Nova
I wasn’t sure if I felt so bad because my entire body was one excruciating bruise, or if it was because of the ache in my heart.
It had been over a week since I’d tried to call Ryan and my mom. Not only had Ryan not called me back, but he’d also blocked the landline number I’d tried to call him from. Now, every time I tried to call him, all I got was that stupid message saying my call was unable to go through.
Once I’d gotten that message several times, I’d started using anyone’s cell I could get my hands on. Only to get the same result with each number. Ryan had blocked every number I called from.
Dad’s reaction had hurt, but I understood it. I had no idea what was going on back home, but if he and Mom thought I was dead, then they had a good reason for thinking it. But Ryan’s reaction was too much to handle. I didn’t care what he’d been told, he should know better than to think I was dead.
Couldn’t he feel me? My heart was still beating, damn it. If he loved me the way I loved him, if we were the soul mates I’d always assumed we were, then he should be able to feel me and know I was alive.
He hadn’t even attempted to call me back. If he thought I was someone trying to prank him like Dad had, then he should have at least called me back and verbally ripped me a new asshole. If he had, I would have been able to convince him that I was me and not some imposter trying to taunt him. There were things only I would know, and I could tell him, make him realize that I was me and not whoever he thought was trying to hurt him over my death.
Late one night while I was asleep, someone had shown up at the gate to the property, demanding Manuel Ramirez show himself. Cali should have had someone wake me, but she’d told her men to let me rest. Since she was still bleeding steadily, she’d only been getting reports of what was going on around the property. From what she told me when I’d gone to her room to have breakfast with her the next morning, Guzman, who was the head of security, had taken Manuel’s body to whoever was at the gate, and once they had what they came for, they simply left.
They hadn’t tried to come on to the property and see for themselves that either of us was okay. They just took the rotting carcass of what was left of Ramirez and walked away as silently as they arrived.
Whoever it was that had come, I was sure my brother would have been among them if it had been my family. He would have figured out by this point that Ramirez had taken Cali and come to find her. But no. There had been no sign of him or anyone else in search of either of us. For all I knew, whoever had shown up at the gate to demand Manuel was one of his many other enemies.
I was starting to think Cali was right. Out of sight, out of mind. No one had come to save us, even though we technically no longer needed saving. And as much as I didn’t want to be the damsel in distress, I wouldn’t have minded having someone play the white knight and try to rescue me from the monster who had snatched me away.
“Why aren’t you here yet, Ryan?” I muttered to myself as I walked into the library. A computer was on the desk where the landline extension was set up, and I carefully sat in the chair.
I thought my muscle pain would have at least started to fade by now, but I still felt like I’d been run over by a truck. My arm was the biggest problem of all, but I wasn’t going to worry about it until after I figured out what was going on back home and why Ryan hadn’t come to get me yet.
Turning on the computer, I waited for it to boot. At least we had good internet access, but typing one-handed wasn’t easy for me. Sighing, I found the app Ryan had installed on my phone for the CCTV feed to the cameras he’d put up for me to watch him from. I hadn’t even gotten to enjoy them for a full day before everything happened.
I logged in to the app and pulled up the feed for all the cameras that would give me twenty-four seven access to Ryan. His office and the apartment were both completely empty from what I could tell, but when I switched to the feed of the back of his SUV, I was finally able to see him.
He was dressed in a suit, his hair styled and pushed back from his forehead. Beside him, Garret was dressed similarly. Both their faces were grave, their gazes trained straight ahead, neither of them speaking. Not that I would have been able to hear them even if they had spoken since there was no audio with the footage, but I might have been able to read their lips if they did talk.
My brother pulled his phone from his suit jacket pocket and glared at the screen before placing it facedown on his thigh.
Keeping the cameras open in one window, I opened another and signed in to my social media. As soon as I did, I saw that I had over a hundred notifications. Ignoring them, I opened up the messenger and clicked on Garret’s profile. We were friends on social media, but we’d never messaged each other on it. It had seemed ridiculous in the past to send him a message there when I could just text him. But since I didn’t have his number memorized like I did Mom’s and Ryan’s, I had no other choice.
Me: Hey, stupid! Why the fuck haven’t you come to get me yet? How could you just leave me down here? Tell Ryan that whatever he’s doing can wait because I. Want. To. Come. Home!
I hit send and switched my gaze back to the window with the camera feed from the back of the SUV. I kept my eyes glued to Garret, waiting for him to notice the notification and read my message. He picked up his phone and turned it over. My heart lifted as I watched his fingers swipe over the screen, his eyes shifting back and forth as he read my message.
Then his mouth twisted with disgust. He slammed his other hand down on the button to power down the car window, and he threw his phone out the window while it was still moving.
“No!” I cried, tears instantly spilling down my face. “Why, Garret? Why couldn’t you just message me back?”
The whole time, Ryan just sat there, his lashes not so much as flickering in reaction to my brother throwing his phone away.
Minutes passed as I remained in the chair, crying while I watched the two of them sitting in the back of that stupid vehicle, going who the fuck knew where. Neither of them speaking—hell, I wasn’t even sure they were breathing they were so motionless. But the longer I sat there, my tears dried on my cheeks and my hurt turned to anger.
If they weren’t going to come get me, then fuck it. I could leave on my own whenever I wanted.
But did I want to leave?
Cali was all alone here. Sure, she had staff who could take care of her, but she needed a family. And since it appeared that my own had abandoned me, it seemed I needed one as well.
I wasn’t going to abandon her like everyone else had the both of us. I would take care of her and that precious baby struggling to grow inside her. To hell with Ryan and Garret and everyone else. We didn’t need them.
Angrily, I turned off the computer and stood. But even as I stomped out of the library, I couldn’t help looking back longingly, mentally begging Ryan to call me. To show up. To message me. Something. Anything, to let me know he loved me.
He never did.