“Where is she? Where is Shannon, Detective Miller? Where is she?”
“Ms. Moore, right now we are looking for her.”
“You’re looking for her? What does that mean, you’re looking for her?”
“There is an APB out on her and we’re questioning the neighbors to see if anybody saw anything, but it doesn’t look good.”
“I want to go to the apartment, Aiden. Take me there, please.”
“Ma’am, we’ll take you two there and bring you back. You have to promise us that you won’t touch anything in there.”
***
It’s a good thing Aiden is holding on to me or else I would have fallen when I see how the apartment looks: furniture thrown over, glass broken, and blood…so much blood on the floor, on the wall, and on the door handle.
I hear two of the forensics people talking. “You know, when there’s this much blood someone died.”
I gasp. “No! Don’t say that. You don’t know that. How dare you! Get out! Everybody get out of my home!” I turn to Aiden. “She can’t be dead. Tell them it’s not true.”
He holds me, crying with me. “Alexis, we need to let them do their job. Please, baby, let me take you home.”
I look up at him. “Home? I don’t know where that is anymore. She can’t be dead, Aiden. I need her. She’s more than a friend. She’s my sister, the only family I have left. She can’t leave me too. It’s not fair.” I turn to Detective Miller. “You have to find her. If she’s bleeding, you have to help her before it is too late. Please find her. Why is everybody just looking at me like that? I’m not crazy. She is not dead. Go out there and find her, please.”
“Ms. Moore, we are looking for her. We are doing everything possible to find out everything that went on here, but you have to let us do our job.”
Men in suits walk in and ask to talk to Detective Miller. They go out of the building. I see him get angry and wave his hands around. I have to brace myself because he’s coming back in and the look on his face is not good.
“Ms. Moore, you really need to let us take you home.”
They start to lead us out to the waiting car. I turn to him. “I will not get in until you tell me who those men were and what they told you.”
We argue back and forth, but finally he says, “I didn’t want you any more worried than you already are. I just want to keep you safe, but yes, you do have a right to know.”
Aiden holds onto my hand. “Alexis, baby, are you sure that you want to hear this? Maybe they should just tell me.”
“No, Aiden, I need to know. Tell me, Detective Miller, please.”
He shifts from foot to foot. “Okay, Ms. Moore…” He rubs his face with one hand and takes a deep breath. “Frank Lee has escaped from prison. He had help on the outside and there is a manhunt for him as we speak. The last report was a sighting of him here in New York.”
My chest gets heavy, like someone has just punched the air out of me. I start to shake, and again, if Aiden wasn’t holding on to me I would have fallen. Everything is a blur and I can’t hear anything all. It feels like the world is slipping out from under me. I want to wake up. Why can’t I wake up?
Aiden has his hands on my arms. “Alexis, baby, talk to me.”
I just stand there. “No, it can’t be happening again, not again. He’s never going to let me go, is he? I will never be free of him. It wasn’t enough that he killed my parents and my brother, now he wants to take Shannon from me too. Everyone that I love who is important to me is in danger because of me. You could be next, Aiden. I can’t put you in danger. You need to stay as far away from me as possible or he will hurt you too, just to show me that he’ll always have control. That he will and can always win in hurting me, and everyone in my life. I have to find her, Aiden. I have to find her.”
Everyone is moving around me, but I can’t hear what they’re saying. I don’t know anything anymore. I yank myself free from Aiden’s arms and start to run down the street. Behind me they yell my name, but I just keep running and running. I have to find her and we have to get away from him.
Run, Lexie, run. I have to find you, Shannon. I do not know how, but I will find you. Aiden will understand that I have to find you. Once I find you, it will be okay. We will hide from him. I don’t know where, but we will be together again.
I don’t even know where I’m going, but I just keep running.
I will find you, I just have to.
Please do not be dead, please hold on. Please, Shannon.
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Acknowledgements
First and foremost, I want to thank my son Erik; it was his encouragement that got me to do this. To my other two children, Lindsey and Joe, for being understanding and patient with me. A special shout out to my daughter Lindsey who supported my every move. She, like Erik, has always told me that I could do anything I put my mind to. To my grandkids, for understanding that Grandma had to write her thoughts down, so she sometimes went missing. To the computer genius who happens to be my brother in law, Fernando Hernandez, I can’t thank you enough for helping me every time I needed to pick your brain. To my siblings, for understanding that I had to be missing in action while I took the time to write this book. A special thank you to two of my sisters, Irene Hernandez and Lydia Cuellar, for the advice given to me through this. To Lisa Symthe and Laura Scholtz for walking with me every step of the way, from day one, and for not letting me quit when I wanted to. To my two PAs Lynn Bollinger and Melinda Sue. These two ladies are amazing; they make writing an easy task as they take care of everything else, plus keeping my butt in check. To my awesome editor Therese Arkenberg: Thank you for always answering all my questions, and I know there were a lot of them. To my senior editor Lori Whitwam, you put up with all my crazy questions as well and took me step-by-step through the whole process. To the staff at Limitless Publishing for helping all your authors and treating us like family. (Ohana.) To Robin Harper of Wicked by Design, who designed my amazing cover. To all the amazing authors at Limitless Publishing, you all made me feel welcomed from the start. To Vanessa Coronado: Every day you let me bounce ideas off of you and told me they were either good or just plain crazy. Thanks for being honest. To so many more ladies who pushed me and were always there for me: Kim Blaze, Lori Moz, Gaynor Morgan, Shannon Jones, Vera Green, Trudy Ranta, Dana Huller, Debra Lines, Dianne Krachala Affolder, Michelle Baker, Rene L. DePew. I know I forgot some names, but you ladies know who you are. You all rock!!!
About the Author
Arlene Gonzales is a single mother of three who works at a LED manufacturing plant Monday through Friday. She lives in south central Texas. During her evenings and weekends, she lets her imagination run wild. Arlene loves bringing stories and characters to life through her words. She had always wanted to write ever since she was young, but would time and time again put it on the back burner. One day during a long drive with her son Erik, he asked her, “What are you waiting for, Mom?” Arlene has always used a saying to her kids from the very first day her firstborn came into the world. She now uses it in this first trilogy. A saying that she will use till her last day on this earth: “I love you all the way around the world and back again.” Thank you for this little push, Erik.
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