The Blackmail Bride

Chapter 47 Part 2

Tired tired tired tired tired

Drunk

{Third Person Limited POV}

Jace Black got held up in traffic, and he wasn't even out of the business district.

He told his secretary that Isla was at home. That was his guess. And he was going home to confirm.

But an hour inside his Blue Jaguar, stuck between two irked taxi drivers indiscriminately honking into the darkening night sky, the certainty he had in his own statement was diminishing and quickly.

Jace had called her phone five times in the last hour, and it didn't connect once. He called their landline, but Isla wasn't picking that up either.

Jace cursed under his breath.

The taxi driver behind him got out from the car, same time the driver in front of him opened his driver's side door. The first man ran up to the cab in front and stooped down to talk to the cab driver in front.

Jace watched them, the conversation spanning more than five minutes with a lot of nodding and gesturing to the front of the congested street. Jace couldn't see the man inside the car but as soon as the conversation was over, he closed the door and the cab driver from behind him started jogging back to his ride.

Jace rolled down his window just as the man passed him, "Hey, what's holding up the line?"

The cab driver wrinkled his nose as he leaned down to talk to Jace, "Big collision. A garbage truck and a taxi. Looks like the garbage truck driver is fine but those from the car were rushed to ER. Both the cab driver and lady passenger were just picked up by an ambulance so we're getting to move soon."

"Thanks, Man."

The driver just nodded and Jace rolled up his window.

Lady passenger.

He silently cursed again, focusing on not thinking the worst. Turning his attention to his phone, he dialed Isla's number, and when that didn't work, he tried the landline again.

He reviewed in his head the actions Isla took when she was upset about something. It reminded him particularly of that specific time Zeke cornered her at his office and she turned off her phone. He went to her house to find her in bed.

She was just at home, he needed not think of too many things.

When the line started to move, Jace wasted no time flooring the gas. The usual forty-minute travel time became fifteen. And rather than parking his car properly, he cut off the engine and got out as soon as he got to their driveway.

The porch lights were on. That was the first sign that someone was inside.

In swift fluid movements, he crossed the path and opened their locked front door.

"Isla!" he shouted as soon as he got in.

His voice echoes into the empty hallway. There was no response. Jace was already throwing his bag to the floor and shedding his jacket impatiently.

She had to be here.

There was an urgency in his movements and his expression was tight, distracted even, if a stranger would've described then. He jogged up the stairs two steps at a time and went directly for the bedroom.

She had to be here, because otherwise—

He flung the bedroom door open and stopped. Rather than relaxing, the view further tensed his shoulders and back.