Torn - Cynthia Eden Page 0,20
rushed right by her and Wade, almost as if he didn’t even see them.
“What the hell . . .” Wade muttered as he pulled Victoria back.
Yes, that was what she’d been thinking.
She turned and saw that the guy—he appeared to be in his early twenties—hurrying toward Dr. North’s door.
“Now this could be interesting,” Wade said. And he followed.
“Uh, Wade?”
The blond man threw open the door. “Where the hell is she?” His booming voice seemed to echo through the building.
“Very interesting,” Wade added as he picked up speed.
By then the blond man in a hurry was inside the office.
“What are you doing here?” Dr. North demanded. “Get out, you can’t— Ah!” His words ended in a strangled cry.
Victoria ran toward the office and burst inside right after Wade. The younger man had Dr. North pinned against the back wall. Blood dripped down the doctor’s face—probably from his newly broken nose. The blond attacker had his hand pulled back, ready to take another swing.
“Where the fuck is she?” he demanded.
“I don’t know!” Dr. North yelled. He struggled in the guy’s hold, reaching out desperately toward his desk.
“Where is Melissa?”
Victoria rushed toward the attacker, but Wade beat her to him. He grabbed the younger man and yanked him away from the doctor, but the guy came up swinging and drove his fist at Wade.
“Stop!” Victoria yelled.
No one stopped.
But Wade did duck. The fist missed him and he swung, punching the younger man in the stomach. There was a loud ooof as the air was driven from his lungs.
He fell to the floor, clutching his stomach.
Wade stood poised over him, his fists still at the ready. “How about don’t attack before you look at who it is you’re hitting,” Wade advised, not even sounding a bit out of breath. “Might save your ass next time.”
Dr. North had his hand to his nose—a definitely bleeding nose. He lurched forward and grabbed for his phone. “I’m calling security!”
Victoria figured that was probably a good idea.
The blond man looked up at Wade. “Who the hell are you?”
“I’d rather know who you are. No . . .” Wade glanced over at Dr. North. “I’d like to know why you’re so pissed at him.”
The young man rose—a little shakily. “Melissa is missing.”
Victoria’s blood iced at that one word. Missing.
“I need guards here, now,” Dr. North snapped into the phone.
“I know he slept with her,” the blond raged. “I know it!”
The same way he’d slept with Kennedy?
“She didn’t come back to the apartment last night. She didn’t come home.” The man glared at Dr. North. “I want to know where she is . . . what did you do to her?”
“Nothing,” Dr. North said, his voice sharp. The phone was pressed to his ear.
Wade turned to confront the doctor. “I couldn’t help but notice,” he said, voice mild. “Your receptionist isn’t here today—”
“That’s Melissa!” the young man spat. “She’s working as his assistant while she’s in grad school!”
And she hadn’t come home last night.
“I don’t know where she is,” Dr. North said quickly.
Victoria met Wade’s hard stare. She nodded, then cleared her throat and noted, “You seem to say that an awful lot, Doctor.”
“Melissa is missing!” The young man sounded even more frantic. “She won’t answer her phone. She didn’t come home. And no one remembers seeing her after ten last night! She’s gone.”
A chill slid over Victoria’s spine. Maybe this Melissa had just spent the night with a friend. Maybe her phone was turned off.
Or maybe . . .
Maybe more was at work here. A serial abductor? Could it be possible? She didn’t want to jump to any conclusions, not yet, but there were certain facts that couldn’t be overlooked.
Two women, both with ties to Worthington University, both linked to Dr. North—those women were gone.
One look at Wade’s clenched jaw and Victoria knew he was thinking the same thing that she was. Coincidences didn’t happen. And if Melissa was truly missing, then LOST was needed in Savannah, needed desperately.
CHAPTER FOUR
THE CAMPUS SECURITY guards arrived and hauled the young blond guy out of Dr. North’s office. But, a bit surprisingly to Victoria, the psychology professor didn’t demand that the fellow be arrested.
They’d just witnessed an assault, but Dr. North was shoving tissues at his nose. Not pressing charges.
“Take him off campus,” he huffed. “Let him cool the hell down.” He pointed at his attacker. “It’s only because of Melissa that I’m doing this. You’re her friend. And I know she’d be devastated if you lost that scholarship of yours because