“What’s wrong?” Noah asks.
“My phone doesn’t work. I don’t get it. The bill…” And then it hits me. The bill was in Isaac’s name. I drop onto the bed, a fresh wave of emotion hitting me like a tidal wave. “It’s on Isaac’s account.”
“Everything in Isaac’s name has been frozen or cancelled because he’s been declared dead.” Noah takes the phone from me. “I’ll get it taken care of.”
“I don’t have any money,” I whisper as hot liquid slides down my cheeks.
“Hey,” he says softly, kneeling in front of me. “If you let me, I’d like to be here for you.”
I’m already shaking my head. It was one thing for Isaac to take care of me. He was my other half, my soul mate. It’s the only reason I allowed myself to be vulnerable to him. I knew he wasn’t doing it out of pity, it was out of love. “I’ll figure it out. I’m not your responsibility.”
“No, but Isaac was my friend, and he loved you. And whether you like it or not, I’m in a position to help.” He takes my hand in his and I want to shove it away, but I don’t want to offend him, so instead I leave it be. “Camilla, have you thought about why you’ve been throwing up?”
His question has my mangled heart picking up speed because I have thought about it, but I didn’t want to admit it to myself. “I can’t go there right now,” I tell him, taking my hand back and standing. “I need to find someone.”
His brows furrow. “Who?”
“James.”
“Pruitt?”
“Yeah. The last time I saw him, he was threatening Isaac. What if he’s the reason Isaac has disappeared? Maybe he has him somewhere. It would make sense. He wanted him to pay.”
Noah sighs, clearly not agreeing, but I don’t care. I refuse to believe Isaac is dead. It might sound crazy, but I feel like if he were, I would feel it. When my mom died, I felt it, like she took a piece of my heart with her when she left this earth. Isaac and me… our hearts and souls are connected on a deeper level and if he were gone, I’d feel it, like a piece of me left with him.
“All right,” he finally says, giving in. “We’ll go pay James and Clint a visit, but you have to promise me something.”
“What?”
“If we don’t find him… if there isn’t any proof of foul play, you need to start the process of accepting that Isaac is gone.”
I’ll never accept it, but I nod anyway, since it’s what he needs from me.
“Say the words.”
“I’ll accept… that he’s gone.”
It’s Saturday and highly unlikely James is in the office, so I have Noah take me straight to James’s house since he won’t be expecting me.
When we pull up to the gate, since I know the code, having lived in the same community before my dad went to prison and lost our house, I type it in and the gate opens.
“Park around the corner,” I instruct. “I don’t want him knowing I’m here.”
Noah arches a brow. “You don’t honestly think he’s keeping Isaac here, in this house, do you?”
“Got a better idea?”
“If he’s holding him, it would be somewhere people wouldn’t look, like at a warehouse. Not in broad daylight, in a neighborhood in the suburbs.”
That makes sense… “Okay, I’m going to get out and sneak around, peek into the windows, just to make sure. See if he’s home and if he’s doing anything that looks shady. I won’t let him know I’m here unless I see reason to. If everything looks normal, we’ll go check out his other properties.”
I put my hand on the door handle, about to get out, when Noah clicks the lock. “You’re staying right here.”
“What?”
“I’ll go check. You might want to be in denial of the changes that are happening to your body, but I’m not going to risk you getting hurt, knowing the truth you don’t want to admit to.”
I nod once, unable to verbally admit that he’s right. Mentally, I just can’t go there... not yet. First, I need to find Isaac, then once I have him back and all is right with the world again, I can focus on that.
He gets out and jogs along the sidewalk, disappearing through the thicket of bushes. He’s gone for several minutes, during which time a few cars pass by—none of them James—and I hold my breath, praying he finds Isaac. When he finally returns, alone and with a frown marring his features, my stomach churns.
“He’s not home. I checked in all the windows and didn’t find anyone or anything that looks out of the ordinary.”
“Okay. Where to next?” I ask, refusing to give up.
“He owns a shit ton of properties.”
“Then we better get moving.”
Noah nods, looking like he wants to argue, but thankfully doesn’t. We spend the entire day checking out every property James owns, asking tenants if they’ve seen anything fishy. I show them a picture of Isaac off his company website, hoping maybe someone will know something, but nobody has seen or heard anything.