I sat down and closed my eyes as I felt a heaviness come over me. Time was running out and if I didn’t get a lead soon, I was going to lose my shit. Pulling up my mother’s name, I sent her a quick text.
Me: Nothing yet. We’re getting closer with a few new leads.
It didn’t take long for her to text me back.
Mom: You’ll find her, Gray. I know you will.
Closing my eyes, I knew it as well. There was no way in hell I was letting this asshole take Meagan away from me.
“Bennett, the idea you had to check on the property came back with a hit.”
Jumping up, I pulled the paper out of Sergeant Winters hand. “What?”
“Carol and John Freeman own a camping facility about fifty miles north of here tucked pretty far back into the mountains. From the looks of the satellite, there are a few cabins on the property as well. It’s been closed down the last few years, after they passed away. They have two kids, a boy and a girl.”
Staring at the paper, I said, “Let me guess, the son’s name is Bob.”
“Robert, but close enough.”
I grabbed my jacket and looked back at Derrick. “With the weather moving in, we can’t fly in.” Derrick followed me out the door.
I pointed to Sergeant Winters. “See how far the state police are from the location. We don’t know if this guy is armed or not or what kind of situation we’re walking into. Give them that address but no one makes a move without talking to me first,” I barked out.
My phone buzzed and I almost didn’t check it for fear it was Meagan’s parents. It killed me every time I had to tell them we had nothing new.
As Derrick and I climbed into my truck, I looked at my phone with a shocked expression.
The tracker.
“Holy shit. She had it. She turned it on!” I shouted as I looked at Derrick with a perplexed look. I cannot believe she had it and remembered to use it. A sense of relief washed over me knowing that Meagan was still okay enough to have turned on the tracking device I gave her. Knowing this renewed my energy.
Derrick turned to me and asked, “What are you talking about?”
“I know where she is!”
“Listen, Gray, I know you think this new lead is going to be the key, but we need to stay focused; this is one lead and he might not be there.”
Lifting my hands to get him to stop talking, I showed him my phone. “This is the same location as the address Winters just gave us.”
“A tracking device?”
I turned the truck on and raced out of the parking lot. “I gave it to Meagan shortly after Black had been snooping around. She thought it was silly, but she tossed it in her purse. She must have remembered she had it and turned it on.”
Derrick was on the phone and giving the exact location of the tracker as I raced up Highway 550, praying we would get to Meagan in time.
“I’m coming for you, baby,” I whispered. “I’m coming.”
Derrick and I slowly moved in with the Colorado State Police moving in from the back and the side. The property was huge and mostly contained campground sites. The cabins looked to be toward the back of the property.
As we made our way, I stopped moving and grabbed onto Derrick’s arm. “Why does this all feel too easy?” I asked in a hushed tone.
“What do you mean?”
Looking around confused, I turned back to Derrick. “We’ve been searching for months for anything on the guy who raped and killed those girls. Now, this Bob Freeman leaves his prints on Meagan’s phone. It just seems like a silly move on his part.”
Derrick nodded. “From what Black said, this Freeman’s been obsessed with Meagan. He was probably so taken by the fact he finally had her he didn’t think twice about grabbing her phone and tossing it out the window.”
A hushed voice came through the headphone in my ear. “There are lights on in both cabins. There appears to be movement in one cabin.”
We made our way through the tree line and got closer to the second cabin where the signal was coming from. Getting down, I looked through the binoculars. The car was the same make and model as the car registered to Susan Powell. There was an older truck parked near the cabin that was located further back. I could see the teams moving into place as Derrick and I started making our way toward the back cabin.
An uneasy feeling swept over my body. My phone buzzed in my pocket as I reached in and took it out, my heart dropped and my knees about gave out as I stopped moving.
“No. God please no. Don’t do this to me.”
Derrick grabbed my arm and gave me a quick shake. “Bennett! We need to move. Now!”
My eyes widened in horror as I said, “The signal stopped. The tracking signal stopped.”
Screams from the cabin caused me to take off running as fast as I could.
Meagan needed me and I was not about to let her down.
Meagan
AFTER TURNING THE tracker on, I moved to the window and prayed like hell it went through. Hearing Bob’s truck pull up, I panicked. Before I had a chance to go back over to the bed and grab the purse, the door unlocked and Susan came tumbling in as she fell to the floor.
I ran over to her and asked if she was okay.
Pain radiated through my entire head as Bob grabbed a handful of hair and pulled me across the room and over to a pole that was in the middle of the room.
“Please, stop! Please just let me go!” I called out as he slapped me across my face and yelled for me to shut up.
“Because of you I got sloppy. I fucking got sloppy, you damn bitch. You better be worth the fuck, that’s all I have to say.”
I searched his face as a panicked look appeared on my face. “W-what?”
“Your fucking phone! I figured your damn boyfriend would track it, so I tossed it out the window on the way up here.”
Hate filled my entire body as I squared my shoulders. “Well, if you threw it out the window how is that being sloppy? He can’t track me here now.”
Anger filled his eyes as he reached up and slapped me so hard it felt like my jaw came out of its socket. “I’m not stupid, you bitch. He can track down the fingerprints on there, which means soon he’ll piece together where you are. So, it looks like we need to move up the time for our party.”
Shaking my head, my eyes burned from the onslaught of tears. “Why are you doing this?” I asked between sobs.
His hand moved up my leg as I tried to pull as far away from him as I could. “Get undressed, Susan. Now!”
Oh God.
My eyes shot over to her quickly undressing before I looked back at Bob. He held up a pair of handcuffs in his hands and it was then I noticed he had on gloves. “Time for some fun, sweet girl.” His hand moved over my shirt as his fingers brushed over my nipple, causing me to pull as far away as I could.
My head thrashed back and forth as I tried to push him away. Another slap and I was stunned enough for him to grab my arms and pull them behind the pole where he handcuffed me.
Bile moved up to the back of my throat as his hands cupped my breasts and he moaned.
“I can’t wait to fuck you.”
Using what energy I had left, I lifted my legs and began kicking him away from me. “Stay away from me you asshole! Gray is going to kill you!” I screamed out as Bob stood up and laughed.
He grabbed onto my face as he moved his lips to my ear and whispered, “I don’t think so. At least not before I kill you.”
My chin trembled as I fought to find my voice to scream. Bob walked over toward Susan and began touching all over her body as I looked away.
“Watch us!” he yelled out as I shook my head.
Something hit behind my head as I screamed out and turned to look at him. He was holding my purse in his hand. My heartbeat raced, nearly exploding out of my chest as my eyes landed on my purse and then down to the floor where a few things had fallen out. One of them being the tracker.
Bob dropped the purse and turned to go back to Susan.
>
“Let’s give her a little preview of what she’s going to get from me.”
Susan began crying as she called out, “Bobby, she’s pregnant, you can’t do this to an innocent child.”
He slapped her face and pushed her down onto the bed. Susan whimpered as I fought against the handcuffs.
“Stop! Leave her alone, you fucker!” I screamed out as Bob started laughing.
“Susan! Don’t let him do this!”
“Shut up, bitch!”
The handcuffs started banging against the pole as I frantically began moving. Bob walked back over and my whole body went limp as he stepped on the lipstick tube.
“NO!” I screamed out as my eyes looked at the broken tracker lying on the floor. Looking back up at him, I knew I would fight with everything I had. He was not going to hurt my baby.
“I’ve had just about enough of you. It’s time to give you the punishment you deserve.”
With every ounce of anger inside of me, I began kicking and screaming. There was no way in hell this guy was going to even think of touching me.
“Shut up!” he shouted.
His hands tried to keep my legs from moving, but I used everything I had in me to keep fighting. The look in his eyes was turning from angry to evil, and I knew I only had about thirty seconds to fight him off before he did something again to make me stop.
Bob lifted his hand in a fist as I closed my eyes and got ready for him to hit me. As long as he hit me in the face and not in the stomach, I had to protect my baby. The loud pop caused Susan to scream as I heard a crashing noise.
My eyes snapped open as I watched the pained expression on his face. Before I knew what was happening, Bob was on the floor with blood beginning to pool around his head and Grayson was cupping my face.
“Meagan . . . baby, look at me. Don’t look at him. Look. At. Me.”
I screamed out again as I looked down at Bob’s lifeless body on the floor. I desperately tried to get as far away from him as I could when I felt someone’s hands on me.
“He’s gone, he’s not going to hurt you. Meg, baby look at me.”
My head jerked up and I was soon pinned with the bluest of blue eyes.
“Gray,” I whispered as his lips pressed against mine.
Sobs rolled over my body as I fought to speak.
“You’re here. You made it in time. You saved us!”
His lips were all over my face as I felt someone else releasing my hands from the handcuffs. The moment my arms fell free, I wrapped them around Grayson’s neck and cried like I had never cried before.
“You’re here,” I whimpered out as I buried my face into his chest.
“Shh . . . it’s okay, baby. You’re safe now and I’m never letting you out of my sight again.”
All the pain vanished as I let Grayson pick me up and carry me out of the cabin. I kept my eyes shut for fear of what I would see walking out.
“Please tell me this was all a nightmare.”
Grayson held me close to him as he set me down inside of his truck. “We need to get you to the hospital, baby, to be checked out. Did he . . . did he . . . hurt you in any way?”
I shook my head. “It’s just my head and my ribs hurt from where he hit and kicked me.”
Sucking in a breath of air, I felt my hot tears run down my face.
“The baby,” I whispered as everything began to spin and all the light slowly drifted away.
“Gray, our baby . . .”
My entire body ached as I slowly opened my eyes. Looking around, I smiled.
Home.
With each painful movement, I sat up and looked around my old bedroom. Everything was the same as it was when I moved out.
Letting out a deep sigh, I swung my legs off the bed and stood. I could hear talking coming up through the opened windows in my room. Walking over to them, a warm feeling rolled over my body as I heard familiar voices.
I closed my eyes and thought back over the last few days. Grayson had been my knight in shining armor as he rushed into the cabin and literally saved me and the baby from the monster. After a quick stop by the hospital to make sure I was okay, he went straight to the airport to bring me home to Texas.
The whole ordeal pretty much knocked me out the whole flight to Texas and the drive to Fredericksburg. My body was exhausted and aching.
With my hand over my stomach while I walked to the bathroom, I silently said a prayer of thanks that our baby was okay. I had two bruised ribs, which felt more like ten broken ones, a good size cut on the back of my head, and the side of my face looked like it had been used as a punching bag. Every time Grayson looked at my face; I could see the anger in his eyes. Thank goodness Melissa was so understanding in letting me take a few weeks off to recover.
After cleaning up, I changed and headed downstairs to the front porch.
“Thank you for bringing her home, Gray.”
The rocking of the chairs was a soothing sound as I listened to Grace talking to Grayson. “It was a no-brainer for me, Grace. The last place I wanted her to be was somewhere she was not going to feel safe.”
My heart felt as if it would burst. Grayson told the station he was taking a leave of absence and I knew how hard that had to have been for him. He was still so new and for him to just swoop in and fly me off to Texas was the most unselfish thing anyone had ever done for me.
“Good morning,” my mother whispered as she leaned her chin on my shoulder. I smiled as I took her hand in mine.
“I love him so much, Mom.”
Her hand gently squeezed mine. “He loves you so much too.”
My body trembled at the idea of what could have happened. “Mom, I could have . . . what if he had . . .”
Turning me to face her, my mother shook her head and put her finger up to stop me from talking. “No. There are no what if’s. The only thing that we have is our future and I have a grandbaby to start thinking about.”
My heart felt as if it cracked a little as I thought about raising my child so far from my mother. Everything was so different now. The look on my parents’ faces when Grayson and I told them last night I was pregnant. I was scared to death they would be upset with me, but it was the opposite. I’d never seen them both so happy and of course thankful that the baby was okay.
“Hey, how are you feeling, babe?”
Grayson had me wrapped up in his arms with a soft kiss on the forehead before I had too much time to think about the baby and Colorado.
“Better.”
Grace walked up to me and as my eyes traveled down to her stomach. “Your baby bump!” I said as I placed my hands on her and started crying.
Letting out a giggle, Grace teared up and said, “Welcome to hormone hell! I cry at everything now.”
I pulled my best friend into my arms and lost it. “Oh my God, I’ve missed you so much,” I said as we held onto each other for dear life.
When we finally pulled back, Grace gave me a wink. “Do you feel up to going somewhere with me?”
“Yes!” I said without even thinking. Glancing over to Grayson, I asked, “Do you mind?”
The smile he gave me caused my stomach to drop and my heart to fall even more for him. “Of course not. As long as you’re feeling up to it.”
Lifting my eyebrow, I grinned as I said, “You’ll be okay alone with my father?”
Grayson shrugged and said, “I saved your life, how can he possibly not like me now.”
My mother chuckled as she made her way outside. “He’ll be just fine, Meg. Go spend some time with Grace.”
“Do I need to change?”
With a sneaky smile, Grace shook her head. “Nope. We can leave this second. You don’t need anything.”
I chewed on my lip at the idea of leaving Grayson. I knew I was safe, but I also knew I was that much more safe with him near me. He must have read the confusion on my face because he gently pulled me closer to him and kissed my lips softly. “I would never leave your side if I thought anything wo
uld happen to you.”
“I know. I’m sorry, I guess I’m just trying to figure out how to process what happened and how I move on from here.”
His hand came up and pushed a loose strand of hair behind my ear. “I’m almost positive you’re going to be happy once you get there, babe.”
“I have my phone, if Daddy bothers you, call me and I’ll be there.”
Grayson laughed as he kissed me once more and stepped out of the way while I followed Grace to her car.
Once we got into her car and started talking, everything seemed to just fall into place. It was as if I hadn’t ever left Mason at all.
I hadn’t been paying attention to where we were going until I realized we were pulling up to the Mathews’ main gate. “What are we doing here?”
“You’ll see,” Grace said.
“Have you talked to Libby? I really want to see the baby. I bet he is so big now.”
Grace giggled. “Almost six months old, the little bugger.”
My stomach fluttered knowing I was carrying a baby. I’d watched three of my friends already have kids and I never in my wildest dreams would have thought I’d have wanted it as bad as I did.
Driving down the familiar driveway, I asked Grace a million questions about being pregnant. When she pulled up and put her car in park, I turned and grinned so big I was sure my cheeks would cramp.
“Grams and Gramps.”
“The best place on Earth!”
“Hell yeah it is,” I softly spoke as I took in the familiar white ranch house.
The screen door opened as I got out of the car. My hand came over my mouth as I watched my girls all pile out onto the porch. Alex was holding Bayli’s hand as she walked along her side. “Oh my God! Bayli is walking!”
Grace laughed and wrapped her arm around mine. Libby was standing there holding Trey in her arms as Mireya jumped all around calling out my name.
Lauren stood there with a smile on her face that caused me to smile even bigger. She looked beautiful with her blonde hair all pulled up and piled on top of her head. “Lauren looks amazing!”
“Yeah, she really does,” Grace said as we started walking toward the porch. That’s when I saw my sister.
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