CHAPTER 18
DAVIS HELD THE PHONE UP to his ear. “I don’t know where the hell she is! We had a fight. But even if she was mad at me, it’s not like Nicole to be gone for hours and not call. She would at least check in with the kids.” Davis paced back and forth in his living room surrounded by his sister, Jane, her husband, Russell, and Dana. “Harlan, what happened to the man you had on her?” He stopped walking in the middle of the floor then yelled into the phone. “I called the fuckin’ police! They won’t do a damned thing until she’s been missing twenty-four hours. Yeah . . . make sure you do.” After they disconnected, Davis threw it into the sofa.
Jane asked the obvious question. “What did he say?”
“His guy followed Nicole into the Clarks Tower Building where she had her meeting. He lost track of her when she got onto the elevator.”
His phone rang. Davis almost did a hurdle to get over to it. “Yeah! Okay. I’m on my way.”
“Did they find her?” Dana’s eyes were full of worry.
“No.” His voice was strangled. “But they found her car. It is still in the parking garage.”
Jane’s hand went up to cover her mouth. It slowly lowered. “We’re coming with you.”
Davis was adamant. “No. You are not. If someone calls here with information or demands, I need you to take the call.”
Russell spoke up. “We’re not letting you go alone in this state. I’ll go with you. Just let me get my gun out of my car.”
Nicole opened her eyes but couldn’t see. Everything was a blur, but she knew she was lying in a bed. She still felt as if she were floating on air. A better description was as if she were trapped in one of her dreams from when she was a child. She couldn’t lift her head or her arms. She couldn’t move. Nicole whispered into the darkness. “Davis.” Only to fall back into a coma-like sleep. However, before she dozed, she could have sworn she had heard a male voice say to her, “Davis is not here.”
BAM . . . BAM . . . BAM! Was there an explosion? What was going on? Nicole couldn’t make heads or tells of anything. Was she still dreaming? She didn’t know. She could only slip back into the darkness.
Davis and a group of guys from Harlan’s security detail burst into the penthouse apartment of Roman Abboud. They almost broke the doors down. Roman had been in the shower when they kicked the doors open. Davis’s heart stopped when he saw Nicole’s purse on a nearby table—and shoes. He didn’t know what he had hoped for. Davis knew he wanted Nicole to be found alive but not here, not with the man who sent her the flowers. It was evident that she was having an affair.
Roman came rushing out of his bathroom. “What in the hell is going on?”
Davis didn’t give him a chance to say another word before he rammed his fist into his face, knocking the man clean on his ass. All he saw was white rage. Davis followed him down and continued to pound his face, bursting his lip and most likely breaking his nose. Roman tried to fight back, but Davis was much too angry and too strong for him to stand a chance. He spoke through clenched teeth. “Where is my wife?”
Roman spat the blood from Davis’s punches into his face, and he ground out. “You should be thankful I found her when I did.”
That garnered him two more punches. “I swear to God. I’ll kill you if you’ve touched her in any way.”
“I didn’t touch her. She’s too fucked up for that. But I’ve got video, and I’m sure you would be willing to do anything to keep it from the public.”
Russell had gone ahead searching the apartment, allowing Davis to beat the crap out of Roman, while he and Harlan continued to look for her. Harlan yelled out. “She’s in here!”
Davis punched him one last time and tossed him away as if he were a rag doll, then high-tailed it into the room where Russell had found her. Harlan went back to stand guard over Roman and instructed the two men that entered the apartment with them to search every nook and cranny for anything else that might prove useful.
When Davis found Nicole, she was in bed and naked. Her clothes were sprawled out all around the room. His heart began to pound. “Nicole!?”
She didn’t answer.
He shook her. “Nicole!?!”
Still, there was no movement.
Davis pressed his fingers against her neck checking for a pulse. It was there and beating fast. He bent low, making sure the sheet covered her and picked her up.
“Davis?” Nicole’s head lolled around and finally landed on his shoulder. Her eyes were barely open, but he could tell they were dilated. Her makeup, the black mascara, had been smeared all over her face. She looked like a raccoon by the eyes.
“It’s me, and I’m here.” He carried her out of the bedroom back to the living room. Roman was still half naked but wrapped in a towel and sitting on the sofa being grilled by Harlan and his team. His eyes, what could be seen of them, glittered with rage and hatred. They were starting to swell up, and his face was bloodied and bruised. Davis didn’t get any satisfaction in knowing he’d broken his nose. If he didn’t have Nicole in his arms, he would still be beating the shit out of him.
Russell grabbed Nicole’s things and followed behind Davis. When they made it to the front door, Harlan spoke. “We’ll do a clean sweep to make sure no trace of Nicole was left here. There’s a van downstairs waiting to take you two home. We’ll drive both your car and Nicole’s back to your house just in case the media is somewhere lurking around.”
Davis was too angry to do anything but nod.
Harlan stepped closer so that only Davis could hear. “We’ve found some interesting things in this apartment. We’ll talk more about it tomorrow. In the meantime, get your wife out of here and take her home.”