Page 76 of Beyond Enemy Vows

Another from last week. A selfie in the necklace I gave her, her eyes dark with desire.Wearing this and thinking of you.

Calli, what the fuck is going on?

Send.

Nothing.

My thumb hovers over the send button before I press it. Perhaps I'm being too harsh, but the confusion is curdling into anger now. If something happened to one of her brothers and she had to leave, I'd understand. But this feels different than that.

Straight to voicemail.

Shit.

Anger has me questioning why she left when I told her I loved her, so I text that to her. Then that love wins and I tell her she's mine and give her the final ultimatum. She either calls me or I'm fucking coming to her. Her brothers can kill me if they want.

I drop into one of the armchairs, staring down at the phone like I can force it to light up.

When the hell did I start acting like this? So conflicted with my emotions, so crazy?

Since her. Always since her.

Fuck!

What changed? What could have possibly happened in those few minutes to make her leave? And it's all down to that damn call, something someone said to her.

"Goddammit." I rub my forehead, trying not to punch the wall.

If her brothers found out about us, they would have come for her, for me even, not called her away.

No, something else is at play. Something I don't know.

I check the time. If she'd gone straight to the airport, she'd be boarding, or even up in the air right now. Maybe she'll see the messages when she lands.

Or maybe she's already blocking me out.

Either way, I can't stay here. It's all tainted now.

I need to get the fuck out of here.

By the timeI land in Athens, my resolve has hardened. I'll find her. I'll fix whatever's broken. I'll bring her back to me, even if I have to tear down the walls between our families to do it.

But first, I need to figure out how while keeping us alive.

The car meets me at the private airstrip. As we drive through the city toward my penthouse, I notice a black SUV following at a discreet distance. One of my father's.

I turn to my driver. "When did my father assign extra security?"

He hesitates, eyes flickering to the rearview mirror. "Yesterday, sir."

Yesterday. While I was still in Rome with Calli.

"Did he say why?"

"No, sir."

When we pull up to my building, I notice another of my father's men standing near the entrance. He nods as I pass, eyes tracking my movement. There's another in the lobby.

Something's off.