Rock Star, Unbroken

by Shade, S. M.

  Rock Star, Unbroken

  S.M. Shade

  Contents

  Where to find S.M. Shade

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Epilogue

  Where to find S.M. Shade

  Acknowledgments

  More by S.M. Shade

  Copyright © 2019

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Cover art by Jay Aheer

  Formatting by Pink Elephant Designs

  Where to find S.M. Shade

  I have a private book group where no one outside of the group can see what you post or comment on. It’s adults only and is a friendly place to discuss your favorite books and authors. Drama free. I also host an occasional giveaway, and group members get an early peek at covers, teasers, and exclusive excerpts.

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  Or like my page. S.M. Shade

  Chapter One

  Axton

  None of this seems real.

  Somewhere a few rooms away, in this same police station, Naomi is being questioned about the kidnapping of my son. I want to tear through the walls to get to her, to grab her and make her tell me what the hell is going on.

  Where is he?

  Why did she do this?

  I came dangerously close to being thrown into a cell myself when I tried to do just that, so I’m keeping myself together as much as I can as I wait in this office with Dani.

  “I just can’t believe this,” Dani says for the hundredth time. “She wouldn’t. She’d never take him away from you. From us.”

  Rage and frustration threaten to overtake me, and I take a deep breath. “She’s his aunt. All this time, she was related to him and never said a word.”

  “I don’t understand it.” She lays her head in her hands.

  I do. I may not know all the details, but I understand perfectly. Everything is a lie, a manipulation. And it worked. She played her part to perfection, making me believe she loved him. Fuck, I even thought she cared about me. How stupid could I be to let her work her way under skin I’ve grown so thick? I knew better. “She’s been planning this from the beginning.”

  “She loves him. I’ve seen how she loves him. And how much she wanted him to love you. It doesn’t make sense.”

  “Love,” I sneer. That’s what fucks everything up. Love is a controlled demolition of your soul. And you know. You know it’s happening. They’re taking over, becoming someone you can’t live without. You’re giving up fragments of yourself in trade for pieces of them, but when it’s over, you don’t get those fragments back.

  My son is the last person I’ll ever love.

  “Fuck,” I shout, getting to my feet and pacing the room. “It’s been hours! Why don’t they tell us what the fuck is going on?”

  The door pops open a second later and Agent Hems enters, followed by Agent Roberts. “Did she tell you what she did with him?” I demand.

  Calmly, Agent Hems takes a seat on the desk chair, while Agent Roberts leans against the desk. Agent Hems gestures for us to sit on the small sofa. “Naomi is being questioned but hasn’t provided anything useful at this time. However, we do have the full results of the DNA workup.” Agent Hems looks me in the eye. “What do you know about the child’s maternal grandmother?”

  I’m thrown off for a moment by his question. Maternal? Deidre’s mother? “I don’t know anything about his mother’s side of the family, other than they’re all dead.”

  The agents glance at each other before he speaks again. “What makes you think they’re dead?”

  “The Child Welfare Service. They made it clear I was the only choice.”

  “Can you remember exactly what they told you?”

  Closing my eyes, I try to roll back time in my head, struggling to remember on such stress and little sleep. Finally, the words fall into place. “They said I was the only family he could be placed with. That he’d go into foster care if I refused.”

  Agent Hems nods. “The only family suitable to raise him, Mr. Todd. That doesn’t mean the rest are deceased. Just unfit. The Child Welfare Service should’ve informed you of any family he has, but it’s not the first time I’ve seen them overlook something. They’re overworked to say the least.”

  Before I can respond, Dani pipes up. “Why are you asking about the grandmother? Did she take him?”

  Agent Roberts picks up a file he had placed on the desk. “The DNA in the gray hair found in Caden’s room shows it belongs to the maternal grandmother. If she’s never been in your house—”

  I’m on my feet in half a second. “I didn’t even know the bitch existed! Of course she hasn’t been in my house!”

  “Then she is the main suspect at the moment. We’ve managed to track down her name and address—assuming it’s current—plus the make, model, and plate of her car. We have an APB out on the vehicle and the names and descriptions have been added to the Amber Alert. It doesn’t appear anyone is home at her house, but we have agents in place, sitting on it in case she returns.”

  Agent Roberts cautiously lays a hand on my shoulder, halting my pacing. “We know who she is. It won’t take long to locate her. Just hang on. We’re almost there.”

  Dani sniffs and wipes her eyes. “If she has him. If she hasn’t left him somewhere or…” She shakes her head and snatches a tissue out of the box on the desk.

  An officer taps on the door and Agent Roberts steps outside the office. My gaze never leaves them as a file is handed over and words are exchanged out of our earshot. Long seconds tick by before he steps back inside.

  “What? Did they find him?” I demand.

  “No, we’ve received the report from Child Welfare. The only living relative they were aware of was his maternal grandmother, Beverly McFarland. There’s no record of Naomi. Beverly petitioned for custody but was denied.”

  “Denied for what?” I’m terrified of the answer. If Hatch is with this person, and she was too unfit to even be considered as an option when her daughter died, what kind of situation is he in?

  His lips press together, and my fear grows at his reluctance. “She was convicted of child abuse and neglect. Deidre was removed from her custody at age nine. She also has a history of mental illness.”

  I don’t know how much more of this I can take. “Let me talk to Naomi.” She’s going to tell me what the fuck she’s up to and where my kid is right now.

  “We can’t allow that. Other than her relationship to the boy, we have no evidence she was complicit in the kidnapping. Yet.”

  “It doesn’t make sense,” Dani groans. “She was hired through an agency. Could it just be a coincidence? Maybe she didn’t know?”

  “That he was her sister’s kid?” I snap. “Get fucking real. She’s in
on this. She wormed her way in and stole my son!”

  “But they drugged her,” Dani argues, in a small voice.

  “And they killed Jake. Why leave her alive? Because they could just knock her out, no harm done, and make it look like she’s a victim.”

  Dani peers up at the agents who watch our discussion with impassive expressions. “So, Beverly McFarland is Naomi’s mother?” She glances at me. “Because that’s not what her background check turned up.”

  “No, they have a father in common.”

  “Naomi said her dad abandoned them, then died later,” Dani says. It sounds more like she’s thinking out loud, trying to connect the dots in her head. Struggling to find a solution that doesn’t include Naomi being guilty.

  There’s nothing more I want than for that to be the case. But it isn’t. It’s too much to be a coincidence. She wanted the job because of Caden. It was a means to an end. She just didn’t think her DNA would be checked against his.

  “We don’t know her level of involvement and since she’s asked for counsel, we can’t question her any further until her lawyer arrives. Let me get a car to take you home and—”

  She lawyered up. My baby is out there missing, and she lawyered up. Never in my life did I think I could feel hate as strong as I feel for my father, but this rivals it. “You’re out of your fucking mind if you think I’m going anywhere.”

  With a sigh, he nods at Agent Hems. “Okay. We have a lounge where you can wait and be more comfortable while we keep you updated.”

  He leads us out into a hall. “I need to use the restroom, please,” Dani says, and we stop halfway down the hallway. She disappears behind the door, and I lean against the wall, closing my eyes for a minute against the harsh fluorescent lighting. My head is pounding. My skeleton feels like it could leap out of my skin. I’ve never felt more on edge and keyed up, and at the same time, exhausted.

  I could see how stress, fear, and sleep deprivation could lead to insanity because I feel like I’m losing my mind. Agent Hems walks away, and Agent Roberts is pulled aside by a woman. They’re deep in conversation about something and in my struggle to listen in, I almost miss what’s right in front of me when a door a few feet away opens.

  Naomi sits at a table inside. Her head rests in her hands and she stares at the table, her hair hiding her face. There’s no planning or thought involved in my actions whatsoever. Just a gut reaction. As the cop leaving that room steps out, I charge past him. My hands are gripping Naomi’s shirt and I’m face to face with her shocked, red rimmed eyes in half a second.

  “Where is he?” I scream, shaking her. “Where is Hatch, you lying bitch? You tell me right fucking now or I swear to—”

  I’m yanked away from her and slammed into the wall. Multiple hands hold me there as I struggle against them. “She knows! You know she does! If he’s hurt, Naomi, I swear to fucking god...”

  “Axton,” she sobs. “I don’t know. I didn’t—I didn’t have anything to do with this. Please believe me. I love him.”

  Her words enrage me even more. How dare she stand there with those fake tears and lie to me? She lawyered up.

  Firm hands drag me from the room and down the hall. When I’m shoved into a room with couches, tables, vending machines, and a TV, I look up into Agent Robert’s face. “I know this is extremely difficult. But if you pull that shit again, you’ll be waiting in a cell. You won’t be any help to your son there. Don’t leave this room. Understand?”

  Deep breaths. I have to keep it together. I need them on my side. “I got it. I just saw her and—”

  “I know.”

  Dani rushes in. “What happened?”

  “Nothing.” I perch on the edge of the couch, and she sits beside me.

  To wait.

  And fucking wait.

  Four hours pass as we hope for news, and when it comes, it isn’t from the agents or police officers but the newscaster on TV. Dani dozes on the couch next to me but her eyes pop open at the sound of my curse.

  “What?”

  I’m too focused on the video playing on half the screen as the newscaster announces the situation like he might come in his pants from excitement. “We’re following a high speed chase on I-465 that has gone on for several minutes. Sources have revealed the car being pursued is a green, two-thousand seven Toyota Camry, the same vehicle being sought in the Amber Alert for Caden Todd, son of Axton Todd.

  “There are a lot of green Camrys,” Dani whispers.

  My brain won’t allow that same level of denial. It’s them. My son could be in that car as it darts in and out of traffic at speeds that could kill him if they crash.

  Agent Hems steps in and his face falls at the sight of the TV.

  My question is simple. “Is it them?” Maybe I was holding onto some shred of hope it wasn’t because his reply pushes terror through my body.

  “Someone spotted the license plate and called it in when the suspects were leaving a gas station. When officers attempted to pull them over, they kept going. The traffic is heavy and state police are working to close down the highway.”

  “Do you know if Caden is with them?”

  His nod is reluctant. “The caller who reported seeing them was the clerk at the gas station. He reported they had a baby in the car. He could see him in the car seat.”

  Watching the live feed, I’ve never felt so helpless in my entire life. Dani grabs my hand and we just stand there, on the edge of everything.

  My heart spends so much time in my throat I don’t know how I’m breathing. One near miss after another, and it doesn’t even slow them down. A semi truck tries to help, moving over into the lane in front of them, but it isn’t fast enough, and they veer around it, clipping the mirror off the car in the next lane as they fly between them.

  I can’t watch. I can’t look away.

  The traffic thins, then disappears as authorities manage to route it off the highway and close the entrance ramps.

  Multiple agents and officers join us in the lounge, and they do their best to explain what’s going on, all eyes on the TV.

  “Those are stop sticks,” Agent Hems explains. “A strip of spikes that will deflate the tires.”

  My heart thumps as we watch the aerial view of the car. The driver sees the strip and tries to swerve around it, but it’s too late. All four tires roll over the spikes, and I hold my breath while the car slows and the pursuing squad cars start to surround it.

  Dani shrieks when the car makes a sudden jump to the right, trying to escape off the exit ramp. The back of the car clips the front of a squad car and the next thing I see will haunt me until I lose the ability to think.

  They lose control. The Camry swerves, overcorrects, and charges into a ditch where it rolls over, landing with its wheels in the air, still spinning.

  Silence falls over the room, the only noise coming from the TV where the newscaster continues to narrate.

  “Officers are approaching the car, but it doesn’t appear anyone is moving inside.”

  * * *

  The scene of the crash is less than a mile from the nearest hospital, but the police precinct is on the other side of the city. Even with the police escort, it could take us nearly an hour to get to the hospital.

  All the cops from the scene would say was that Hatch was taken to the hospital. Calls to the emergency department have done no good. I’m met with a busy signal every time. When I finally do get someone to answer, they quickly dismiss me when they hear what I’m calling about.

  “What the fuck?” I snap, staring at the phone after I’ve been disconnected. Agent Helms looks back from the passenger seat.

  “The chase and crash were televised. They’re probably getting mobbed with calls from the media and fans looking for information. Trying to find out if they’ve received Caden, if you’re going to be showing up. They aren’t going to give any information out in case they’re giving it to the wrong person.”

  It’s the worst torture, and I feel every second o
f time as it clicks by. Dani sits beside me, curled into herself, holding her stomach which must be twisted with the same ache as mine, but I can’t even comfort her. I’m at my limit. All I can do is watch the flashes from the overhead streetlights and wait.

  He’s okay. He has to be okay.

  The car flipped. No one was moving inside.

  Is he alive?

  Will I ever see him alive again?

  Is this how it ends?

  I was so afraid of being a father, of losing Axton to become Dad. So fucking selfish. I didn’t want a kid. Is this how I pay for that?

  Dad’s words echo in my head. “Two just wasn’t enough.”

  His laughter seems to come from all around me and my mind is invaded by the image of his face. “One gone and one dead.”

  His cackle grows louder, and I clamp my hands over my ears like that may help. “One gone and one dead. Everyone you love.”

  “Ax!” Dani exclaims, grabbing my hands and pulling them away. “We’re here. Are you okay?”

  No, I’m losing it. The fear and stress, the lack of sleep, days of nothing but terror and shock is catching up with me. I have to pull it together.

  “I’m okay. Let’s go.”

  It didn’t take the paparazzi long to get here and we have to make our way through a crush of fans and media to get inside the emergency department. Fortunately, the hospital is well prepared. We barely step through the door when they have security escort us, along with a nurse who quickly updates me on Hatch.

  “We had to give him a sedative for the CT scan, so he’ll probably be groggy and fussy.”

  Stopping short, I feel hope pour into me. “He’s alive?” I choke out.