Chapter 22

I let out a sigh, walking away from the window for the tenth time and back to the living room, falling back on the couch. It was no use any way to look for Simon between the trees, the sun had set almost an hour ago, and I could barely see half the yard.

I had spent the last nine hours fighting my anxiety and hoping for Simon to come back soon. I had tried to call Alice earlier, but it had gone straight to voicemail. She must have let her phone die again. I had to resist the urge to text Nick so he could tell her to charge it.

In hopes of distracting myself from worrying, I had explored the parts of the house I hadn’t had the chance to visit yet: a dozen bedrooms and nearly as many washrooms later, it stopped being as exciting.

I had decided to open one last door before calling it quits and finding something else to do when I had found a luxurious study. I had almost decided to walk across the den to look through the piles of paper and satisfy my curiosity