He nodded again, returning to the nightstand, where he grabbed a walkie-talkie from a charging dock. He turned the volume knob and static sounded over the device until he pushed the talk button. “All security meet in the main courtyard immediately.”
He put on shoes and gestured for me to follow him as he headed toward the bedroom door.
I paused, suddenly realizing something odd. “Reeve?”
He turned back with a raised brow.
“When did you get dressed?” I’d been too distracted about Amber to notice he was already wearing jeans and a T-shirt when I woke him up. When I’d left him earlier, he’d been naked.
“What?” He seemed baffled by the question. Or he was stalling. “Oh. I woke up a while ago and got dressed. Come on. Let’s get out there.”
Gotten dressed and then fell asleep again, fully clothed?
But getting his story clear wasn’t high on my priority list at the moment. So I dropped it and followed him out to the courtyard.
“Have you looked anywhere else besides her room?” he asked as we walked toward the guards gathering outside.
The early spring morning was cool, and I wrapped my arms around myself to ward off the chill. “No. I came to you first.”
“Good girl.”
The phrase set my body to vibrate with unwitting memories of the night before, beautiful memories, and it occurred to me that if something had happened to Amber while I’d been wrapped around Reeve… well, I’d known it was a betrayal when I went into his room. But I wasn’t sure I could live with that level of betrayal.
“What’s up?” Alex asked when we were close.
“Amber’s missing.” Reeve sent Alex to search the house and another guard to search the lower grounds. With Filip and a few other guards in tow, Reeve headed to check out the master bedroom.
I trailed behind, feeling like deadweight but too invested to stay out of the way.
Reeve quickly scanned the room and the bathroom. At her vanity, he squatted down to examine the items on the floor.
Filip hovered over him. “Looks like someone got mad and swept them to the ground.”
“Agreed.” Reeve peered up at me.
“It could have been her.” She’d been angry when she’d gone to find me. Neither Reeve nor I had any way of knowing if she’d been to her room after he’d left her at the pool. She could have gone in and made the mess herself.
“It could have not been her, too,” he said, and my stomach knotted so tightly that it nearly caused me to double over. He eyed me sympathetically, like he wished he could hold me, and I wished he could hold me too. Wished that was all it would take to make this anxiety ease.
But both of us knew that whatever would erase this dread, it wouldn’t be found in each other’s arms.
Reeve rose from the floor. “Tabor,” he said, pointing at the guard cowering outside the door.
The bodyguard once assigned to protect me, stepped into the room. He didn’t say anything, his expression conveying his distress and remorse.
Reeve seemed apathetic to Tabor’s anguish. He strode up to the young man, murder in his eyes. “How long were you asleep? Tell the truth and the only thing you’ll lose today is your job.”
The message wasn’t directed to me, and it still caused me to shudder. The man in front of me was a version of Reeve Sallis he’d hinted at, but I’d never seen. It was the version of Reeve Sallis that deserved the reputation of danger. It was a version that, I imagined, had been good at the jobs that his Mafia uncle had once assigned him.
If I hadn’t been so upset about my friend, I might have been impressed.
“I don’t know,” Tabor said, his spine straight. “A while. I saw her to her room and when the light went off, I figured she was out for the night.” His bottom lip trembled slightly. “I fell asleep soon after that.” Then he broke. “I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.”
Reeve looked like he might punch a hole in the wall. “She better turn up fine, you shithole, or I swear to God you’ll really understand sorry.”
Shooing Tabor aside, Reeve stepped out to the courtyard and addressed his staff. “Everyone’s on full search. Filip, call over to the resort and see if anyone there has heard from her. Talk to the housekeepers and the cook as well. Then get on the phone with the mainland and see what Anatolios can find out. Alex, check out the cameras on the outer walls of the compound starting at ten last night. The rest of us will divide up in teams to go over the grounds and then move outside from there.”
The staff immediately dispersed, everyone to their assigned tasks. Reeve started toward the stairs to the lower grounds then stopped when he caught sight of me.
I wrung my hands together. “Where do you want me?”
“Either you stay locked in the master bedroom, or, if you insist on searching with us, stay glued to me. Your choice.” It had been hard for him to give me that option; the difficulty was written all over his face.
It changes who I am. My chest pinched as I recalled those words from the night before. He hadn’t been that man when I’d met him, a man who could offer alternatives. He’d been a man who said how things were, and I was expected to go along.
Alternatives, options – it was much more than Amber had given me.
I appreciated the choice, and to show him how much, I selected the one he wanted me to select. “I’ll stay here. I’ll look through her things and see if there’s anything unusual. And I’ll call Joe.”
“I like that plan.” His relief was palpable. “It’s a safe plan.” He turned back to the stairs.