Until Alex - J. Nathan Page 0,110

little secret.” My eyes flew open as he pulled my shirt’s V-neck open with the gun and looked inside.

“Please don’t do this, Remy.”

With gun in hand, he struck me across the face thrusting my head violently to the side. Holy shit. Pain exploded with the force of his blow. Somehow I remained upright, but a severe throbbing travelled from my forehead down to my chin. No doubt he’d broken bones. Maybe even teeth.

“Don’t ever use my name again, you bitch.” He stood up and paced the floor. “I can’t believe Hayden trusted you with our shit.”

I wanted to explain he hadn’t told me anything. That he wouldn’t defy a friend’s trust. But I couldn’t risk it. The repercussions could be too great.

Tears streamed down my throbbing cheeks as I stifled my whimpers. I needed to be patient. I needed to wait it out. I needed to suck up the pain taking over my entire face if I had any chance of escaping alive.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

HAYDEN

My elbows dug into my knees while my head pounded between my hands. I’d been in the same spot on my sofa since realizing searching for Alex was like trying to find a needle in a haystack on a cold dark night during a downpour. I’d nearly driven off the road twice out of pure exhaustion.

The last time I’d felt that helpless was the night I couldn’t stop my father from putting a bullet through my mother’s head.

I closed my eyes and shoved down the memory.

I wanted to help. I needed to help. But I had no idea what else to do. I’d called everyone I thought may have seen her or heard something. I even considered fronting Remy’s bail so he could rally the troops and help me find her. Yeah. I quickly rethought that idea.

I’d told the detectives anything I thought might lead them to Alex. Including what Cameron and Taylor had done. Taylor might’ve been surprised by Alex’s disappearance, but it didn’t hurt to question her. And finally bag her for drugging Alex and hacking the school’s alert system.

Katherine wasn’t too thrilled to learn about that one.

Alex’s ex-boyfriend also got a visit. But they’d come back with nothing.

They checked airport logs and visited her family’s vineyard. But neither turned up anything.

“Hayden?” Alex’s aunt called from somewhere nearby. “Would you like something to eat?”

I shook my head, not even bothering to look up. I knew what I’d find. Katherine’s dark circles mirrored my own. As did the exhaustion and worry overwhelming her every breath.

The detectives didn’t want her tainting possible evidence in her apartment, so she’d been staying on my sofa, wanting to be close by if Alex returned.

As if she just up and walked away.

We’d bonded over the last three days as investigators breezed in and out of her apartment searching for any little clue they might’ve missed. My apartment served as their home base. And as much as I hated cops, them being there ensured I got information I otherwise wouldn’t have.

What I knew. Since Alex’s car remained in the parking lot, her phone remained on the bathroom counter, and there was no sign of a struggle, they deduced she went willingly with her abductor. That meant one of two things. She knew the person. Or, she’d been forced to leave under duress.

Both thoughts scared the living hell out of me because either way, Alex was alone and terrified.

I hated to admit it, but my hope had begun to fade. I’d seen the detectives’ faces. I’d heard their whispers. Hell, I’d seen enough television to know most abductees were killed within the first twenty-four hours.

It had been three days. Three torturous days. And still nothing.

Needing to be away from the noise—away from the constant reminders Alex was gone—I headed into my room and fell back on my bed. I didn’t turn on the television for fear of seeing another news teaser about her disappearance. They called her The Missing Millionaire.

Apparently, she’d collected her inheritance while we were in Austin. The investigators were optimistic a ransom request would surface. But it hadn’t. And her bank accounts and credit cards remained untouched.

I couldn’t understand why she hadn’t mentioned her inheritance to me, especially since she dealt with it while I was in Austin with her. But I guess it didn’t really matter. The only thing that mattered was that she offered every penny she had to her abductor. Money could be replaced. She couldn’t.

I glanced to my nightstand. The night we returned from Austin, Alex