Page 73 of Downfall

“Where is she?”

She takes her glasses off, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. “Not here.”

“That’s not what I asked, Allie. Where. The. Fuck. Is. She?”

“I don’t know, Declan. It’s not my fault you can’t keep tabs on your wife.”

“Allie, I swear to God,” I roar.

“She’s a grown woman. I’m sure she’s fine, but if I had to guess, I’d say she needed some space from you.”

“Needed space? At night? In the fucking rain?” I press, moving in on her, crowding her. I would never hit a woman, but she’s testing my fucking patience right now.

“Declan,” a calm voice calls from behind her. He doesn’t call me out for yelling at his girl or deck me in the face as he probably should. He and Allie have an agreement where he lets her fight her own battles.

Instead, he walks toward the door, placing a subtle protective hand at the small of her back.

“Fuck you, Ash,” I spit. “Tell me where my wife went before I fucking lose it.”

“Have you not already lost it?” Allie mutters, and Ash shoots her a pleading look.

“Did you try calling her?” he asks.

“No, I decided to show up here in the middle of the night for the fun of it. Of course I tried fucking calling her. It went straight to voicemail like ten times.”

Ashton’s face falls, his features tightening with worry as he looks at his wife, whose eyes go wide.

I look between the two of them. “What the fuck are you not telling me?”

“Don’t,” Allie mouths, and if I didn’t before, now I really want to punch her in the face.

“She texted about an hour ago that she was heading into the office. The alarm sends me an alert when it’s disengaged after hours, so she didn’t want me to worry, but…”

“But what?” My patience is wearing thin, and I might smash his face in on behalf of both of them.

“She told me not to tell you.”

Allie huffs, and Ash looks like he wants to say something else, but I don’t wait around to hear it. I’m out the door and flying down the road within seconds.

By the time I get to the Emberfield Lantern and run up to the door, it’s pouring and I’m soaked through. I jiggle the handle, but it’s locked and the lights are off. I try calling her again. Normally the sound of her voice calms me, but right now, listening to the recording of her outgoing message fills me with nothing but dread. I almost throw my phone on the ground, but think better of it. Where the fuck is she?

I’ve never prayed. Not once in my life have I spoken to God, the universe, anything, but right now all I can think to do is fall to my knees right in there in the parking lot as thick drops of rain stream down my face. I don’t know who I’m speaking to, but I beg for her to be okay. I’ll let her go. I’ll leave her alone. She’ll never have to hear from me again, just please let her be okay.

Please.

When I finally heave myself off the ground, I spend the next twenty minutes riding around looking for any signs of her, but there are none. I call Luke just to check, but he tells me he hasn’t heard anything from Skylar and Emory took on a night shift at the hospital. She’s been there since eight. He tells me he’ll call Emory to see if she’s heard anything, and a few minutes later a text comes through.

Luke

Sorry, man. Em says she hasn’t spoken to Skylar all night. But she’s been in the ER so she would know if Sky had an emergency. That’s good news.

I shake my head. Something is wrong. I know Luke means well, but Skylar not showing up to the hospital doesn’t mean she doesn’t need help, it just means she’s not getting it. What if she’s alone? Or scared? All of a sudden, a thought crosses my mind. What if my dad has done something?

Completely out of options, I pull over and call my father, but once again, it goes straight to voicemail. He must have me blocked. It’s the only explanation. He never turns his phone off. I’m not sure what makes me do it, just a feeling I can’t put my finger on, but I call my mom next. I haven’t spoken to her in weeks. She’s tried to reach out a few times, but my relationship with her is complicated. She answers on the second ring.

“Declan.”

“Hi Mom.”