Chapter 0688

Nina

I leaned back against the airport terminal wall, scrolling anxiously through my recent texts to Enzo. There was nothing new, aside from my frantic messages asking where he was. My calls had been going straight to voicemail all morning, just like they had been the night before.

Even though dread was threatening to take over me, I tried to hold onto some hope. Maybe he had forgotten to charge his phone again. Yes, that had to be it.

"He'll probably be here any minute," Jessica said, her blue eyes following my concerned gaze down the empty airport terminal. "Give it another few minutes."

I mustered a strained smile. She had been saying that for the past twenty minutes, and yet he still hadn't shown up.

Still, seeing no signs of him emerging as the plane emptied, my palms grew clammy, my pulse quickening. Finally, the last tired stragglers passed through the gate.noveldrama

No Enzo.

My throat tightened. Please, no. Had something happened?

"I'm going to talk to an employee," I said. Jessica met my gaze and nodded, unease darting through her own eyes. Offering Jessica a stiff smile, I slipped over to the counter. "Hello," I said, trying my best to keep my voice steady. “My husband was supposed to be on that plane, but he's not here. Can you check for me?"

The agent looked up at me over her wire-rimmed glasses and shot me a curious look. "I suppose," she said, sounding a little annoyed. I watched as she tapped away on her keyboard, my fingers worrying the hem of my shirt beneath the counter.

"Name?" she asked.

"Enzo Rivers."

The woman paused, then nodded to herself. "Looks like a passenger by the name of Enzo Rivers never boarded when the plane departed three hours ago. He must have missed the flight."

I swallowed. "You're sure?" I asked.

"Positive," she said. "I can make an announcement just in case, but..."

"No," I said, shaking my head tumbly. "Thanks." With that, I returned to where Jessica was waiting for me.

"He never got on the plane," I whispered hoarsely. "Enzo isn't here. Something's wrong, I know it." Tears burned in my eyes but I choked them back furiously. I had to focus on how the hell I was going to find him.

Jessica's face turned ashen as I spoke. "Are you sure?" she asked. "Maybe he just missed the plane, so he stayed an extra night and forgot to tell you?" She sounded as desperate to believe it as I was.

I frantically pulled up my text conversation with Enzo, but there was nothing new. Nothing since thirty minutes ago, when I had texted him: "Did you land yet?"

Later, I stood in the middle of our little main office back at HQ, where everyone was gathered: me, Luke, Lori and Jessica, Matt, and even Daphne now, who was sitting cross-legged on the edge of the desk.

"He didn't call me back, either," Mart said, slipping his phone in my pocket. "I'm sorry, Nina."

I let out a worrisome sigh. We had all tried calling Enzo multiple times, but no answer. What was even more worrying was that his phone had been ringing last night, but now it went to voicemail each time we called, meaning that it was likely dead.

"Maybe I should go back to the supernatural realm, tell your father-" Daphne began, but I cut her off with a shake of my head.

"No. I won't trouble him without more information. I need to be certain that something bad happened before we go gerting my father involved."

The room fell silent after that. My heart was lodged painfully in my throat as a myriad of terrifying possibilities whirled endlessly through my mind.

Ronan's return couldn't just be a coincidence, I thought to myself, not when Enzo had gone missing the same day. But I had to cling to hope that he was unharmed, that we would get him back.

"Luke," I said suddenly. I fought to hold my voice steady. We exchanged one silent look of understanding.

"I'll book the next flight," he said, his fingers already tapping on the computer keyboard. "We'll find him, Nina. Maybe he just overslept and lost his phone."

"Yeah. Maybe."

Within just a couple of hours, Luke and I were hurdling thousands of feet above the earth. The sun was making its climb into the sky, but from up here it almost looked like sunset already. Normally, I would have been busy marveling over the puffy clouds and bright colors, but not today.

He should have been home this morning. He should be in my arms now, but he wasn't.

Where the hell was my husband?

"Hey," Luke's soft voice broke the relentless whirling of my thoughts. I forced myself to meet his steady eyes, which grounded me even though we were thousands of feet in the sky. He had always had this uncanny ability to pull me back down to earth when I needed it the most.

"You've been shaking your leg for the past ten minutes," he said.

I looked down to see that he was right; I had been twitching my leg nonstop, bouncing it on the ball of my foot. I quickly stopped, stretching my leg out beneath the seat in front of me to give the muscle a rest.

"Sorry," I said, my face turning a little red. "I'm just "

"We'll find him," Luke said softly, reaching out to touch my hand. "I promise."

I nodded. Maybe Luke had been right earlier when he said that Enzo may have just overslept and that his phone had died. After all, that would be the most logical explanation. Maybe, in just a few hours, we would all be laughing over the

situation as we booked our flights home.

And yet, something in me said otherwise.

"We'll be on the ground soon," Luke said, leaning back in his seat and momentarily shutting his eyes. "Try to stay calm until then."

I nodded weakly, doing the same. I leaned back in my seat, letting my heavy eyelids fall shut. I hadn't slept at all last night, so now was my chance to get some shut-eye. After all, I wasn't any use to anyone if I was sleep-deprived. "I'm coming, Enzo," I thought to myself. "I'm coming..."

I was jolted away by the plane bumping down onto the tarmac, and my eyes shot open to see Luke unbuckling his seatbelt beside me. His eyes met mine in a silent affirmation; we had made it.

Almost as soon as the plane came to a stop outside the terminal and the pilot announced that we could leave, Luke and I shot up out of our seats. Luke quickly grabbed the one carry-on we had brought between us, just enough to get us through the night if need be.

But hopefully, we wouldn't be staying for longer than that.

As Luke and I made our way off of the plane and through the crowded terminal, only one thing was on my mind: Enzo. We had to find him. We had to bring him home.

And all I could do was hope beyond all hope that he was okay, and that the dread in my stomach had been unfounded.

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