She's Cold✔️

Chapter Thirty One

"Shut the fuck up, will you?" Daisy scowled at Shane who glared at her in return. She shook her head at him, then went back to work on cleaning his split upper lip.

"Now that all the fist fighting is over, we can talk like adults, without hitting anyone," Eric gave the bandage on Jason's forehead one last pat, then turned to face the group. His eyes lingered on Shane who was looking worse for wear. Along with his bloodshot eyes, he was now sporting a black eye and a split lip. Eric had to admit, the Malcolm men fought hard and well, and they surely did not hesitate in going for the kill. Jason who looked considerably better except for the long gash on his forehead from when Shane pushed him into the kitchen counter, was clutching his stomach and spitting out blood into a plastic cup every few minutes.

Jason coughed, "He started it, anyway. I'm only here because Maria asked me,"

"That's enough!" Maria stood up and began pacing around the kitchen, she had been exceptionally quiet after the fight ended. "Harvie, its either you play nice or I'm smacking you! I raised you better than this!"

"I'm not a kid," Shane grumbled.

"Hush!" Daisy smacked the back of his head, Maria smiled in appreciation.

"Now, Jason, tell us what happened the night of the engagement party?" Maria asked.

Jason sighed, then leant back in his chair. "We were talking, and she was cold and drunk, I went in to get my jacket for her, when I came back, Luca was there with Lyn's mom, and Lyn was nowhere to be found, they suggested I check the hall for her, so I left. I couldn't find her, so I assumed she went up, then I went home."

"Luca? He was there? The nerve of the man, I'm sure he has something to do with her disappearance!" Shane exploded almost getting up from his seat, Maria shot him a dark look and he immediately quieted down. His fingers trembled on his lap so he pushed them underneath his legs, sitting on them.

"I thought she was an orphan?" Daisy wondered aloud, bringing everyone's attention to the obvious fact. She looked at Shane for clearance, but the man only shrugged in response.

"Not exactly," Ian replied, he walked forward into the kitchen.

Shane had even forgotten he was still in the building, his mind was reeling with possibilities as to where Josie could be. Ian had confirmed the fact that Josie wasn't at her apartment nor was she at the orphanage. He wondered if she had gone willingly with Luca, and what lies Luca had concocted about him to make Josie run from him. "What do you mean not exactly?"

Ian shrugged, as though saying Shane should know, after all, he was the one getting married to her. "She has a mother, Elaine Smith or something, I'm not certain on the last name, I just know its not the same with Josie's. The woman is somewhat crazy,"

"I should have put it together! Elaine Smith and Josie look so much alike, remember when I mistook her for Elaine?" Maria turned to Shane for clarification.  Shane nodded, he remembered exactly what his mother was talking about, he also remembered how beautiful she had looked that evening.

"I was their neighbor while we were growing up, Lyn's mum usually dished out crazy punishment to the poor girl, it was dreadful," Jason shook his head.

"What punishment?" Shane's hand had curled into tight fists as he sat up straighter in his chair. He immediately pulled out his hands from under his legs and stretched them out in front of him.

Jason shot a nervous glance at Ian, then shook his head. "That's not what's important now, what's important is trying to find her, the rest of the story is up to her." He couldn't begin to explain the kind of torments he had gone through seeing Lyn cold and hungry and sick. It wasn't something he wanted to relive, or think about, Jason hoped it wasn't repeating itself.

He began to blame himself for not noticing something was wrong when Luca paired up with Lyn's mother, for not thinking twice about leaving them. For a while, he had been her hero, and now he'd failed. What tore at his heart the most, was realizing he loved Lyn for being so strong, and for moving on with her life even after all the dreadful incidents and her less than stellar past, and now, just like many years ago, he had failed her and lost her, all at the same time.

Shane's voice brought his attention snapping back, "Jason, call your brother and his girlfriend, check his whereabouts of the past few days."

Jason stood up, pulling his cell phone from the pockets of his dark jeans, he moved to a corner and dialed Luca's house number. The maid picked up, after a few words with her, he called Luca and got his voicemail. Already knowing what to expect, he dialed Ava's number, and hit voicemail too. When he turned back to face the small group of people, it was obvious what was going through their mind.

"Spill it, man," Eric was the one who broke the sudden silence in the room.

"Rosa, Luca's maid said Luca flew out of town the night of the engagement. She said something about Texas, but he came back yesterday and hasn't spent much time in his home." He looked over at Shane, gauging his stepbrother's reaction to the news. "Lyn grew up in Texas, and Ava's been unavailable too, for the same time duration, she left her son behind, and she never does that."

"Fuck!" Ian cursed, punching a hole through the kitchen wall.

Maria eyed him, but remained quiet, she wanted to be ready to help out when Shane exploded. To her surprise, Shane only stood up and walked out of the kitchen, Eric hot on his heels. They could hear Eric quizzing Shane as to where he was going, a few minutes later, the door slammed shut and Eric walked back in.

"Where's Shane?" Daisy asked, walking up to meet her boyfriend. The poor guy had been under a lot of stress lately, and you couldn't blame him, whatever affected Shane affected him and whatever affected Eric affected Shane too. She'd done her best giving him space, while she worried about her friend, especially since Eric had been running the company in Shane's absence. Now, she was worried if space was what he actually needed.

Eric sighed, pulling her into a hug. "He'll be back."

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