9 Chapter 9

"Your bird’s flown."

Vince looked up from where he was shrugging into his leather jacket. He was about to head over to Jenna’s house and collect on her debt. Avery Larson, one of his security men, strode into Vince’s office. Avery’s presence was bad news since he was supposed to be sitting on her house. Vince sent him over the minute Jenna got off work.

"Apparently she left work early and flew the coop before we could get there," he said gruffly. "Sorry boss. This was my bad."

"Not your fault," Vince snapped, not in the mood to soothe his guy’s feelings right now. "I should’ve put someone on the house from the beginning."

Vince wanted to punch something. Of course she’d run. She knew he would be gunning for her. He’d as much as promised he'd come after her if she didn’t deliver his message. What she didn’t know was his intentions had changed. He wasn’t planning on using her up and throwing her away anymore, he was going to keep her.

"GPS on the car?" he grunted, pulling his phone out of his pocket and calling Jared.

"She drives an older model Malibu. No GPS," Avery said quickly.

"Fuck, that woman is a goddam thorn in my ass!" he snarled.

Jared answered his phone. "The nurse, I take it?"

"Who else? She ran from her house. I want men all over this city. Have them check every single one of her contacts. I want constant check-ins. Let me know the second she’s found."

Jared grunted his assent and hung up.

He called back two hours later. "She’s at her ex’s house. He’s that shady criminal lawyer, Zachery Morris. Explains why she’s been having so much trouble getting that kid back. I have the address. Do you want us to go pick her up?"

Fury exploded in Vince’s chest and he was glad that she wasn’t there with him. He was cruel on a good day, but in that moment, he knew he would unleash the possessive wrath that had threatened to burst free from the moment he’d seen her picture. She had run into her ex-husband’s arms rather than stay and face him. She would soon realize that there was no safe haven for her. That he would be her entire universe from now on and she could choose whether that was heaven or hell.

"I’ll do this myself. I want you with me and two more for backup in case Morris has security guys. He should have a pretty good idea who I am. I don’t anticipate much trouble retrieving my property."