Page 65 of Stealing His Cupcake (Stockholm Syndrome for the Win #2)

Amy

“WHAT?!”

Even though I’ve preemptively pulled the phone away from my ear, Kayla’s shriek makes me wince. My girl can certainly make some noise.

“AMY HUDGES! What the actual fuck? What husband?! Is this a joke? Please tell me it’s a joke.

It’s barely been two months since you got rid of Craig and you’re already thinking of getting married?

What is going on? Actually, never mind. I’m heading to Kansas City straight away to knock some sense into you. ”

Rolling my eyes, I wait for Kayla to run out of breath, then interrupt her tirade. “I’m not in Kansas City anymore, Kay. I will explain everything later, but now I really need to talk to Ethan. I love you, but can you rein in the crazy a little?”

“I’m not crazy! Am I crazy? No, Ethan is shaking his head, so I’m definitely not crazy. Ames, you can’t just drop something like this on me and not expect me to react!”

She has a point. “Well, I was hoping to talk to Ethan alone. What are you even doing there on a workday morning? Did you spend the night, or are you living with him now?” A clearing of her throat gives me the answer.

“You are, aren’t you? What happened to never dating anyone after Nick cheated on you? ”

“That’s different. And stop deflecting! I might be living with Ethan, but I’m not thinking about marrying him right now!”

“You’re not?” Ethan chuckles. “Well, I’ll have to try harder, bunny.”

Kayla shushes him and there’s some giggling and, I assume, kissing on the other side of the line.

It painfully reminds me how alone I am right now, with no one to kiss or giggle with.

“Cut it out, you two,” I grumble half-heartedly.

I’m happy for Kayla but dammit, I have more important things to do than listen to her making out with her sexy boyfriend.

“Paying customer here, waiting to be serviced.”

“Right,” Ethan replies, clearing his throat. “Sorry about that. I don’t want any payment from you, by the way. You’re Kayla’s friend, which basically makes you family, and it’s not like it will be that hard to find one wayward husband.”

“You mean soon-to-be husband,” Kayla says. “Please, tell me you haven’t married some douchebag already. No offense, sis, but you have terrible taste in men.”

She has a point there, too. “Maybe, but I’ve been married to this particular douchebag for two months already, and things were great.

And… It might not be as easy to find him as you think.

His occupation isn’t exactly legal , and he’s good at staying under the radar.

I bet he has a whole new identity set up already.

” One in which he isn’t married to me. Asshole.

“TWO MONTHS?!” Kayla screams. “What do you mean, you’ve been married for two months? And what do you mean, not exactly legal?! Jesus Christ, Amy, what have you gotten yourself into?”

“Bunny, calm down, please,” Ethan soothes her.

“I’m sure Amy will tell us everything if you just stop interrupting her.

Give us a second, Amy. Let’s move downstairs.

” Impatiently, I listen as they shuffle around.

There’s some beeping and a door opening, then a click as Ethan sets the phone down.

“Okay. Tell me everything you know about this husband of yours. ”

I’m embarrassed to admit that I don’t know much. “His name is Wyatt Archer.” Reading from the divorce papers, I rattle off our address and his date and place of birth.

I hear Ethan typing on a keyboard. “Alright. And what’s this ‘not exactly legal’ occupation of his?”

Well, here it goes. “Kayla, don’t scream, okay? He’s a hitman.”

“WHAT?!”

“He kills people for money,” I specify in case Ethan didn’t hear me through my best friend’s scream.

“I think he’s really good at it. Maybe even famous in those, um, circles.

” Both Slava and Nolan knew of Wyatt, and Nolan even considered him some kind of weird role model, so I can safely assume Wyatt is quite popular when it comes to killing people.

“Uh-huh,” Ethan replies while Kayla continues yelling at me. “What the actual fuck, Amy? Please, tell me this is a joke.”

Frustration has me lashing out. “It’s not a fucking joke, Kayla.

Wyatt is mine, and he’s going to fucking regret ever leaving me.

He might have kidnapped me and forced me to marry him but he didn’t force me to fall in love with him.

I did that all on my own, and now that I’ve had a taste of what love feels like, I’m not letting him go.

You can freak out all you want about it, but I’m going to find Wyatt, bring him home, and we will be fucking happy! ”

That shuts her up. For approximately ten seconds. “Did you just say he kidnapped you?” Oh. I did, didn’t I? “How can you talk about love when he forced you into this?”

Ethan laughs. “Hypocritical much, bunny?” Before I can ask what that remark was about, he continues, “Amy is right, by the way. Wyatt is quite famous on the dark web. It’s going to be a challenge to find him.

” He doesn’t sound worried, though. More like excited. “Do you want me to take care of him?”

“Take care of him? No! Oh my god, what kind of an investigator are you? I don’t want Wyatt dead, for Christ’s sake. I just want to find him so I can kick him in the nuts and drag him home. ”

Sounding a little subdued, Kayla points out, “Okay, Amy, even putting the kidnapping and contract killing aside, which is absolutely crazy, by the way—”

Ethan just laughs again. “Really?”

“Yes, really! Even that put aside, and don’t take this the wrong way, Ames, but… Should you really be chasing after someone who doesn’t want you?”

Her words hurt but once again, she has a point.

That’s exactly what I’ve been doing before with Craig and all the others.

They would kick me aside and I’d crawl back to them.

But this situation is different. “He wants me.” Or at least I pray to all the gods that he does.

“He just has this idiotic notion that he doesn’t deserve me. ”

“Oh my god.” Kayla gasps. “Did he actually give you that lame line? ‘It’s not you, it’s me. You deserve better, my love’,” she intones. “Did he? What a jerk.”

“Actually, he didn’t even say goodbye to my face. He just vanished without a trace and sent a note along with the divorce papers.”

“What?!” Kayla cries out for the third time that day, though with a little lower intensity. “Are you sure you want him back, sis? He sounds like an idiot. And like he definitely deserves that ball-kicking.”

“Oh, he’s going to get it, don’t worry,” I say ruefully. I’m so angry I might just punch Wyatt first thing when I see him. Or slap him. Or stab the bastard. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. “I’m definitely gonna stab that asshole for hurting me.” Did I say that out loud? Oops.

Kayla sucks in a sharp breath. “Alright, who are you and what have you done with my friend? But seriously, Ames, are you okay? This is some heavy shit we definitely need to talk through. I mean, how did you even meet a hitman?”

I contemplate not telling her, but I’ve already told her pretty much everything else. There’s no point in holding on to secrets. “He was sent to kill Craig and we kind of ran into each other.”

“Sent to kill Craig? But he didn’t kill him. ”

“Yeah, I know but— Wait a second. How do you know that?”

In the background, Ethan snorts. “Smooth, bunny. Really smooth. Okay, Amy. I will try to lure Wyatt out by offering him a fake contract but that’s a long shot.

If it doesn’t work, I will set up facial recognition crawlers that will scan security cameras, but unless I can narrow down his location at least a little, it will be like looking for a needle in an Earth-sized haystack.

Do you have any idea where he might have gone?

Did he happen to mention wanting to go to a tropical island to sip cocktails on the beach or something like that?

Anything that you can remember might help. ”

A tropical island? Somehow, I can’t imagine Wyatt on a beach, getting a tan, but what do I know?

I really don’t know him that well. Any future he ever mentioned always involved the two of us together.

What a fucking liar. “I don’t know where he could have gone.

” If he just hopped on a plane this morning, he might be on the other side of the world by now.

But wait. “He’s afraid of flying,” I blurt out, excited that I know something about my husband after all.

“And he left his car here, so he must have rented one out somewhere nearby or taken a taxi.”

“Okay, I’ll start there. You mentioned he kidnapped you and forced you to marry him.” I would have expected Ethan to be worried, but it sounds more like he’s holding back a chuckle. “How obsessed was he with you?”

“Very. I think… I think he still is, he’s just, I don’t know. Afraid? Guilty? Something happened and we nearly died and he’s been acting strange ever since.”

“Yeah, I can imagine. Alright. I’ll start in your local area and see if I can spot him anywhere. Does he have a family?”

“Just a grandmother he hates. He left a condition in our marriage settlement that the fees for her nursing home have to be covered until she passes, but I don’t think he would have gone to see her if that’s what you’re suggesting. He always said she was a bitch.”

Kayla snorts. “What a guy you’ve picked, sister. Now, if you two are done, I’m taking this phone and we are having a long, looong conversation. ”

“Bunny, but shouldn’t you be getting ready for work?”

“Oh, shit. Fuck. Crap. I need to be at court in thirty minutes! Fuck! I’ll call you later, Amy, and you will pick up the phone or I will personally go to that shithole where you live now and strangle you with my bare hands! Love you.”

Laughing, I reply, “Love you too,” even though I can already hear Kayla rushing away. “Do you need something else from me?” I ask Ethan, eager for him to get to work. Judging by the steady keyboard tapping in the background, he might already be on it.

“All photos you have of Wyatt. If you can also scan or take a picture of some of the legal documents with his signature, that might help as well. And don’t worry. I’ll find him. Worry about explaining everything to Kayla because I’ve never seen her this worked up,” he adds with a chuckle.

“Yeah, I’ll talk to her.” I’m about to hang up when I remember something Kayla mentioned. “Hey, Ethan? How did Kayla know Wyatt didn’t kill Craig?” She could have only known that if she knew the real killer, and it almost sounded like—

“Are you sure you want to know?”

A shiver crawls up my spine at the cold edge of Ethan’s voice. I’ve heard it before, from Wyatt when he was killing Turbo and from Slava when she— Well, when she said pretty much anything. Jesus Christ. Ethan is like them. “Is Kayla safe with you?”

“Are you safe with Wyatt? He’s a dangerous man.”

“Yes,” I reply without having to think about it. “Wyatt would never hurt me.”

“Well, there you have your answer. I will do anything to protect Kayla.”

Okay, I’m familiar with this level of obsession.

But Craig died over two months ago. If Ethan had already been obsessed with Kayla back then, how long have they been in a relationship already?

And what did Ethan mean by that “hypocritical much” when Kayla rebuked me for falling in love with someone who kidnapped me?

It can’t be, can it? What would be the odds of both of us meeting crazy men at almost the same time?

I burst into laughter. Actually, with all the craziness that has been going on with my life lately, this is the least crazy thing to happen.

“I have a feeling Kayla will have an interesting story to tell, too. Thank you, Ethan. For everything.” For killing my ex-boyfriend before my stalker could kill him himself.

This is definitely a Price of Passion level of drama.

“No problem. If you change your mind about what you want to do with Wyatt, let me know. I’m happy to hunt him down for you.”

This guy. He and Wyatt are like peas in a pod. They’ll either hate each other or become best friends. “Thanks, but no. I need to be the one doing this ‘hunting’. Just let me know when you find him.”

Hanging up, I immediately dial the local DVS office to schedule a road test. I’ve been avoiding it, not feeling ready yet, but it’s unavoidable now. I will need that driver’s license to “hunt down” my husband. And stab him. Now, where’s that knife?