I logged in to the app and pulled up the feed for all the cameras that would give me twenty-four seven access to Ryan. His office and the apartment were both completely empty from what I could tell, but when I switched to the feed of the back of his SUV, I was finally able to see him.

He was dressed in a suit, his hair styled and pushed back from his forehead. Beside him, Garret was dressed similarly. Both their faces were grave, their gazes trained straight ahead, neither of them speaking. Not that I would have been able to hear them even if they had spoken since there was no audio with the footage, but I might have been able to read their lips if they did talk.

My brother pulled his phone from his suit jacket pocket and glared at the screen before placing it facedown on his thigh.

Keeping the cameras open in one window, I opened another and signed in to my social media. As soon as I did, I saw that I had over a hundred notifications. Ignoring them, I opened up the messenger and clicked on Garret’s profile. We were friends on social media, but we’d never messaged each other on it. It had seemed ridiculous in the past to send him a message there when I could just text him. But since I didn’t have his number memorized like I did Mom’s and Ryan’s, I had no other choice.

Me: Hey, stupid! Why the fuck haven’t you come to get me yet? How could you just leave me down here? Tell Ryan that whatever he’s doing can wait because I. Want. To. Come. Home!

I hit send and switched my gaze back to the window with the camera feed from the back of the SUV. I kept my eyes glued to Garret, waiting for him to notice the notification and read my message. He picked up his phone and turned it over. My heart lifted as I watched his fingers swipe over the screen, his eyes shifting back and forth as he read my message.

Then his mouth twisted with disgust. He slammed his other hand down on the button to power down the car window, and he threw his phone out the window while it was still moving.

“No!” I cried, tears instantly spilling down my face. “Why, Garret? Why couldn’t you just message me back?”

The whole time, Ryan just sat there, his lashes not so much as flickering in reaction to my brother throwing his phone away.

Minutes passed as I remained in the chair, crying while I watched the two of them sitting in the back of that stupid vehicle, going who the fuck knew where. Neither of them speaking—hell, I wasn’t even sure they were breathing they were so motionless. But the longer I sat there, my tears dried on my cheeks and my hurt turned to anger.

If they weren’t going to come get me, then fuck it. I could leave on my own whenever I wanted.