Page 109 of Xander

He followed me down the stairs and to the courtyard. It was just as hauntingly quiet. The cold air outside was nothing compared to the chill settling inside my chest.

Jasper probably read the panic flaring in my face.

“Don’t freak out. She could still be on the premises,” he insisted, though he didn’t sound convinced. “I’ll get the staff together. Maybe one of them has seen her.”

I internally cursed myself for only having a security detail on her whenever we went outside the house or I wasn’t with her. Rookie mistake. I should’ve known she’d need round-the-clock surveillance.

Five minutes later, my staff—the housekeeper, chef, and gardener—were called in. None of them had seen her. The two guards I had hired for Jordan also arrived within the hour.

My brother watched me cautiously as I paced the room, staring at the tracker that said her phone was still inside the house. I had practically turned the house upside down, ransacking each room, while we waited.

“We checked the external cameras on the property,” Jamie informed me.

“What did you find?” I asked impatiently.

“A slate car was captured driving off the property late last night, but the footage wasn’t clear. We couldn’t make out who was behind the wheel.”

Fuck. It was her, I was sure of it.

“Henry’s car…” Jasper tapped his temple before shaking his head. “He wasn’t lying about his car going missing. Jordan must’ve driven away in it.”

My gaze landed on Georgia, the second security guard. “Run the license plate and find the car,” I demanded.

The guards exchanged looks.

When they didn’t speak, I studied them suspiciously. “What?”

They both remained silent, grating on my nerves.

“Spit it out.”

“The thing is… um… we did run the license plate. The car was abandoned an hour away from here.”

“Check the security camera near the street⁠—”

“We checked,” Georgia interrupted. “There weren’t any cameras. She left the car in the middle of nowhere.”

Panic seized me. “What are you trying to say?”

They exchanged another look. “She… she couldn’t have gotten a cab from somewhere so remote. Without a phone, we don’t know how she could’ve even sent someone a pin to pick her up.”

“Then, where the fuck did she go?”

“We… we don’t know where she could’ve gone,” Georgia admitted guiltily. “It’s as if she dropped the car off, then vanished into thin air,” she added.

Rage like I had never known exploded, a violent storm tearing at my insides. My hands clawed at my scalp, ripping at my hair in a frenzy of frustration.

I took four steps forward and screamed in their faces. “Then what the hell are you doing still standing here? Find her!” My words no longer sounded human but rather a primal roar of a hunter faced with a formidable opponent.

Jasper intercepted and pushed me back so I didn’t tear the messengers from limb from limb. With a tilt of his head, he gave the guards the go-ahead to scat.

“Find out where the fuck she is!” I roared as they ran from my wrath.

“Calm down!” Jasper kept repeating as my butt landed on the sofa. Everything else he was saying to calm me down sounded like it was coming from a distance.

“No.” I shook my head, dropping my head between my hands. “No. No. No.” This couldn’t be happening. I couldn’t live without her. Not again.

I meant what I said to Jasper earlier.