Page 32

Ethan

I checked my watch for the third time in five minutes. Fifty-two minutes. That’s how long Mel had been gone on what should have been a simple coffee run. The afternoon sun beat down on the back of my neck as I stared across the winding driveway toward the gate, willing her car to appear.

“Any movement at the gate?” I asked into my radio.

“Negative,” came Ty’s immediate response. “No sign of Mel returning.”

Something didn’t feel right. I pulled out my phone and sent a quick text:

Everything okay?

The message showed as sent but not delivered. Probably just bad reception. I pocketed my phone and continued my security rounds, tamping down the nagging worry that was starting to build. Mel was a grown woman who’d been taking care of herself—and her high-maintenance sister—long before I came along. Still, with an active stalker situation, even one fixated on Nova, no one should be going out alone.

I’d have a serious conversation with her when she got back. And I’d have an even more serious talk with Davis, the guard who’d let her leave without an escort. Security measures were worthless if people simply ignored them when convenient. He’d be lucky if he had a job at the end of the day.

As I rounded the corner toward Nova’s wing of the house, the pop star herself came striding down the hallway, tablet in hand, deep in conversation with her choreographer.

“I don’t care if they’ve been practicing for weeks, Dexter. It’s not working,” she said, gesturing dramatically. “The whole sequence needs to be simplified.”

Dexter spotted me first and gave a quick nod. Nova turned, her expression shifting from irritation to something more calculated.

“Well, if it isn’t our head of security.” She flashed that megawatt smile she used on everyone from fans to record executives. “Everything safe and sound out there in the big bad world?”

“Nova,” I acknowledged with a nod. “Everything’s secure on the property.”

Her eyes flicked to Dexter. “Give me five minutes? I need to talk to Captain America here about a few things.”

Dexter rolled his eyes but headed back down the hall. “Don’t forget we still need to finalize the lighting cues if we’re changing choreography.”

Nova shook her head as Dexter left. “He can be such a diva.”

I nearly swallowed my tongue trying not to state the obvious.

“Did you and Mel have a good time on your little vacay?”

The memory of Mel at my ranch flashed through my mind—her face lit with wonder as she fed apples to the horses, her laughter around the fire pit with my parents, the way she looked at the mountains like she’d found a piece of herself there.

“We did,” I said, keeping my tone neutral. “She seemed to enjoy the break. Speaking of Mel, did she talk to you when she got back?”

Nova’s perfectly shaped eyebrows drew together in confusion. “Talk to me about what?”

Shit. I’d stepped right into it. “Nothing important. Just some…logistics she mentioned wanting to discuss with you.”

“Oh.” Nova waved a dismissive hand. “We haven’t had time for any real conversations. It’s been nonstop preparation for Phoenix. Where is she anyway? She went for coffee forever ago, and I’m dying for caffeine.”

“I’m sure she’ll be back soon,” I said, already pulling out my phone again.

The text I’d sent earlier still did not show as delivered. Strange. I tried calling her number, but it went straight to voice mail. Mel always answered her phone—the woman practically slept with it under her pillow, given how often Nova needed something.

Alarm bells started ringing in my head. This wasn’t like Mel at all.

“Excuse me,” I said to Nova, already moving toward the door. “I need to check something.”

I hit the radio as soon as I was out of earshot. I strode down the hallway. “Jace, meet me in the security room. Now.”

“On my way, boss,” came the immediate reply.

By the time I reached our command center, Jace was already there, fingers flying over his keyboard.

“What’s up?” he asked without looking away from his screens.

“Need you to run a trace on Mel’s car and phone,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady. “She went for coffee over an hour ago and hasn’t returned. Not answering calls or texts. ”

Jace’s head snapped up. “Is everything okay?”

“Probably nothing,” I said, not believing my own damn words for a second. “She’s just taking longer than expected.”

“On it.” He turned back to his computer, typing rapidly. After a moment, he pointed to one of the monitors. “Got it. GPS tracker shows car and phone are both in the parking lot at Moonbean Coffee on Sandgate. Hasn’t moved in—” he checked the time stamps “—forty-seven minutes.”

That wasn’t right. Even if there had been a line out the door, she should’ve been on her way back by now.

“I’m going to take Logan and head over there.” I was already moving toward the door. “Complete lockdown here until you hear from me.”

Five minutes later, we were in the SUV, Logan driving while I rode shotgun. The coffee shop was only ten minutes away, but it felt like hours. Every second that passed increased the knot of tension in my chest.

“Maybe her car broke down,” Logan suggested. “Maybe she ran into someone she knows.”

“Maybe,” I agreed, though neither of us believed it for a second. Coincidences like that didn’t happen in our line of work.

Logan caught my eye briefly. He knew me better than almost anyone. He could read the concern I was trying to hide.

“We’ll find her,” he said simply, his hands steady on the wheel.

We pulled into the coffee shop parking lot and spotted Mel’s silver Audi immediately. It was parked near the back.

Mel wasn’t in it.

Donning gloves, praying that was overkill, I took the driver’s side while Logan went to the passenger door. There were two coffee cups still in the holders—both full and warm. Mel’s phone sat on the passenger seat, screen dark, next to a bag with a muffin, untouched. And on the floor beneath it, something that made my blood run cold.

“Look,” I said, pointing down to the floor.

Rose petals. Deep red, scattered across the mat like drops of blood.

“I don’t like this,” Logan muttered.

Neither did I. There was no sign of a struggle, no blood, nothing obviously out of place except those rose petals and Mel’s abandoned phone.

“No signs of forced entry. No broken glass,” Logan continued.

“Which means either she opened the door willingly for someone or…” I didn’t finish the thought. None of the alternatives were good, and Logan was probably already running them in his own mind.

“I’m going to go inside and see what I can find out.”

I nodded at Logan as I studied those rose petals, one having landed on the steering wheel. Was this an echo back to the dead roses sent to Nova that brought Citadel to the case in the first place?

I looked around the car for anything that might give us clues but didn’t find anything.

Logan was back after just a few minutes. “I showed the coffee shop barista a pic of Mel. The girl remembers her because Mel tried to use some coupon that wasn’t valid. But besides that, nothing unusual. Mel was polite, took her coffees, and left.”

I’d learned a long time ago not to jump to conclusions in this business—I was always cautious but rarely paranoid. But I’d also learned to trust my instincts.

And my instincts right now were telling me one thing: Mel had been taken. The stalker who’d been tormenting Nova had finally escalated from threats to action—just not the way we’d anticipated .

“We need to get back to the estate,” I said, my voice tighter than I intended. “Lock down everything.

“You think it’s the stalker?”

“Yes.”

The drive back passed in tense silence. I stared out the window, not really seeing the suburban landscape flash by, my mind already calculating next steps, scenarios, contingencies.

When we arrived, I gathered my team in the security room, away from Nova and her entourage.

“All right, we’re treating this as a kidnapping situation,” I said, forcing myself to remain analytical despite the fear clawing at my gut. “Jace, I want you monitoring all communication channels—phone, email, social media. The stalker will make contact with some sort of demand, and we need to be ready when they do.”

“Do we know this is connected to Nova’s stalker?” Ty asked.

“Not for sure, but I’d rather be prepared for that. Then if we find out in a couple hours that Mel walked some old lady home and cooked her dinner, leaving her phone and some random rose petals in her car, we’ll all have a good laugh about how she scared the shit out of us.”

We all looked at one another. That Pollyanna scenario, although possible, wasn’t what had happened here, and we all knew it.

Ty nodded. “Taking Mel could be a way for the stalker to get to Nova or force her to cancel the tour.”

I nodded, acknowledging the possibility. “Which is why we’re doubling down on Nova’s protection. Jace, get every bit of footage you can from that parking lot. Ty, you’re Nova’s shadow from now on. She doesn’t go anywhere without you, not even to the bathroom. Logan, you’ll coordinate the house security.”

“What about you, boss?” Jace asked.

“I’ll be coordinating the search for Mel.” My voice came out harder than I intended. “And when we find who took her, they’re going to wish they’d never been born.”

The team exchanged glances but didn’t comment on my tone. They knew better.

“Let’s move,” I ordered. “Logan, we’re going to need to bring Nova in on this. There’s no way around it.”

My second-in-command was the best person for that job. He was unflappable. Dealt in facts, not emotions.

Meanwhile, I seemed to be fucking drowning in mine. Somewhere out there, Mel was scared, possibly hurt. Every minute that passed decreased our chances of finding her unharmed.

And the last words I’d said to her had been cold. We’d pulled back onto the estate, and I’d let myself switch over to business-mode, when I should’ve let her discuss her concerns more.

“I’ll talk to Nova.” Logan nodded at me as he left. “And I’ll call in backup. Get everybody ready to move.”

As they filed out, I stayed behind, staring at the security monitors that showed every angle of Nova’s estate. The place was locked down tight now, but it was too late. The damage was done.

I sat alone in the security room for a long time, trying to evaluate our options logically. If this was about Nova, we’d likely receive some kind of demand soon. Cancel the tour. Make a statement. Something public that would satisfy the stalker’s need for control or attention.

My thoughts were interrupted by a soft knock. Nova stood in the doorway, her usual glamorous appearance disheveled. Her eyes were red-rimmed, makeup smudged.

“Logan told me.” Her voice was barely above a whisper. “About Mel. Is it true?”

I nodded, not trusting myself to speak.

Nova’s face crumpled, her carefully constructed persona finally breaking. “Do you think… Is it because of me? Because of the stalker? ”

“We don’t know yet,” I said honestly. “But we’re doing everything possible to find her. Either way, this isn’t something you did. No one is to blame but the person who took Mel.”

She sank into a chair, wrapping her arms around herself. “She’s my sister. I can’t lose her.”

“You won’t,” I promised, though I had no right to make such guarantees.

“I’ve been thinking,” she continued, her voice steadier. “If this is about the tour, I’ll cancel it. All of it. If that’s what it takes to get Mel back safely, I’ll do it.”

I studied her face, seeing genuine fear and love there. Maybe we’d all misjudged Nova Rivers. Behind the diva antics was a woman who truly cared for her sister.

“Let’s not make any rash decisions,” I said. “We don’t know what the kidnapper wants yet. Making sudden moves might make things worse.”

Nova nodded, wiping at her eyes. “I just keep thinking about how I’ve treated her. Taking her for granted. Expecting her to always be there, solving my problems, cleaning up my messes.” She looked up at me, her green eyes—so like Mel’s—swimming with tears. “Did you know she wants to quit?”

My surprise must have shown on my face.

“I overheard her on the phone a few weeks ago,” Nova explained. “She was talking to someone—a friend, I guess—about finding her own life. Away from me.” She blinked back tears. “I pretended I didn’t hear. I didn’t want to face it.”

“You know why she stayed all this time.”

Nova nodded. “For Mom. To keep the dream alive.” She sank deeper into her chair, suddenly looking much younger than her twenty-six years. “But Mom’s been gone nearly two years now. And Mel deserves her own life.”

I didn’t know what to say to that. Maybe the conversation Mel wanted to have with Nova wasn’t going to be as difficult as she thought .

“When we find her,” Nova said, her voice strengthening with resolve, “I’m going to tell her it’s okay. Whatever she wants to do, I’ll support her. I just need her to come home safe.”

Her words hung in the air between us. When we find her. Not if.

“We will find her,” I said, with more confidence than I felt.

Nova stood, composing herself with visible effort. “What can I do to help?”

“Stay where we can protect you,” I replied. “And be ready when the kidnapper makes contact. You probably need to talk to your financial people in case you need to come up with cash quickly.”

We couldn’t discount that this might be a standard K&R. Citadel had its own Kidnap and Ransom team. I hoped we wouldn’t have to call them in, but I knew Logan would already have them prepped and ready to go if needed.

“Would we pay a ransom if they asked for it?”

“Yes, if it’s legit. Unlike the US Government, unfortunately, we have no other option but to negotiate with personal terrorists. A ransom might be the best way to get Mel home safely.”

I just prayed to God the kidnapper didn’t ask for a trade—Nova for Mel.

Nova nodded and headed for the door, pausing with her hand on the frame. “Ethan?”

“Yes?”

“Bring my sister home.”

After she left, I stared at the wall of security monitors, my mind racing through more scenarios and contingencies. Every passing hour without contact from the kidnapper increased my anxiety. Why hadn’t they made their demands yet? What were they waiting for?

My phone buzzed with a text from Logan:

Team ready for your instructions. Waiting in the foyer.

At least something was happening. I stood, squaring my shoulders as I prepared to join my team. This was what I was trained for. What I was good at. Solving problems. Neutralizing threats.

But a small voice in the back of my mind whispered that this was different. This wasn’t just any missing person. This was Mel .

Her face appeared in my mind—not scared or in danger, but as she’d been on my ranch. Laughing in the sunlight, her hair blowing in the mountain breeze, her eyes bright with happiness. The way she’d looked at me when I’d shown her that view, the one that matched her paintings so perfectly.

And then there was this morning, when things had gotten tense between us. I’d pulled back when she asked about my team staying on after the tour. Instead of being honest about my feelings, I’d retreated into professionalism.

What if I never got the chance to tell her how I really felt? That was what terrified me most. The possibility that I’d missed my opportunity because I was too focused on work, too afraid to admit that this woman had become the center of my universe in just a few short weeks.

I opened my eyes, determination hardening my resolve. No more wondering. No more missed chances. I was going to find Mel, bring her home safe, and tell her exactly what she meant to me. That whatever she wanted, whatever she needed, I would be there. For as long as she’d have me.

And God help anyone who fucking stood in my way.