Page 43 of Unbearable

Knox scowled at him but refused to let go of his nose.

“I swear if anything happens to Ethan, I will rip you apart with my own two hands,” he continued.

“She’s not going to do anything to harm Ethan,” Dex said, breaking into the standoff. “She’s too smart for that. She knows that’s how she controls you.” Fox’s glare slid to Dex, but the agent ignored it. “Did she give you any clue where he is? Is he at a friend of hers or a relative? Bailey’s house maybe?”

“She would never leave him there voluntarily,” he answered.

“I’ll call Bailey, just to make sure. How about someone from work?” Dover suggested.

“Maybe.”Why is he still here, meddling in our lives?He continued silently.

He’s worried Brooke is up to something that’s going to blow back on you. That’s why Dex is here too. They tried to follow her one night, and she was a professional at losing them.

“Stop,” Knox growled. “Say what you have to say out loud.”

“You’ve been following her?” Fox spit out, shoving Knox away from him. “Why?”

“There’s something fucked up about her,” Knox began.

“I wasn’t talking to you.” Fox turned to stare at Dex.

“At first we thought she was just seeing guys on the side,” Dex said after clearing his throat. “Now, I’m not so sure. I’m pretty good at following people, but she got a text and rabbited out of the bar she was at. We chased her until she just disappeared through a locked door in one of the buildings near the wharf.”

“Her cheating on me doesn’t surprise me,” Fox said after taking a minute to take in what Dex had said. “I don’t know how she would know someone was following her, though, if you were just hanging out in the bar. Are you sure you were following the right person?”

“It was the right person. She was chatting up some cowboy at the bar then suddenly ran. It felt like she was getting instructions from someone, though. It doesn’t make sense to run if you’re just talking at the bar.”

“She’s always meeting friends for drinks. I have no doubt she flirts with anyone who looks good and will buy her a drink. But if she thought you were stalking her, wouldn’t she just stay in the bar? It would be safer.”

“Bailey doesn’t have him,” Dover said, returning to the living room. She had slipped into the kitchen to make the call right after being called out by Knox. “She’s going to try calling Brooke. Maybe she will answer her call or at least text where Ethan is.”

They fell silent as they watched Fox pace back and forth across the living room. His stomach was tied in a knot, his mind reeling with all of the bad things that could be happening to thelittle boy.When did I get so wrapped up in the welfare of a child?

Since the moment he moved in with you, Dover answered.

“I can’t stand just waiting. I’m going to go see if I can find an after-hours phone number at the salon. Maybe one of her coworkers knows where he is,” he said. He scooped up the keys he had tossed on the side table next to the door.

“I’ll go with you,” Knox said.

“I don’t need any more of your help.”

“I don’t care. I’m going.”

Fox studied the determined man for a few minutes before shrugging. He barely heard Dover telling him she would ask patrol to keep a look out as the door closed behind them.

He didn’t check to see if Knox was behind him when he stepped into the elevator. Crossing his arms, he leaned against the cool metal as he willed the doors to close.

“We’ll find him. In one piece,” Knox growled.

“You don’t know that.”

“True, but I haven’t lost one yet, and I don’t plan on starting now.” Fox had heard a few of the stories from his family’s harrowing past. None of that mattered now. He didn’t need fairytales—he needed results. He needed Ethan found.

The doors finally opened, and they left the building. Fox’s truck was right where he left it, except now it had a parking ticket on it.

“Of course,” he mumbled ripping it out from under his windshield wiper. He tossed it in the back seat as he climbed into the truck. By the time the engine roared to life, Knox was riding shotgun. He dropped it into gear and slid into traffic.

The trip through town was driven in silence. He didn’t feel like talking, and, he assumed, Knox could tell. That was one thing they had in common—neither one of them liked to chat.There was one other thing he found odd that they had in common.