by Katie Reus
But Lincoln and their mother hurried out of the kitchen.
He pulled up a stool right next to her, his knees touching hers. “They’ll get her.” Pure confidence was in his tone.
She was grateful for it even as her mind rebelled at his words. He couldn’t know that. “Right now I’m terrified for Adeline, wanting her found and this to be all over. I feel like I’ve dealt with enough crazies to last a lifetime. I just…I want Adeline home,” she rasped out. She’d been keeping her rage and fear on lockdown but she wanted to lash out, to scream at the injustice of it all.
He took her hands in his. “Linc and the Feds are doing everything to find her. Listen—”
She heard his phone buzz in his pocket, and not for the first time since she’d stepped into the kitchen. But he was studiously ignoring it.
“You can answer your cell. It’s work, right?” she asked, wanting to talk about anything but Bianca right now. She was a shaky mess, though she was trying to keep it locked down.
“It’s fine. It’s nothing.” Not a denial.
She nudged him with her knee. “Come on, I know you’ve been putting work off to stay with me. And I know you guys are working on a big project. The Feds are going to find her. I will be absolutely fine here at your parents’ house.” Maybe if she said it enough, she’d believe it.
He started to shake his head.
“So if we’re in a relationship, are you going to argue with me about stuff like this?”
“Well, I sure hope stuff like this doesn’t come up often enough to— Wait, are you saying you want to be in a relationship? Not just friends who get naked together?” His entire body language changed as he straightened, his gaze guarded.
“I’m pretty sure you’re going to regret this, but yes. I’m putting it all out there that I’m not completely sure about anything, but I know I want to be with you. Exclusively. And fair warning, I clearly have baggage. I have nightmares, I’m a single mom, and my daughter is always going to come first.” Maybe she should have waited to tell him, but she knew how he felt about her—and she felt the same. Waiting would only hurt him and she couldn’t do that. “I know Bianca will be caught but…if something happens, I want you to know where I stand. I want you to know where my heart is.
Eyes filled with that familiar possessiveness, he leaned forward and brushed his lips over hers. “How do you feel about more kids in the future?”
She stared at him for a long moment, surprised by the bold question. But maybe she shouldn’t be. “I’m not opposed to it. But like, not next year.”
“Okay, then.”
“Okay, then?”
He lifted a shoulder. “I’m a pretty simple guy. It’s something I wanted to know. Everything else… You’re human, just like me. You have as much baggage as I do. And I have nightmares too… And if you don’t want more kids I’ll be disappointed, but that’s okay too. I want you, Serenity. And I want to be a father figure for Harper. I know you two are a package deal and I love that kid.”
Despite everything, even the pressing fear for her missing friend, something loosened inside her, solidifying that she’d made the right decision. Lucas was it for her, and she knew it on a primal level. This man had stolen her heart long ago, no matter how much she’d wanted to fight it. And with the way he was talking, he was serious about everything. Which was good, because she couldn’t half-ass something with Lucas. “So we’re together? Full in, you and me exclusive?”
His grin took her breath away. “Definitely exclusive, because I don’t share.” He leaned forward, this time kissing her harder, deeper.
She leaned into it, tightening her fingers on his shoulders, but she paused when she heard the buzzing again. She pulled back slightly, letting out a little laugh. “Just answer it. You know it’s Tobias. And please go and take care of whatever it is you need to. I will be completely fine. I’m only going to be picking Harper up from school today and the Feds will be here until they catch Bianca.” Ugh, she didn’t even like saying her name now.
She could see he wanted to argue, but his phone started buzzing again so he pulled it out of his pocket. She went to the coffee pot and poured herself a mug as he took the call, talking in quiet, urgent tones. Somehow she managed not to spill any, even though she was still shaken by the news about Bianca.
Though she only heard snippets of the conversation, it was clear that Lucas needed to be there for this. Otherwise his cousin wouldn’t have been calling him so consistently. He ran a huge construction company—of course he was needed. He had to make a lot of decisions that affected people’s jobs.
When he was done, he tucked his cell phone in his back pocket and looked at her apologetically.
“Please don’t apologize,” she said before he actually could. “You’ve been perfect. More than, even. Thank you for all you’ve done.”
He kissed her again, this time more chastely on the forehead. “When this is all over, I’m taking you away for a long weekend. You, me and lots of sex.”
She felt her face flush at his words but she nodded. She shouldn’t even be thinking of the future, of anything other than her missing friend, but for the first time in a long time she could see a good future. A real one filled with the man she…was pretty sure she loved.
She was afraid to say the L-word out loud, however. If she did, she was terrified he’d be taken from her.
Chapter 35
Serenity pushed her laptop slightly away from her and shut her eyes for a long moment. Since Lucas had left a couple hours ago she’d been catching up on various administrative things that inevitably had piled up in the last week. She was keeping her shop closed the next few days, so now was the perfect time to catch up—and keep her mind occupied instead of obsessing over how little control she had over anything. She could easily spiral if she focused on Bianca and whether or not Adeline was still alive. And she was dangerously close to it.
Years ago, after Savannah’s death, she’d gone into a dark, downward spiral of depression. Having Harper, having someone be so completely dependent on her had changed everything.
Now, thinking of what Bianca had done, what she was capable of… It shook her to her core. They’d been in school together at the same time, but they hadn’t been close. Still, Bianca had always been friendly enough, not outwardly hostile. Nothing to make Serenity imagine that she could be behind any of this.
Swallowing hard, she mentally shook herself. The Feds would catch her. They had to.
Her cell phone rang, breaking into her thoughts. Her heart rate kicked up to see Harper’s school number on the caller ID. “Hello?”
“Is this Serenity Washington? Harper’s mom?” The woman’s voice was slightly nasal and vaguely familiar. The school had hired some new admin staff this year and she hadn’t met everyone.
“Yes,” she said, dread building inside her.
“There’s been a little accident at school. Nothing for you to get too worried about, but Harper has broken her arm—”
“What!”
“Listen, she’s all right. She’s in the nurse’s office and we’ve called an ambulance. I’m calling to let you know that you can meet us here or down at the hospital.”
Everything around her funneled out as she quickly got off the phone, grabbed her purse and keys and headed for the front door.
When she reached the front door she remembered that her vehicle was blocked in by Louise’s truck. Damn it. She called Louise’s cell phone but got no answer. Double damn it.
She raced through the downstairs, looking for Louise, but couldn’t find her or Jack anywhere. The property was too damn vast for her to go on a manhunt when she needed to get to her daughter’s side. When she saw Louise’s keys on the hook in the kitchen, she snagged them and tried calling her again. No answer.
She palmed the key fob and hurried to the huge driveway. She paused when she didn’t see the FBI vehicle normally sitting there. Maybe Amy had taken the agent off her?
Shaking her head,
she raced toward the truck, her heart beating erratically. If they’d taken the agent off the Jordan estate, then they definitely must have Bianca in custody.
Heart pounding, palms sweating, she raced down the long driveway, telling herself that everything was fine. A broken arm wasn’t the end of the world, but Harper was so little. God, this never should have happened. That fierce protective instinct welled up inside her, demanding she take away her daughter’s pain.
She inwardly berated herself for not asking more questions—like how the hell it had happened—but she’d been in such a panic, wanting to get to Harper as fast as possible. Instead of going to the school and potentially missing her, she was heading straight to the hospital.
As she sped down the highway, she saw a familiar car on the side of the road, hood popped up, smoke billowing out from under it.
“Shit,” she muttered when she saw Chloe Thompson leaning over the hood.
Serenity almost kept going—was severely tempted to—but she pressed her foot on the brake. She couldn’t help Chloe with her engine issues, but she could at least give her a ride to the hospital. And Chloe could figure things out from there. But she couldn’t just leave her stranded on the side of the road with no help. Cell phones didn’t always work out here.
She stopped, leaving the truck idling as she rolled down the window. “Everything okay?”
Chloe shoved up from the engine and cursed, wiping her hands on her jeans. “I have no idea what’s going on. It just started smoking and then shuddered to a stop. And I can’t get any damn service out here. Can I get a ride into town?”
“Sure. Hurry though, I’m on the way to the hospital. I can’t take you anywhere else.” The hospital was central to everything so she would be able to get to a mechanic.
“Is everything okay?” Chloe asked as she grabbed her purse from the interior of the vehicle. Petite and pretty, she had short blonde hair and reminded Serenity of Tinker Bell.
“I’m sure it will be,” she said as Chloe jumped up into the passenger seat. “Just got a call from my daughter’s school.”
Before she could kick the truck into gear, Chloe shifted closer and suddenly a shock of energy jolted through Serenity.
Her fingers gripped the wheel as she fought the waves of pain. Her mind screamed at her to fight, but her body wouldn’t listen. Suddenly Chloe shoved a cloth over her mouth and darkness swept her away.
Chapter 36
Amy glanced over at the soft knock on the door of the interview room of the sheriff’s office. Right now they were teamed up with the Sheriff’s Department and using their building to work together. She’d pulled in Copeland’s ex-boyfriend and some of the woman’s neighbors to talk to.
She was going to find this woman no matter what. Copeland had packed a small bag with clothing and her laptop. And her car was missing. “Excuse me,” Amy murmured to the man across the table as she stood. Her people wouldn’t interrupt her without good cause.
Pushing down her annoyance, she stepped out into the hallway of the sheriff’s station. “What is it?” she asked Shelley Reburn, one of her best tech people. As Reburn spoke, Amy glanced down the hallway where Alec Wafford was talking to Lincoln. She frowned to see Wafford here. He was supposed to be watching the Jordan estate. “Wafford, in there,” she said pointing to the room she was using before she turned back to Reburn.
“Warden Brumley is on the line,” Reburn said, holding out a cell phone in her perfectly manicured hand. “He’s got intel.”
“What have you got?” she demanded into the phone. There was no time for niceties.
“I found out which of my guards has been sending messages from Black. He saw the news about the missing woman and others who have died. Guilt has been eating away at him. I’m going to preface this by saying that he kept all the messages he passed along for Black. I’ve looked at them and none of them were about committing crimes or anything like that. They were all very benign, like a father talking to a daughter.”
Amy didn’t give a shit. “I want his name.”
“I’ll give you his name. But I have something better. You don’t need to interview him. He told me how he used to leave messages for Black—who had the settlor from his trust pay my guard in cash. The withdrawals can’t be linked to Black or my guy.”
That explained why her people hadn’t been able to find a payoff trail. Come on, come on. Amy didn’t care about any of that. She wanted something tangible, something she could work with.
Before she could interrupt Brumley again, he said, “After my guy left the messages at their designated spot, a couple times he stuck around to see who picked them up. It’s a woman. And one time he got a picture. I’m texting you the image but also emailing you, so you can blow it up or do whatever it is you need to enhance it. It’s in your inbox right now. It’s pretty clear as it is, but now you’ve got it.”
“Thanks. I’ll be in touch once I’ve wrapped up this case. Your guy isn’t walking away without repercussions.” And she was going to have a talk with the settlor of Black’s estate. Without waiting for him to respond, she hung up. She’d find out who the guard was later and there would be consequences. But for now, the only thing that mattered was clarifying that Bianca was the one in the picture. Amy wanted an airtight case to bring this woman down—and she desperately wanted to find Adeline.
She stepped into the small meeting room where her laptop was set up. Wafford was on his cell phone but he started wrapping up his call as she pulled up her email.
“What’s up?” he asked, tucking his cell away.
“Why aren’t you watching the Jordan estate? You’re supposed to be monitoring Serenity, so she’d better be with you.” Her people were good so she expected nothing less, but she needed to confirm regardless. They were so damn close to wrapping this case up and there was no room for error.
“Wait…what are you talking about? I got a text from Frank, calling me in. Said you needed me here.”
Lead congealed in her gut. “No, he didn’t. Get everyone in here now,” she snapped as she pulled up her email account. She clicked on the link from the warden and pulled up the attachment.
As everyone piled into the room, she turned her computer around to reveal a picture of Chloe Thompson, a petite, vulnerable-looking woman. “We’re not looking for Bianca. Or if we are, she might be a victim. We need eyes on Serenity ASAP and we’re going to bring in Chloe Thompson.”
Ben Walker hurried in, his phone up to his ear, catching the tail end of everything. Before she could ask him what the holdup was, he shoved his phone into his pocket. “Just got off the phone with Paul Covington.” One of the vet techs they’d been trying to hunt down. “He’s been off fishing with his dad and didn’t have phone service on the lake—anyway,” Walker nodded at the image on screen, “he said he’s been sleeping with Chloe Thompson on the sly, lets her come down to the office after hours. He seems to think this is a big mistake, that she couldn’t possibly be behind any of it.”
Yeah, this was no mistake. “Good work.”
Amy had started barking out orders, sending everyone to their duties, when one of Sheriff Jordan’s guys hurried in and signaled for Lincoln’s attention.
Lincoln held his phone away from his ear as his deputy said, “Your mother’s truck was found abandoned on the side of the road. I recognized it because of the sticker on the back. I got a hold of her and she’s fine. But Serenity isn’t at the house. She’s gone, and it appears to be her cell phone and purse that are in the truck. I checked the ID from her wallet.”
Amy held back a curse. She refused to let Serenity die. That woman had been through too much.
“Everyone listen up!” she shouted to her assembled team. “Sheriff, I want you to send out a media alert to the local news with Thompson’s picture. I want her image plastered everywhere in a hundred-mile radius. She’s not getting away.”
It was a gamble, blasting her picture out for everyone to see—it could preempt her plan, leading her
to kill any potential victims and run—but it was also the only way the public could potentially help them. Chloe was wilier than she’d thought, but given her degree in computer information systems, some of the things she’d done made sense. She must have cloned the FBI’s phones to be able to text Agent Wafford. And that wasn’t easy to do. Fuuuuck. She must have done it when she’d been called in for an interview. Either that or she’d spoofed their phone numbers—which was a lot easier than cloning if you knew what you were doing. Fuck, fuck, fuck. That was likely what she’d done.
Amy would berate herself later for not seeing through Thompson—who hadn’t raised any red flags during her interview. Maybe she was a sociopath like her father. They had to find her immediately—and find Serenity and Adeline. Though Amy didn’t have much hope for Adeline at this point.
She just prayed Serenity was still alive.
Chapter 37
Serenity opened her eyes and dragged in a painful breath. An ache spread through her ribs as a chill skittered over her bare arms. Where was her coat— Wait, where was she? She frowned at the wooden slats of the ceiling above her. None of this looked right.
“She kicked you in the ribs,” a familiar voice rasped out.
Serenity blinked, banishing the cobwebs from her mind as it all came rushing back. Chloe had tased her and then shoved something over her mouth. She rolled over slightly, and realized her wrists were shackled and the chain was attached to a wall. Oh no. No, no, no! She rolled over to face Bianca—who was also chained up on the wall a few feet away. Bile welled up but she swallowed it down.
Sweat trickled down her spine despite the freezing room. “How’d Chloe get you?” Her throat was scratchy as she spoke, her heartbeat rushing in her ears as she tried to come to grips with this reality.
“I was taking the trash out this morning at work. I hadn’t even opened the shop yet. I was prepping for the day and she jumped me. Never saw her coming.”