Chapter 143 Ryder Disappears

Chapter 143 Ryder Disappears

The afternoon light slanted through the windows of Sierra's apartment, casting long rectangles across the hardwood floor. She sat on the edge of the sofa, her phone face-up on the cushion beside her, willing it to ring. The engagement ring on her left hand caught the light every time she shifted, throwing tiny rainbows across the ceiling, beautiful, cruel reminders of a man who had vanished into silence.

When the phone finally buzzed, Sierra didn't bother looking at the caller ID. She snatched it up so fast she nearly dropped it.

"Hey Si."

"Syl?"

"Hey, I just landed in Flagstaff." Sylvia's voice was bright, the background noise of an engine humming steadily. "I'm in the Jeep already, just got on I-40. Should be back in Kingman in a couple of hours. How are things on your end?"

Sierra pressed her fingers against her temple. "He still hasn't called."

A beat of silence. "What do you mean, still? How long has it been now?"

"Since he left the bed-and-breakfast yesterday morning. Over thirty hours, Syl." She hadn't realized that she'd actually added up the hours. "No call, no text, nothing. I've tried him at least a dozen times. It just rings and goes to voicemail."

"Maybe his phone died? You know how Ryder is with technology. The man treats his phone like it's a rattlesnake."

"For thirty hours? He promised he'd call. You know him… when has Ryder Marsh ever broken a promise?"

The humor drained from Sylvia's voice. "Never."

Sierra stood and walked to the window, pressing her forehead against the cool glass. The city churned below her, indifferent. "Something's wrong. I can feel it."

"Okay. Okay, hold on." The sound of tires crunching on gravel came through the speaker, then the Jeep's engine dropping to idle. "I just pulled off the interstate. Listen, I'm only about ten minutes from the airport. I'm going to turn around and go back."

"Why?"

"Because if Ryder flew out of Flagstaff, his truck is probably in the parking lot. If it's there, he never made it home. If it's gone, he made it this far."

Sierra's throat tightened. "Syl, you don't have to…"

"I'm already turning around. Call Cody. See if he knows anything. I'll call you back pronto."

The line went dead, and Sierra was left staring at the phone in her hand. She scrolled to Cody's name and hit call before she could talk herself out of it.

He picked up on the third ring. "Hey, Si. What's up?"

"Cody, have you seen Ryder?"

"Ryder? Not since... I don't know, Thursday maybe? He has been pretty busy over on his own place. Why?"

Sierra's stomach dropped. "You didn't know he was in New York?"

"New York? What the hell was Ryder doing in New York?"

She closed her eyes. In all the chaos of the wedding, the proposal, the sleepless night, the growing dread, she hadn't even called her own brother. She hadn't shared any of it. The realization hit her like a slap.

"Cody, I'm sorry. I should have called you yesterday. I've been so caught up in everything that I…" She steadied her breath. "Ryder came to Chloe's wedding."

"He what?"

"Chloe invited him. He flew out to surprise me." Sierra looked down at her hand, the ring catching light again. "He proposed, Cody."

The silence on the other end stretched for three full seconds before Cody let out a sound that was half laugh, half shout. "Are you serious? He actually did it? That stubborn son of a… Si, that's incredible! What did you say?"

"I said yes, duh."

"Oh my God, Si!" His voice cracked with genuine joy, and for one fleeting moment, the warmth of it cut through her dread. "Dad would have been so happy. You know that, right? He always wanted you to…"

"Cody." The single word stopped him cold. Something in her tone must have signaled it, because when he spoke again, the celebration was gone.

"What's wrong?"

"He left early yesterday morning. Said he had a flight to catch, that he'd call me when he landed. He never called. I can't reach him. His phone rings and goes straight to voicemail."

"That's not like him."

"I know."

Cody was quiet for a moment, and she could almost hear him thinking, hear the gears turning the way they did when he was stepping into the version of himself their father would have been proud of. "All right. I'll drive over to Marsh Ranch right now. Maybe he had truck trouble on the way back from Flagstaff, or maybe something happened with the cattle and he got tied up. You know how he gets when there's a problem… the rest of the world disappears."

"Thank you, Cody."

"Don't thank me. He's going to be my brother-in-law. I'll call you as soon as I know something."

Sierra set the phone down on the kitchen counter and gripped the edge with both hands, her knuckles white. The apartment was too quiet. The city outside was too loud. Everything felt wrong, tilted on an axis that had shifted the moment Ryder walked out of that bed-and-breakfast with a kiss and a promise.

Twenty-two minutes later, her phone rang. Sylvia.

"I found it." Sylvia's voice was flat, stripped of its usual warmth.

"His truck?"

"Yep. It's in long-term parking. Si… Ryder never made it back to Flagstaff."

The words hit Sierra like ice water. She gripped the counter harder, her vision narrowing to a single point on the tile floor.

"That means his plane never made it," Sierra whispered. "He never even got to his truck."

"No. He didn't."

Sierra's mind raced, fragments of logic trying to assemble themselves against a rising tide of panic. He left the bed-and-breakfast. He said he had a flight. Had he made it to JFK? If he did, surely Sylvia would have seen him. How many people flew to Arizona from JFK? She considered the throng of people who moved through JFK. She calmed herself. Somewhere between that quiet morning kiss and the Flagstaff parking lot, Ryder Marsh had disappeared.

"I have to call Cody back," Sierra said, her voice hollow. "He's about to drive over to Marsh Ranch for nothing."

Sierra disconnected and dialed Cody. He answered immediately.

"I'm just pulling out of the driveway..."

"Don't bother, Cody. He's not there."

"What? Why not?"

"Sylvia found his truck at Flagstaff airport. It's been sitting in long-term parking, untouched. He never came home. He never even made it to his truck."

The silence on Cody's end was suffocating.

"Cody?"

"I'm here." His voice had gone low, the way it did when he was scared but trying not to show it. "What do you want me to do?"

"I don't know yet. Just… stay by your phone. I'll call you back."

She hung up, but before she call Sylvia, her phone buzzed with an incoming call from Sylvia.

"Sierra, listen to me. I'm walking back into the terminal right now. There's a flight to JFK in one hour, and I'm going to be on it."

"Syl, you just got off a plane."

"Yep. And now I'm getting on another plane. You are not doing this alone. Whatever happened to Ryder, whatever this is, we figure it out together. I'll be there by tonight."

Sierra opened her mouth to argue, but the words wouldn't come. Instead, what came was a sound she barely recognized… a ragged, grateful sob that she swallowed before it could fully escape. "Thank you," she managed.

"Start making a list of everything you know. Timeline, details, all of it. I'll be there soonest."

"I'll meet you at the airport."

The line went dead, and Sierra stood alone in her apartment, the engagement ring glinting on her finger like a promise made by a man who had vanished from the face of the earth.