He got a moment alone with Roni and Noah to ask Roni about something that was really beginning to worry him. “How often does Nellie have asthma attacks?”
Roni’s forehead pinched. “She hasn’t had one in a while, not that I know of anyway. Wait. The day she got back from that brunch she did wheeze a little and asked me to bring her inhaler into the bathroom. But it was nothing compared to some of the attacks she’s had in the past. Why?” she began digging in her purse, looking a little worried herself now. “You still haven’t heard from her?”
“Just a text she sent before the fight, saying she was sorry.”
He kept the I-love-you part to himself because like Nellie that was all his, but he waited anxiously for Roni to go through her phone. “I hope you and Noah are not upset with me.” Roni covered her mouth after reading the text out loud. “She really thinks we’re all mad at her about this. Anxiety triggers her attacks. The last attack she had that was so bad she ended up in the hospital was when she freaked out about something. I was with her. It was awful.”
Feeling the icy fear race through his veins, Abel remembered her attack that morning. “She had one this morning in my suite. It scared the hell outta me.”
Roni’s eyes went wide. “Was it because of the scandal?”
Abel began to shake his head then stopped, remembering something. “It was right after she’d read a text from her assistant, Emily.”
“Did she say what it was about?” Roni asked, her fingers already tapping on her phone.
“No. I forgot all about it once she started hyperventilating, and she didn’t say why, just said her asthma had been acting up.”
“You have Emily’s number?” Noah asked Roni.
Roni nodded, the phone already at her ear. “Emily, hi, this is Roni, Nellie’s friend.”
Andy came over just then and began to ask Abel something. Abel slammed a hard hand against Andy’s chest to shut him up as he continued to listen to Roni.”
“No, no, honey. No one is upset with you. We don’t even know if was your text that triggered the attack. She’s sort of missing right now. No one’s heard from her, and she missed Abel’s fight, so we’re trying to figure out what’s going on. Can you forward me the message you sent her.” Roni closed her eyes, pressing her lips together. “I see.” She nodded then looked up at Abel with an expression that said she had bad news. “Well, forward it to me anyway, please.”
She hung up, frowning. “Emily did message her this morning to let her know that she was watching the coverage of her and Sam and to let her know she could call her if she needed to vent.”
Feeling the blow to his bottomed-out stomach, Abel remembered something else that gave him hope that she might not be too upset about this—upset enough to end up in the hospital. “But she was fine after,” Abel said, trying to make sense of it all. “Later in the day she was even laughing.”
Roni stared at him, looking as lost as he felt. He checked his phone for the millionth time, but there was nothing.
“She was, uh,” Andy cleared his throat, “wheezing pretty badly when I talked to her earlier.
Abel narrowed his eyes on Andy, feeling his insides heat. “I thought you said you didn’t get a chance to talk to her.”
“Shit,” Roni said, reading something on her phone, then showed Abel.
He read the text that Emily had forwarded to Roni, and he knew why Roni would be even more worried now. The text didn’t make it clear what the story was about, only that it was about her and Sam and all over the news. If that had been enough to trigger such an attack, Abel could only imagine what happened when she saw the real story—when she found out Sam was McKinley’s brother.
Grabbing Andy by the shirt, Abel glared at him. “Why the f**k didn’t you tell me you talked to her?”
“Because I hardly got to,” Andy’s eyes bulged wildly as his hand tried hopelessly to undo Abel’s tightening grasp on his shirt. “She just said she had to go, but didn’t say where. I didn’t want to upset you before the fight!”
“You should’ve said something, Andy!” Roni yelled at him now. “Especially if she didn’t look well. Her asthma can get really bad.”
“I didn’t know!” Andy’s voice went high-pitched as Abel’s grasp on him moved up closer to his throat. “I figured there was nothing Abel could do at that point, so I didn’t want to upset him.”
With his other hand, Abel squeezed Andy’s throat. “I swear to God, you worthless piece of shit—”
“Abel, calm down!” Noah tugged at Abel’s hand, but he only squeezed harder, and then Hector was his other side.
“Dude, you’re gonna f**king kill him!” Hector pulled at his hand now, and Abel finally let go, leaving Andy gasping and coughing.
“Where is she!” Abel demanded.
“I don—” Andy coughed, shaking his head. “I don’t know. She didn’t say. All she said was that she had to go.”
Abel pointed to one of his security guys. “Get him the f**k out of here before I do kill him. Call the hospitals,” he said to Roni who was already on her phone, looking as frantic as he felt.
“I’m going back to the suite,” he said, rushing past everyone.
“I’ll go with you,” Hector said.
“Take security with you,” he heard Noah urge.