Never Surrender

by Stacy Claflin

  Anger surged through her. “How could she do this to us?”

  Dad shook his head. “I don’t know. I’m trying to make sense of it myself.”

  Hot angry tears blurred her vision. “I can’t believe she would do this! How dare she? She’s so selfish!”

  “We should give her a chance to explain herself before we make judgments.”

  Ari pulled away from him and climbed out of bed. “You always want to give her the benefit of the doubt! Not this time.” She pushed past him then ran into their bedroom. Mom’s clothes had been cleared from the closet. Same thing with the twins’ room. Their clothes and some favorite toys were gone, as well as their bedding. Just like Dad said.

  She turned to him. “Why?”

  Dad frowned. “I have no idea, but you should get dressed. Nick’s coming over in a little while to bring breakfast.”

  “We’re still having brunch? Are you crazy?”

  “I told them not to come, but he insisted on bringing some food for us.”

  “Oh. Sorry.”

  Dad nodded and drew in a long breath. “You don’t have to go downstairs while he’s here. He’ll understand if you don’t want to see anyone.”

  Ari wrung her hands together. “I don’t know what I want!”

  He kissed the top of her head. “Why don’t you get a shower? You might be hungry in a little bit.”

  Given the way her stomach was churning acid, she couldn’t imagine ever being hungry again. “I’ll get a shower, but I’m not eating.”

  Dad gave her an understanding look. “I’m not feeling up to it, either. But it might help to have food in our stomachs. We need to figure out what to do.”

  She looked him in the eyes with determination. “I know exactly what I’m going to do.”

  “What?”

  “I’m going to give her a piece of my mind!” Ariana darted back to her room and tapped out an angry text to her mom, telling her exactly what she thought of the situation.

  Dad glanced over her shoulder. “Tone down the language, Ari.”

  “No.”

  He gave her a double-take.

  “Mom doesn’t get a sugar-coated version of my feelings! After what she did, she’s lucky if I ever talk to her again.”

  “We should hear her out. Maybe—”

  “I said no!” The rage bubbling inside scared her, but she wasn’t going to back down just because Dad wanted to give into Mom again. She didn’t deserve it. Not now, and not ever. How dare she?

  Dad nodded. “You might want to wait before hitting send. Be sure you don’t say something you’ll regret later. Once you text it, you can’t take it back. It’ll stay on her phone.”

  “I don’t care!”

  “Will you let me read it over before you send it?”

  She glared at him. “Fine, but I’m not changing anything.”

  “Okay.”

  It startled her that he was going along with it. Maybe he was actually madder than he was letting on. Good. He should be raging mad—even more furious than Ariana.

  She texted a few more lines before she was ready to send the message. After reading it over, she held the phone for Dad to read.

  His eyes widened a few times as he looked it over. He looked back at her. “You certainly have a way with words. I’d maybe consider deleting that last line.”

  Ariana looked at the expletive-filled sentence. “Why?”

  “You could always save it until after she has a chance to explain herself.”

  “Ugh! When will you stop defending her? Why aren’t you as angry at her as I am?”

  She pressed send without altering her text.

  Dad took a step back, his expression conflicted. “How about you get a shower? Then you can come down and have some of the food Nick brings.”

  “I’m not eating anything. I have to get out of this house!”

  He tilted his head. “What do you mean?”

  “Exactly what I said. I need to not be here.”

  “I know you’re angry, but all the rules still apply. No going over to Damon’s house. No—”

  “Dad, I know. But I can’t be here right now.” She tossed her phone on the bed. “I can’t look at anything without getting angrier.”

  “Don’t forget your Tae Kwon Do lesson this afternoon.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “You’re seriously going to make me go today?”

  He nodded. “Self-defense is important. Plus, it might help you work out some of your emotions. I’m going to work out with Nick later for the same reason.”

  “Good for you.” She went to her closet to find something to wear.

  “Don’t take that tone with me. I’m not the one you’re mad at. We’re on the same team. And I can still ground you.”

  She sighed. “Whatever. I need some space.”

  “Curfew is still in place.”

  “Great.” She glowered at him until he left the room.

  Guilt pricked her for being mean to him, but he needed to stop standing up for Mom. That much should be clear to him by now. Mom had made her choice perfectly clear—the only thing she cared about was what she wanted.

  What Dad and Ari wanted meant nothing to her.

  So now, Mom meant nothing to her.

  Chapter 6

  Nick balanced the three containers of food Genevieve had given him as he walked up to the Mercer’s house. It was far too much food for Alex and Ariana to eat, even if Nick ate some himself. But Genevieve must have thought they could also have some for lunch or dinner. Certainly, neither father or daughter would be up for cooking anything today, or possibly all weekend.

  Before Nick had a chance to figure out how to ring the doorbell with such an armload, the door opened.

  “Planning to feed an army?” Alex took the top two foil-covered containers.

  “I think Genevieve wanted to make sure you two had enough to get through the weekend.”

  His friend gave him a grateful but sad smile as he closed the door. “Thanks.”

  “How are you holding up?” Nick set his plate on the kitchen table. “Did you hear from Zoey yet?”

  Alex shook his head. “No. Ariana sent her a colorful text, and Zoey hasn’t responded to that, either. Maybe she’s driving.”

  Nick nodded, though he had his reservations. Alex had a tendency to believe Zoey could do no wrong. However, by the time this was over, he might lose the rose-colored glasses.

  “Is Ariana going to eat with us?” Nick glanced up the stairs.

  Alex shook his head. “She left already.”

  Nick arched a brow. “Meaning?”

  “Not that she’s moving out, too. She just needs space to think. I can’t blame her for wanting to get out of here. The walls feel like they’re going to close in on me, but here I am.”

  “Are you hungry?” Nick asked. “We can put the food in the fridge and hit the gym if you’d rather.”

  Alex slunk into a chair and stared at his hands. “I don’t know what I want.”

  Nick’s heart went out to his friend. He’d never forget the day Corrine left with their kids. Despite how far things had turned around, the memory still made a lump form in his throat at times. And seeing his best friend so torn up brought all the emotions to the surface.

  He sat next to Alex and cleared his throat. “Some food might help.”

  “Maybe.” He didn’t look up.

  “What about coffee?”

  Alex shrugged.

  “You need your caffeine fix or you’re going to have a raging headache soon.”

  “I already have one.”

  “I’m sure you have a stress headache now. Don’t add to it with caffeine withdrawals.”

  “Not sure I care at this point.”

  Nick patted Alex’s shoulder as he rose. He started a pot of coffee and found mint creamer in the fridge. After warming two plates of food, he sat.

  Alex didn’t look up from his lap.

  “At least try to eat.”

  �
�What’s the point?” Alex sighed.

  Nick added more mint creamer to Alex’s drink and pushed it closer to him. “You have to pull yourself together for Ariana. She needs you now more than ever with you both being upset. If you aren’t careful, you two could wind up turning against each other. Don’t let that happen.”

  Alex finally looked up at him, drew a deep breath. “You’re right.”

  “Of course I am. Dig in, then you can take your frustration out on the precinct’s punching bag.”

  Alex groaned.

  “You don’t like that idea?”

  He shook his head. “I can’t face anyone from work right now. They’ll take one look at me and know something’s wrong. I need to take the weekend to pull myself together and figure out what to tell people, if anything.”

  “Where are we going to go? I don’t have a gym membership.” There was no point when they had everything they needed at work.

  Alex scrunched his face. “My dad has a set-up next door. I don’t want to face them yet, either, but they need to know what’s going on. Pretty sure they’re expecting to watch the twins soon.” He tugged on his hair. “This is going to crush them.”

  Nick swallowed a bite of waffle. “They’ll be fine, and so will you. This is just a temporary setback.”

  His friend looked at him like he had lost his mind.

  “I’m serious. Once your parents find out what happened, they’ll work on persuading Zoey to come back home. It will be for the best.”

  Alex didn’t look convinced.

  “If nothing else, you need as big a support network as you can get. Your parents will help you out in whatever way you need. If I know your mom, she’ll have you and Ariana over for every meal—and she’ll love every moment of it.”

  “Except she’ll miss Zander and Laney. This really is going to crush her. I haven’t even told them about Zoey wanting to move yet. It’s going to hit them like a ton of bricks. They’re used to seeing the kids regularly.”

  “We don’t know this is permanent.”

  “She took all of their clothes!”

  “I know, but we can still talk her into coming back. Genevieve promised she would call her while I’m here. Once your parents and Macy join the efforts, she’ll have no other option but to answer her phone and talk to somebody. Then they can get in touch with you and tell you what she said.”

  Alex frowned. “I wish I had your faith.”

  Both their phones rang at the same time.

  That was never a good thing, especially on a day off. It meant the precinct had an emergency.

  Nick pushed back his chair and looked at Alex’s nearly full plate. “You eat. I’ll find out what’s going on.”

  Their phones went off again.

  Alex shoved his phone aside and picked up his fork. “I don’t feel like dealing with work right now, anyway.”

  “Eat something.” Nick glanced at his screen as he walked to the living room. Sure enough, it was a text from the precinct wanting as many people in as possible.

  Nick stepped onto the porch before calling for more information.

  He reached Detective Anderson, his former partner of many years and now Alex’s current partner.

  “Nick, did you hear?”

  “No. I’ve been busy with something else.”

  “There have been half-a-dozen kidnappings. All the kids were taken the same way. The feds are on their way here.”

  “Six kids missing here in town?” Nick exclaimed.

  Now there was no way Zoey would consider coming back.

  “No,” Anderson clarified. “Up and down the west coast. Two in each state. Washington has Bellingham and Seattle, Oregon has—”

  “While I’m not debating this is horrible, why does this constitute an emergency for us? None of this involves our force.”

  “It’s not unlikely that we could be hit. The feds themselves insisted on being here to show a strong presence before a child is taken here.”

  “They’re sending agents here when they have two other cases to deal with?” Nick struggled to make sense of it.

  “It isn’t the whole crew, but we are getting some. Are you able to come in? And what about Alex? Have you talked with him? I can’t reach him.”

  “I’m at his place, and he’s not going to be able to make it in today. He’s dealing with a personal issue.”

  “Is it Zoey?”

  “Yes. It isn’t my place to say more.”

  “Understood. Tell him I’ll help in any way I can.”

  “Will do. See you soon.” Nick ended the call and drew a deep breath.

  More kidnappings.

  They could only hope there would be none locally.

  Chapter 7

  Alex emptied his mostly full plate of food into the trash and set the plate in the sink without washing it. What was the point?

  He was kind of glad Nick had left before they had a chance to work out—although part of him still wanted to punch the bag. Exhaustion was setting in again, and he didn’t want to face anyone.

  At least Nick had gotten him out of going to the precinct for the day when everyone else was required to show, but he would definitely have to pull himself together by Monday.

  Not that he could imagine being able to do that in a month, much less two days.

  Maybe Nick was right about him going next door to talk with his parents. They were always supportive, and they would be there for Alex no matter what happened. The Mercers were always there for each other, but that didn’t mean he wanted to admit defeat. His parents might not see this as defeat, but it felt like it to him.

  Would Zoey actually move away with the twins? Or was this a ploy to show how serious she was about leaving the area?

  There was no way to know because she still wasn’t returning his calls. Hopefully, she would call someone. Genevieve or Macy would be his best bet.

  He hadn’t updated his sister yet, either. She was Zoey’s lifelong best friend and a counselor—she would know what to do.

  Telling the story to Nick had been hard enough, and rehashing it would be like twisting the knife that was already deep in his heart, but he needed to set aside his pride and call Macy. So, he picked up his phone and dialed his sister’s number.

  She answered quickly. “Hey, Alex. What’s up?”

  His stomach knotted. He needed to spit it out. No time for hemming and hawing. “Zoey left with the twins.”

  “Left where? Is she headed here?”

  “No. She left me.” He shuffled toward the living room.

  “What?” Macy exclaimed. “She left you?”

  Alex collapsed onto the couch. “When I woke up this morning, they were gone. She took all of their clothes. Did she mention anything about this to you?”

  “No! I’d have talked her out of it. Do you know where she went?”

  “My guess is Boise. That’s where she was determined to move, with or without me.”

  Macy sighed. “Now I remember her mentioning that. I didn’t think she was serious. She was just looking at some houses online. People do that. You really think she’s viewing homes without you?”

  “Zoey left. She told me she was going to move with or without me.” A lump formed in his throat.

  “She can’t simply move with the kids. You two are married and—”

  “I know the implications, but here we are.”

  “Have you tried calling her?” Macy asked.

  “Of course. Genevieve’s been calling, too.”

  “And her other friends?”

  “Just Genevieve. She, Nick, and the kids were supposed to come over for brunch today. I had to tell them it was off and why.” Alex put the phone on speaker and rubbed his temples.

  “I can’t believe she’d do this without saying anything to me. We tell each other everything. Or at least we always have up until now.” Macy’s hurt sounded in her voice.

  “Try calling her. Maybe she’ll answer you.”

  “I’ll do whatever
I can, Alex. If I have to drive to Boise to get her talking, then I’ll do that. I would do anything for you.”

  “Thanks. Let me know if you talk to her.”

  “Of course. Have you told Mom and Dad yet?”

  “I don’t have the energy.” He grabbed a stress ball from the coffee table and squeezed as hard as he could. It didn’t help.

  “Do you want me to call them?”

  If she did, they would rush over.

  “No. Call Zoey. I need to get a shower and come up with a plan.” His original idea had been to shower after working out. Now he had no desire. “Bye, Macy.”

  “Wait. You said she only took Zander and Laney? Not Ari?”

  “Nope.”

  “So, she’s still with you?”

  “Yep. Well, not at the house right now.”

  “Okay. That’s a good sign. Zoey wouldn’t move away without her.”

  Alex squeezed the ball into different shapes. “It isn’t off the table. Ariana has been more adamant about staying than even I have. She’s made it abundantly clear she isn’t going anywhere. You’re one of her back-up plans, after staying here alone or moving in next door.”

  “I didn’t realize that,” Macy said. “That’s good to know. I’ll let you know as soon as I talk to Zo.”

  “Thanks.” He ended the call and closed his eyes. Didn’t feel like moving.

  If Macy was going to let their parents know what was going on after not reaching Zoey, they would be over shortly. He was starting to care less and less about a shower.

  But who knew what the day would call for? He might need to be at the top of his game.

  Alex forced himself to his feet and trudged upstairs. He barely paid attention to the clothes he grabbed from his side of the closet. After a quick shower then checking to make sure Ari hadn’t returned to her room—she hadn’t—he stumbled downstairs.

  He couldn’t blame her for staying away. She and Damon were probably somewhere talking, or she might’ve gone to Emily’s house. Maybe she was at the neighborhood park, where there were some trees that made good hiding places for people who wanted to be alone.

  The point was, she wasn’t home.