. I was going to get my sister back and find my husband, and it was going to be a very bad day for anyone who got in my way.
Chapter Seventeen
Ivan had been driving aimlessly for at least two hours when he finally realized his phone was vibrating on the floorboard of the passenger seat. He didn’t remember tossing it on the passenger seat, but he must have. How else would it have ended up on the floor?
Unable to reach it while driving, he merged into the nearest exit lane and joined the long line to get off the loop. When he was finally clear of the bumper to bumper traffic, he pulled into the closest gas station and parked. He grabbed his phone, glanced at the screen, and was taken aback by the number of missed calls and messages. It was déjà vu for the morning Erin had been attacked.
Two more messages from Ken flashed on the screen. He opened the string and read them from the newest to the oldest.
NOW.
CALL ME!
Call me!
Where the fuck are you?
IVAN ANSWER YOUR PHONE!
Do we call the cops?
What do we do?
Ruby got taken.
Ivan WTF!
PICK UP THE PHONE.
Erin took something from your desk.
Erin is in trouble.
Ivan! Call me!
He could feel the vein in his neck jumping as he reached the end of the messages. My gun. Shit. Fuck.
Desperate to find Erin, he called the only person who could help him right now.