Soul Read Free Page B

recuperating from his pansy ass beating and strangling him in his sleep. Then I simply set everything up to look like a suicide. Easy enough because I strangled him with his own belt. Only fingerprints that’ll be found are Justin’s. It was nothing to hook two belts together, one over the beam running along the ceiling, then another for his neck. Then I placed his lifeless body in it, measured the chair distance to make sure I had the loop at the right measurement and softly kicked the chair over. I walked out of the room with his dead body still swaying. Even took a picture of it with my phone so I could share it with Gillian. I wanted to give that to her as a present. Perhaps when we’re living the easy life on a beach somewhere far, far away.

Chapter Two
    Chase
    I dream of her again . Only this time she is alive, glorious in her beauty. Mahogany-colored hair as soft as silk slides through my fingers and fans out in a burst of color across the white sheets. “Baby,” I mumble then my eyes come open with a start. The scent of vanilla fills the air, and I look around panicking, searching for her. The flight attendant offers Jack a beverage then walks past me. Vanilla clings to the air around her. Gillian smells of vanilla. It clings to her like second skin. Only this time it isn’t her. Just another dream. Always a God-forsaken dream. Either she is being tortured and her body a mess of gaping wounds or she is lovely, and I am being tortured by the gift of her image. I prefer it that way. I’d rather see her perfect and whole than broken and dying.
    Jack alerted Dr. Madison to what happened to Gillian and requested a script for a sleep aid. He knows me well. Even still, the only time I’m able to choke down those two little pills is the moment I sit down in one of my jets. We’re heading home. It feels right. Being back in San Francisco is where we need to be. That might not be where Daniel McBride took Gillian but it’s the ideal location to bring all the forces together. The FBI is involved now due to the abduction crossing state and international lines. Thomas Redding, Maria’s boyfriend is still one of the leads on the case, though that took a lot of rubbing elbows with some serious folks in Washington to maneuver. Whatever. I’ll donate to whatever campaign those blood suckers want to get my fiancée back.
    Fuck. My fiancée. She should be my wife right now. Mrs. Gillian Davis. Four days ago, we were to marry until that bastard took her and slit my mother’s throat. The knot in my gut squeezes painfully, and I lean over clutching at my stomach.
    “Sir, you all right?” Jack asks, his tone expressing the worry as his hand grips my shoulder.
    I shove his arm off. “Fine. What the fuck do you have? Anything?”
    “Chase, it’s only been a few hours. We’re about to touch down at SFO now. I’ll know more when we land.”
    He’ll know more. Those three words do nothing to resolve the constant ache permeating every cell within me. Where is she? It goes round and round in my overly tired brain. She is not gone; that sadistic bastard has her hidden away somewhere, and I have every intention of finding her whole and alive.
    We exit the plane and a town car is waiting on the tarmac. “Take me to the FBI headquarters,” I tell Jack. His jaw tightens, but he doesn’t respond.
    “Sir, we’ll be meeting with Detective Redding and Agent Brennen at a secure location close to the strip. In the event that we need to shuttle off, I thought you’d rather be close,” Jack says.
    “Yes, thank you, Jack. Good thinking.” Again, thank God someone is thinking straight. My mind is a jumble of emotions. Something I’ve only recently tapped into. Gillian has brought out many new sides in me. The emotional one being the most uncomfortable. Prior to her, I wasn’t worried about what people thought, how I spent my money, what the media said, and I most certainly didn’t give a damn about making important friendships.