He quits fighting. His face falls. “Nobody has come through these gates except you. I vow it on my life. I’ve been here the whole time.”
“Then whoever is responsible didn’t use the fucking gates.” I release my hold, shoving him backward. “Call your team and have them properly check the perimeter. Until the culprit is found, this is on your shoulders.”
I turn on my heels to run some more, this time to Mavis’ house. I slam my fist against the front door. Again and again. Over and over. The outlet doesn’t lessen the effects of overwhelming adrenaline.
I’m suffocating here. Drowning in my own mistakes.
“I’m coming,” Hunt yells from inside. “Hold on.”
I keep knocking until the door flings open.
“What the fuck?” Hunter’s hard scowl stares back at me. “Are you trying to wake the whole goddamn neighborhood?”
“Have you seen the kids?” I shove past him, the acrid scent of bleach burning my nostrils.
“No. Why?”
I make for one of the curved staircases bordering both walls in the entry and jump the steps three at a time.
I switch on every light.
Open every door.
Search every fucking room.
When the entire floor turns up empty, I hustle back downstairs finding Hunter still waiting for me in the entry, eyeing me with trepidation.
“It’s bad, isn’t it?” he asks.
“Yeah.” I stop before him, not wanting to break the news when I’m sure this has to be a fucking nightmare I’ll soon wake from.
“Tell me and I’ll sort it out.”
This isn’t something he can fix for me. Not this time. No matter how much I’d give to have this all be over.
“It’s Stella and Tobias.” I lower my voice, unsure of Benji’s location. “They’re gone. There’s no sign of them.”
He frowns. “Did the nanny take them somewhere?”
“She’s stone-cold, wide-eyed on the bedroom floor, a needle still in her arm.”
“Holy shit.” He stands motionless. “What about Sarah? Where is she?”
“She’s beat up and needs to see a doctor. But right now she’s busy making arrangements to get rid of the body.”
“Fucking hell.” He rakes his hands through his hair. “Tell me what you need me to do. Where do we start? What did the guards say?”
“The guards don’t know a damn thing. And neither do I. If Robert is dead, where does it leave the damn kids?”
“He had a man working with him. Young guy. California ID His dead ass is still upstairs. If we follow the trail, he might lead us to someone else.”
Footsteps approach from along the hall, and I turn my gaze to find Benji walking toward us with a bloody rag in his hands.
“What’s going on?” He glances between us. “Did something else happen?”
I don’t have to tell him a damn thing. After his betrayal, I’m not obligated to breathe a fucking word. But this is his daughter. His little girl.
“It’s okay.” Hunt clears his throat. “Whatever happened, we’ll ahh… we’ll sort it out. We always do.”
“Sort what out?” Benji asks. “What’s the problem?”
I stare at him. The traitor. The snitch.
Earlier, I wanted him dead.
Now, I’m loath to inflict this punishment on him. The news of Stella’s disappearance will be a far more painful torture than anything I could inflict.
“Benji—” I clench my fists, struggling to straddle the line between brother-in-law and betrayee.
“What?” He frowns. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
“It’s Stella.” I shake my head, attempting to dislodge the overwhelming horror. The things that could be happening to her… the things that might happen in the future… “She’s missing.”
He jerks back. “What do you mean?”
“She’s gone. She’s not in the house. There was—”
He storms forward, walking around me, heading for the front door.
“Where are you going?” Hunter grabs his arm, pulling him to a stop.
“To Torian’s house to show him Stella’s fine.” He yanks his arm free. “She’d be sleeping in a different room. She bed-hops all the time.”
“She’s not there.” I remain in place as Hunt moves to the door, blocking the exit. “Sarah and I checked. The guards are searching the yard.”
Benji’s frown deepens. “She’s there.” He shakes his head, denying the dire possibilities. “Where would she go?”
I hold his stare, my jaw tight, my focus lethal. The beats of silence are painfully informative.
He shakes his head harder as Hunter’s expression contorts in discomfort.
“No.” Benji backtracks, moving closer to the door. “She’d be asleep somewhere. Hiding. It’s probably a big joke to her.”
“It’s no joke. She was taken.”
“No.” The rampant back and forth of his head is aggressive. “No.” He turns, storming for the door.
Hunter blocks his escape. The two grapple.
“Benji, you’re not leaving.” I keep my voice level. “We don’t have time to waste. Tobias is gone, too. The nanny is dead.”
A sound escapes him. A guttural cry more animalistic than human.
He quits fighting and stumbles backward, his face draining of color. “No.”
“I believe the kids are still alive. There’s evidence they were sedated. But who knows how long that will last.”
His chest rises and falls in rapid succession. “Why?” he pleads. “Why would anyone…”
“You tell me.” I fight a glare as he hunches over, retching. He was the one speaking to a sex trafficker behind my back. He was the man who betrayed me to a man capable of something as vile as this. “You need to share every single thing you told Robert. And you need to do it now. Because if I don’t find those kids, living with the loss of your daughter is going to be the least of your problems.”
7
Anissa
I remain at the scene, Cole’s lingering fury and rejection making it near impossible to leave. If I go home, I’ll only work myself into a mental frenzy, questioning my thoughts, my past, my future.
I’ll eat my weight in feelings and this body has seen one too many tubs of ice cream lately to justify the additional calories.
So I stay, steering clear of the cops, taking discreet photos from behind their plastic tape barrier, speaking to witnesses who continue to hang around despite the early morning hour.
“Did you see what happened?” I smile at the young blonde cradling a cell in her hands. She looks on edge. Fidgety. Maybe agitated, as her suspicious eyes meet mine.
“It’s okay. I’m FBI.” I flash her my badge. “You can talk to me. Did you see what happened?”
“I saw the whole thing. And I tried explaining what happened to one of the officers, but he told me to stay here and wait. I even recorded the whole thing on my phone.” She sighs, her shoulders slumping. “I’m just so tired. I’ve got three jobs and I need to be up in a few hours to start my next shift.”