Chapter 27

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Rafe

Emmy: Is Abby okay? She won’t answer my texts or calls and I’m worried.

Emmy: Rafe? Are you there? Please answer me. I’m out of my mind over here.

Emmy: Rafe, please. At least tell me you’re with her.

Me: I’m working on it.

Emmy: Wait, what does that mean?

Me: Emmy, I love you. But right now, I need to help Abby. I’ll update you later. Okay?

Emmy: Okay. Tell her we love her and that Amber is plotting how to kill Travis and get away with it.

Me: I will.

Emmy: Love you. heart emoji

Me: Back at you.

I barely had time to tamp down my murderous plans for Abby’s ex before she bolted from the car and took off down the street. I exited and tried my best to follow her. But with my injured knee, I struggled to keep up and soon I couldn’t see her dark hair anywhere. We were in the city center, with people milling about, crowding the sidewalks. Plus, there were dozens of alleys she could’ve ducked into.

Since blindly looking for her would be pointless, I darted into one of the side streets so I could come up with a plan.

First and foremost, I needed to try contacting Abby. And since my phone was broken, I could either find a new one or ask to borrow someone else’s.

The latter would probably end up with someone wanting a selfie. Normally I didn’t mind, but given how that horrible video about my wife had just dropped, it’d look like I didn’t care.

I scanned the shops and dashed to one that sold phones. It took far too long for me to buy one and set it up. But as soon as I did, I tried calling Abby. However, it went to voicemail. So I left an encouraging message, asking her to come home, and then called my sister.

She answered. “Rafe? Abby sent me a voice text, saying she was going into hiding. What’s going on?”

“Fuck, she did what?”

“Is she not with you?”

After I explained the situation, I finished with, “I’m going to find her. But let me know if she contacts you again. And try telling her that I want to help her.”

“Of course. I just hate that she’s alone right now.”

“Me, too, Emmy. Especially since it’s probably my fault she ran.”

“What the hell are you talking about? It’s her ex’s fault, not yours.”

“She probably blames herself for ruining my life. She hasn’t, not at all. Like you said, it’s that asshole’s fault. But…”

“But what?” Emmy asked.

“We can talk about it later. Right now, Abby needs someone standing by her to fight at her side, which means I have to find her.”

“I believe in you. And let her know that we’re all here for her, too, Rafe. The sooner she comes home, the sooner we can all stand by her side. She’s probably afraid of what her family will think, but they only want to support her. Somehow, you have to convince her of that.”

“She probably needs to hear it from them to truly believe it. But don’t worry, I’ll find a way to get her home. I promise.”

“You know, I had my doubts about the two of you at first, but I can see now that you love her. Take care of her, Rafe. I’ll see what I can do here.”

I mumbled some sort of reply, but Emmy’s words kept coming back to me: “I can see now that you love her.”

At the thought of never seeing Abby again, never holding her, never making her laugh, my heart clenched. In a short amount of time, she’d become precious and necessary and…mine.

Even just imagining her divorcing me at the end of the year and finding someone else made me want to punch the mystery guy in the face.

I loved her. And maybe if I’d been more honest with myself and opened up to her, she would’ve trusted me to stay by her side and not run away. Instead, keeping my feelings to myself and maintaining some distance had ended up hurting her, not protecting her.

Well, I was done fighting my feelings.

Abby was my wife.

Mine.

I would do whatever was necessary to win her heart and trust, and find a way to destroy the asshole ruining her life.

But first, I needed to find her. Where would she go?

Then it hit me—both she and Emmy had talked about some old fancy house she’d always wanted to visit in Lyme Park. Since Piccadilly Station was nearby, she could’ve easily taken a train. No doubt, she’d walk around the grounds to get some peace and quiet since not many people would visit in March.

It was the best lead I had for now. So after buying some sunglasses, I went back to my car and headed toward Lyme Park.