“Miss, are you okay?”
I turned to see Jensen standing next to me. “I’m fine. I need to go home, though. Please take me home.”
“Of course, miss. The car is just over here.”
He helped me to the car, and as we drove away toward the house, I asked, “Where was Varo? He’s supposed to be nearby at all times.”
“He’s stuck in traffic, miss. I’m sure he’ll be home right after we arrive. I’ll let him know we’re on our way now.”
“No, that’s okay, Jensen. He has enough to deal with right now. Just get me home as fast as possible.”
As Jensen did his best to conquer the very beginning of rush hour traffic, I called Tristan. I had no idea what I’d say, but I needed to speak to him. I needed to hear his side of the story. I tried three times, but his phone went to voicemail every time and I never left a message. There was too much to say.
By the time we reached the house, I’d made up my mind. Of all the secrets surrounding Tristan and the rest of the Stone family, this was the one I couldn’t live with.
Chapter Nineteen
Tristan
Hours of questions by Federal investigators had left me exhausted, but just the thought of Nina waiting for me with a surprise was enough to make me top a hundred miles an hour as I drove up the Taconic. Tapping my phone’s screen, I saw she’d called three times but left no voicemail. That was nothing new. She never liked leaving voicemails.
Now that Karl was out of the picture, there was no reason to worry. Varo and West made sure she was safe, so she’d probably called just to tell me she loved me. I loved those calls and hated that I missed them, but stopping the Feds to answer a phone call wasn’t an option.
Fifteen minutes away from the house, I called her to let her know I was almost home. Two rings and then to voicemail. That was odd. Maybe she was in the shower. A sense of anxiousness settled into my mind, but I quickly dismissed it. The investigators had assured me that Karl would be in custody within the hour, so there was no reason to be uneasy.
I turned onto the driveway and punched in the security code on the keypad. The gates opened, and I raced up to the house, dying to see the woman I loved. The garage door was up, but I could park the Jag later. I didn’t want to waste another minute on anything but Nina.
The sun was just setting as I walked to the front door, wondering what my surprise would be. A nice dinner and the rest of the night in bed together would have been good enough for me, but if she preferred something a little wilder, I was up for that too. After all those months without her next to me, I didn’t care if we simply laid in each other’s arms and watched movies all night, stuffing our faces with Jiffy Pop.
As long as she was by my side, everything was better.
I threw my keys on the table in the center of the entryway and listened for any sign of what she’d planned. The house seemed strangely quiet. As I walked down the hallway to our bedroom, I peeked into the kitchen and sitting room, but both were empty. Convinced she was waiting for me in the bedroom, I prepared myself to act surprised when I opened the door and saw her lying there in her sexy lingerie, or even better, naked and ready for me.
But she wasn’t there.
Taking out my phone, I typed out a text telling her I was home and pressed Send. I slid my tie from around my neck and unbuttoned my shirt, relaxing for the first time since leaving the house. My phone remained silent, so I checked it for Nina’s text back to me, but there was nothing.
Fifteen minutes went by without any message from her. Had she gone out? If she did, I knew Jensen could tell me. I made my way to his part of the house, but he was nowhere to be found. Where the hell was everyone?
“Mr. Stone? Can I help you?”
I turned to see Jensen standing behind me with a look of concern on his face. I rarely intruded on his personal life or space, so his expression didn’t alarm me. The poor guy probably thought I was there to ream him out about something small.
“I was looking for you to find out if Nina went out.”
“She did, but we returned over an hour ago.”
I clapped him on the shoulder to let him know we were good. “Okay. Thanks, Jensen.”
After a look around the entire house, I headed to the carriage house to see if Varo and West had any idea where she could be. The place was dark, and jiggling the handle, I found the front door locked. As I turned to walk back to the house, the car they used when they guarded Nina drove up with only Varo inside.
Opening the door, he looked calm. “You looking for me?”
“I came back to look for you and West, but the house is dark and the door is locked. Where’s West?”