Chapter 48: Chapter 48

Ryder walked into his father’s office, sat down in front of his desk and glared at him. He didn’t want this conversation, but best to get it over with. His father would help him get her back and then make her stay. He had done it once before with his mother. Now, Ryder understood the anger that had pushed his father to reclaim his wife. His mother should have stayed. All she had to do was listen. Just like Alecia should have.

His father leaned back into his seat – his white dress shirt stretched with his movements. His eyes narrowed contrasting with the full smile. “So she left you. I told you to have the council keep an eye on her,” his father said. “But you wanted no one looking at your wife, but you.” His father’s lips curved in a smirk. He was mocking him.

Ryder folded his hands in his lap. He wouldn’t respond to his mockery, letting him see how each word fueled the heat boiling in him.

“Did she wipe out the accounts?”

“She took nothing.”

Mr. Hendrix raised his eyebrows. “Nothing?”

“Not one penny.”

“Did you call the airlines?”

Ryder leaned his head into his hand, pushing down. “Yes, and there was no plane ticket anywhere under her name. I even checked her maiden name.”

“She’s been planning this.”

He looked to the side. “She must have.”

“Someone didn’t talk to her, did they?”

Ryder banged the table. “She doesn’t know anything,” he said through clenched teeth.

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to find her and bring her back.”

“What if she ran off with a guy?”

“I’ll still bring her back. She’s mine!”

Mr. Hendrix chuckled. “That’s my boy. You are almost there.” His father looked back at the papers on his desk. He had been dismissed with not one word of advice. Apparently, he would have to figure this out on his own.

Ryder stood and walked out of the office. He went to a small office where an intern sorted through a stack of legal documents. He dropped Alecia's phone in front of him.

The intern looked up at him. “Sir, can I help you?”

“Call everybody in this phone and find my wife. Say you’re a friend who is looking for her. And tell no one.”

The intern nodded and picked up the phone.

Ryder went to his office and sat behind his desk, looking at the rows of manila folders. He picked up a pencil, grabbed a yellow notepad and wrote, Where could Alecia have gone? He traced the name over several times. Marvin would do a good job calling her friends. The young man, a few years younger than him, had already proven he had a sly hand and knew that nothing went beyond the Hendrix law office doors. His father was already grooming him to be one of the firm’s top lawyers.

“Mr. Hendrix.”

He looked up and noticed the intern had walked in and shut the door. “I called the first person on the list Trina, and well she knew I was working for you.”

“She did?”

“Yes, sir, she said for you to leave Alecia alone.”

“That is where she’s at. Don’t you think?”

“If I had to guess sir. Yes.”

“Call the other people on the list, and tell me what you find out.”

The intern nodded and walked out of the room. Ryder turned to his computer and pulled up their bank account info. The balances still had not changed. He shook his head. Why hadn’t she taken anything?

Trina and Alecia lay on the bed at Kyle's. Neither wanted to move, but just hold each other. Kyle sat at their feet, with his hands gripped together. The childhood friends now stood as one, waiting to face the challenge ahead together.

Alecia buried her face into the black cotton of her sister’s shirt. She didn’t want to face this challenge. Trina had left their parents a note, in their mailbox, telling them not to talk to Ryder, but to please meet them at Kyle's. They were expecting them soon, and as every hour passed, the more Alecia nerves unraveled. She didn’t know how to tell her father that the man he called his son was an abusive control freak.

The sound of a knock on the door made Alecia squeeze her sister tighter. Kyle stood from the bed and walked to the front door.

“Hello, sir,” he said.

She flinched at the heavy clumps of their father’s footsteps. Her parents were here.

Alecia sat up when the door to the room opened and her father walked in, with her mother behind him. Something sharp pierced through her heart. She would give anything to make things how her father believed them. He loved Ryder as much as she once had.

“Hey baby,” he said as he sat on the bed, and gave her a hug. He pulled her from himself. “Did you and Ryder have a fight?”

His eyes looked soft as if he waited to soothe her. How could she fight this? Alecia looked at her sister and lost it - the tears poured down her face in unending streams. She reached for her and pulled her into her arms - hoping her sister would battle for her. Any strength she might have had, had long been demolished by Ryder.

Her father caressed her back. “Alecia, all couples grow through rough times.”

Trina shook her head. “Mama, he’s horrible to her.”

A gasp that must have come from her mother filled the room.

“Alecia.” Mr. Bell ran his fingers down her hair – the touch just made her tenser. “I’m sure it’s nothing that can’t be worked out.”

“We never saw it,” Trina said. Her voice sounded so tight, like she was fighting wanting to yell.

“Trina, what are you talking about?”

“Daddy, he locked us in a room. He controls everything she does.”

Alecia peeked up from her hiding spot. The color left their father’s face. He shook his

head as tears swelled in his eyes. “Ryder's a nice boy.” He turned to look at his wife.

“He fooled us,” she said. She crossed her arms and sat down on the bed. The black and pink-checkered quilt bunched up around her. “He really did.”

Mr. Bell stood and placed a hand over his heart, squeezing his shirt. “He locked her in a room,” he whispered.

“All the time, Daddy. He even almost hit me,” Trina said.

“He what?” Mr. Bell gaze snapped to her sister. He then sat back on the bed and grabbed Alecia shoulders, making her look at him. A sharp look filled his eyes. “Did he hit you?”

Her lips trembled.

“Did he?”

She shook her head, trying to hold tears in. “He did shove me against a wall,” she whispered. And raised a hand to her. But she couldn’t tell him that or how he made her stand in the middle of the room naked.

Her father pulled her to his chest. “I’m going to kill him. I really am.”

Alecia squeezed her father tight, trying to find some comfort, but there was none to be found. What would Ryder do, if her father tried to protect her? Slice his throat. A shudder filled her. Please let him not be capable of that.

Ryder sat at his desk, banging his phone up and down as he stared at the door in front of him. Every part of him wanted to jump from this seat and rush to Clayton and drag her back home. She was there. He just knew it, but he couldn’t prove where exactly she was. Patience.

Just stay patient. He felt his phone vibrate, so he picked it up. “Found her?” he asked.

“She’s not in Clayton,” an agent said.

“Well, where is she?” he shouted.

“I don’t know, but give me a couple days. She doesn’t appear to be with any of her family members, except for Trinq, so I’m going to have to dig a little harder.” “Find her.” Ryder slammed his phone down. And find her quickly.