Crash Into Me(119)

Empty and numb.

I wiped the tears from my eyes as even more continued to flow. A car headed toward me flashed its high beams, startling me, and as I moved my hand from my cheek to the steering wheel, it slipped off. The car jerked into the path of the oncoming car, and I swerved to miss it, sending my car off the right side of the road. Everything flew by so fast and I was airborne before I could do anything to stop it.

And then everything went dark...





Epilogue

Tristan

"Jenson, find out where the BMW is headed. Now!" I ordered into the intercom as I dressed to go after Nina.

"Yes, sir. Immediately."

Pressing on the intercom button again, I barked, "And Rogers, I want all her favorites on the table when we get back."

"Should I order flowers also?"

"Pink roses. I want only the best and dozens of them. Do you understand?"

Rogers understood more than he let on with his simple answer of "Yes." I heard the madness in my voice and knew he did too. He'd been with me long enough to know there had never been anyone like Nina in my life. I couldn't lose her. I couldn't let what my father had done ruin the best chance I'd ever had for happiness.

"Sir, she seems to be headed toward Pennsylvania," Jenson intoned over the speaker.

Her sister's outside Philly. "Get my car out and ready for me to leave in less than five minutes."

It wouldn't be difficult to catch up to her. As fast as the BMW was, the Jag was faster.

As I thought about what I'd say to her, Rogers appeared in the hallway outside the bedroom. "Tristan, may I ask what you plan to do once you find her?"

"Bring her back, Rogers. She belongs here. With me."

Running my hands through my hair, I checked out my look in the mirror and turned to see him standing in my doorway with his arms crossed, as if he were silently judging me. "What is the look you're giving me?"

"I just have to wonder if it's not a better idea to let her go for the night. Chasing her down on a dark road out here might not be your best move. Perhaps she needs time to let everything you told her sink in."

I'd known Rogers since I was a child and knew full well the concerned tone in his voice was more for Nina than for me. My surrogate father, he'd warned me many times since this all began that she'd run away when she found out. That she had seemed to make him even more smug than he usually was.

"I know what you're going to say. You're going to tell me that I should have told her the truth in the beginning. Well, that wasn't an option. How exactly does a person inform someone that his father killed her father and certain people in his own company want her dead? I had to do it this way."

Rogers' frown deepened. "The problem is that she didn't realize this wasn't going to last forever."

"Fuck you. You don't know how I feel about her. I intend on this lasting forever, so get out of my way so I can find her and bring her back where she belongs."

Storming past him, I felt his hand grab onto my forearm. I stopped dead and stared him down. "I'm not interested in a lecture right now, Rogers. The woman I love is out there and I need to get her back."

He nodded and released his hold on my arm. "Fine. But keep in mind that no matter how much money you have, Tristan, it's not about that for her. I've tried to tell you this all your life. There are some people you cannot buy. She's not like the other women you've been with."

"Which is exactly why I love her. Why are you making me the monster here? It was my father and Taylor who had her father killed. I can't help it I fell for her."