His Obsession

Chapter Eighteen

Lucian

I am staring at my phone in disbelief. I am reading the words that my wife has sent me, but I don’t believe it. I refuse to believe it. She wouldn’t do this to me. To us. My paranoia was spot-fucking-on with Jake. I know he has something to do with this, but I have a fear lurking in the back of my head that she left me for him.

I step out of the house and walk over to Bradley’s. When I walk in, he is mid-thrust, fucking Laura. “We have a problem,” I say.

“Goddamn it, Lucian,” he grumbles. “What could be…”

“Elise’s gone. She sent a text, but I don’t believe it. She wouldn’t do this,” I say, ignoring his anger. He sighs and takes my phone to read the text. Laura pops up without hesitation to read it.

“Are you sure she…” Bradley starts to say.

“She told me last night that she would never be able to call me daddy. I was joking with her about it and she said that was a hard limit. She wouldn’t say that. Also, she said she didn’t want to interrupt my meeting. She knew I did not have meetings today. She knew I was planning our evening. Something is wrong,” I say firmly.

“I’ll gather everyone,” Laura says. She doesn’t even wait for permission before she pulls on Bradley’s T-shirt and runs out of the house.

“She called me in a fucking panic because she said that she sent Jake corrupt files for a project and then the files were missing from her computer. She had to go up to the office to meet him and a client but now her phone is off after sending that message,” I explain. I am trying so hard to not cry. I’m not generally an emotional person, but I know in my heart that he’s done something bad. It feels like my soul is aching and I can only attribute that to my wife’s pain. She’s hurting, and I can’t do anything to help her.

“Come here,” Bradley says.

“No, we don’t have time for that. We have to,” I start to say as tears start to fall.

“Sit the fuck down for a second and hug me, man,” he says. He hugs me tightly and suddenly it all floods out of me.

“I knew something was off with him, but I ignored it because I didn’t want to upset her. She trusted him and I didn’t want to ruin that. It’s so fucking hard for her to trust people. I should’ve helped her,” I say.

“We will find her. The fucker is obsessed with her so we both know he’s going to rape her, not kill her,” Bradley says bluntly. He pulls away and I wipe my face. “Call Jake’s office first.”

I nod and search my phone for the office number. It rings a few times before someone picks up.

“Stratagem Software. Susan speaking,” a female voice says.

“My name is Lucian Voss. My wife is Elise Voss. She was going up for a meeting with her boss, Jake. Are they in?” I ask.

“No, Jake said they had plans this evening with a client. Her car is still here, so I assume they will be back. Can I take a message?” she asks. "Well, actually… Uh…”

“Uh what? What’s wrong?” I ask.

“I am looking at the main email and he sent in a letter of resignation this morning. Elise did as well,” she says. “She was just here with her laptop, though.”

“Shit,” I hiss. “Okay. I am on my way, but I need you to call the police and let them know that Elise has been abducted. Okay?”

“A-Are you sure?” she asks. “Jake had mentioned you two having marital problems. Maybe…”

“Susan, I don’t want to be mean to you. I really don’t. Just call the police, okay? Can you do that? Elise is in trouble and it’s imperative that the police are involved as soon as possible,” I say as Bradley and I walk out of the house. He grabs a sweatshirt on the way out to put on and slips his feet into running shoes.

“Goodness. Okay,” she says. “I’ll do that right now. Anything else I can do?”

“No. I’ll be there soon,” I say. I end the call, and I’m met with all of the residents of Luxe with fear painted on their faces. “I don’t have time to explain much. Jake has abducted Elise. I need everyone to get whatever information they can on him. I want to know his entire history and why the fuck he’s so obsessed with her. Give any information to Laura and she can get it to Bradley and me.”

“What can I do?” Carol asks tearfully.

“Do what you do best. Organize and keep everyone in line,” I say. She nods and I hug her tightly. “I’ll find her. I’ll bring her home.”

“Be safe,” she says.

Bradley and I get into my car. I takeoff as soon as the engine roars to life and the gate is already open by the time we reach it. Bradley takes a moment to alert the sheriff. We remain in silence for the rest of the drive.

I cut an hour trip into forty minutes and the police are at the office when I pull in. “I am Lucian Voss, Elise’s husband,” I say when one officer turns to us.

“She tells us you believe your wife has been abducted?” he asks.

“Yes. She has had some issues with her boss, Jake, for a while now. She limited her interactions to strictly professional,” I say. I word vomit all of the issues about someone breaking into her home and assaulting her in her sleep and her decision to not go to the police. He listens to everything I say, occasionally nodding.

“Well, first of all, his name that she provided is not the name that is attached to his license number that she provided from his records,” he says. “Do you recognize the name Jake Fritz?”

“Fuck,” Bradley says. “Fuck, this is bad.”

“What is?” the cop asks.

“Her biological mother, Jennifer, was raped by a man named Daniel Fritz on her 25th birthday. She opted to give Elise up, resulting in her losing contact with her until right before she died. Elise learned the name of her biological father from journals that were left amongst her things after death,” I say. I explained the situation with the roses the best way I can, but that leads to me having to explain life in the Luxe. When I start explaining the events that took place on Halloween night, he looks less confused.

“That’s a lot. I’m not going to lie,” he says. “So, what I’m gathering is that her biological father was shunned and started a new community based on a different set of beliefs. This resulted in her half-brother’s obsession that now has led to her abduction?”

“Yes,” I say. “I have our community doing research to see what they can come up with. If this is the case, she was likely taken to wherever their community is based.”

“Okay. I’m going to need the information for the local sheriff so that we can coordinate. I will issue a BOLO for his registered vehicle and a picture of both of them. Susan provided their company ID photos,” he says. “I do need access to her car, if that’s okay.”

“She has the only set of keys,” I sigh.

“May I?” Bradley asks.

“Yeah?” I say, confused. He pulls out his pocketknife and strikes the corner of the window with the sharp end of the closed knife. The window shatters into tiny pieces and he turns back to us.

“Problem solved,” he shrugs.

We step back and watch as they search her car, looking for clues. Her purse is in the car, so it confirms she didn’t willingly walk away. Another officer comes down with an evidence bag and shows it to the officer before walking back to me. “Is this her phone?” he asks. I look at the bag and I see the smashed remains of her phone. I recognize the case immediately, because it’s bright orange and glittery.

“Yeah,” I say quietly.

“Okay,” he says. He goes to say something else, but Susan comes running out of the building towards us.

“Video. I have video,” she says, nearly throwing her tablet at the officer. “His office has cameras. We had issues with unauthorized access to employee laptops. The CEO is on his way, but they suspected that Jake was hacking into employee laptops. No one is permitted to do that without the CEO's permission due to sensitive information about our clients. Elise handles some of our biggest clients so the information she has on her laptop, could result in massive lawsuits if they got out to even other employees. She signs an NDA with every company she builds software for. His only job is to keep track of her goals, not to actually touch any of the software.”

“Video?” I ask, getting her back on track.

“Yes. When she got there. It starts as soon as she walked into his office,” she says.

“May I?” I ask, wanting to see the video. The officer nods, and we step closer to watch with him. Rage is boiling inside of me as I watch, and Bradley shares the same anger.

“Okay,” the officer sighs. “I am reissuing the BOLO as an abduction. I need to contact my supervisor.”

“What is your name?” I ask.

“Detective Clark Bishop,” he says.

“I will contact the sheriff in Maple Falls,” I say.

“He is the appointed mayor of Maple Falls,” Bradley says.

“What does that mean?” Detective Bishop asks as he pulls his phone out.

“It means there is an election, but no one ever runs against him. His father was mayor from the time he was twenty-two until his death, three years ago. Lucian will continue to be voted in until his death. It’s been this way for generations," Bradley says.

“Then your citizens trust you. Get me what you can, Mr. Voss,” he says. “As long as you play by the rules, I will keep you in the loop. Okay?”

“I understand,” I say. What he doesn’t understand is I will walk through Hell and back twice for my wife. Nothing is going to stand between me and fucking killing Jake. He has no goddamn idea what he’s done or what his fate will be.