by Mia Kayla
After I took all of Paul’s information down, I canceled all my meetings, called the school and my security team, and led Becky to the conference room, where we had lunch as I made plans to protect her and my family.
Action was key. I could freak out, worry about the future, about the unknown, but nothing had happened, and there was not going to be a yet at the end of that sentence.
Her mind was filled with anxiety. It was evident in the little crease between her brows and the frown heavy on her face.
“I’ve hired a private investigator, and he’ll find out where this guy is.”
She nodded as she took another bite of her sandwich, her eyes focused on the table. “I hate this. Absolutely hate this.”
I placed my hand on hers on the table.
“Why didn’t I think? How could I have possibly led him here?”
“It’s not your fault,” I assured her, as I had only minutes before.
“How can it not be? If it wasn’t for me, he wouldn’t be here. I wouldn’t have led him to the girls.” She placed her sandwich down, and her gaze traveled past my shoulder. “I wish I’d never come here.” Her voice was a breathless whisper, but it gutted me.
“Don’t say that.” In the next second, I reached for her hand, pulling her into my lap. “I don’t want to think of my life without you in it.” I tenderly kissed her forehead. “Everything is going to be fine. I’ve already contacted the school and my private investigator again today. I’ve already informed my security team to go to the house and make sure it’s secure. Tomorrow, you’ll have an escort to and from the school. It will be fine.”
She sighed into me, not truly believing—I could tell. Either way, I held her tighter, knowing there was no way in hell I’d ever let her go.
Becky
The cool breeze prickled my skin as I walked to my car from Brisken Printing Corporation.
I’d spent the last few hours with Charles trying to convince me that everything was gonna be okay and me delving into my past, giving out as much information as I could about Paul so Charles could find him.
But as I pushed the key in the ignition and turned the engine on, anxiety deep inside of me lit up like a ball of fire ready to explode. I started to hyperventilate, so I took a moment and rested my head against the steering wheel, taking in deep, long breaths.
Everything will be okay, right?
In a matter of minutes, security would be at our house, surveying the area to make sure it was secure. Charles would have someone meet me at the school today to accompany me and the girls home. And tomorrow, I’d have an entourage of two security guards who would take us to and from school until Paul was found.
Everything will be okay.
As I drove to the school, flashbacks of everything that Paul had put me through bombarded my mind, bringing up the immense pain that came with that relationship.
As hard as I’d tried to erase the memories from my mind, I couldn’t.
All that occupied my thoughts was the violence, the verbal abuse, all the things that I didn’t want for my newfound family.
I drove to the school in a rush, needing to get to them, needing to bring them home safely. Typically, I would have stayed in the car and gone through the carpool line, but today, I didn’t. I placed the car in park, surveyed my surroundings, and rushed to the front doors, waiting for the bell to ring to dismiss my girls.
I debated on waiting for the security guard that Charles had hired to meet me here, but I didn’t. Anxiety and anxiousness in having the girls safe in my arms won out.
Minutes seemed like hours as I stared at my watch and back at the door again. My foot tapped against the concrete, and I bit anxiously at my pinkie nail.
When will the bell ring?
I waited and waited and waited.
Finally, when the bell rang, I rushed toward the doors, and when the teacher opened the door, I almost crossed the border to go inside. She raised a hand, as though I were new to the proceedings of dismissal but I wasn’t. I was to wait outside, but my anxiousness got the best of me.
Other parents were congregated by the door. My eyes swept over the crowd, teetering between my car, the surrounding areas, and back to the school again. Could he be here now?
I watched every single kid leave the building. Minutes felt like years, and I paced a path in front of the door, waiting for Sarah and Mary to emerge. Usually, it was Sarah who would come out first, but she was three minutes late. In about a hot second, I would charge in, not caring about the consequences.
I came closer, telling the teacher on duty, “I’m sorry, but my two girls haven’t come out yet. Can I just go grab them? I’m kind of in a hurry.”
“I’m sorry. For security reasons, we can’t let you inside right now.” Her face was apologetic, but it didn’t help the unease inside of me.
My mind was playing that negative game again, envisioning worst-case scenarios. Like Paul in the school with my girls.
My heart pumped and thrashed within my chest. Just the thought threatened a heart attack.
I took one step forward, about to cross the line, consequences be damned, when a swoosh of air released from my lungs as Sarah came toward me, smiling. Genevieve, one of her friends, was with her.
After a quick hug of farewell to her friend, Sarah walked toward me. The second she crossed the threshold of the front door, I erased the gap between us and pulled her into my chest. I was sure I was embarrassing her, but I didn’t care. I crushed her into me, as though we hadn’t seen each other in years, pressing a desperate kiss to the top of her head.
“Becky?” she said, her voice muffled against me. “Are you okay?”
I was shaking. Visibly shaking. But relieved—almost. Because I had one last child to pick up.
I pulled back. “Have you seen Mary?”
“No.” She was giving me a look like I’d gone crazy. And maybe I had, but it was for good reason.
I took a step away from her. Both of us glanced toward the door, and I kept a hand on Sarah’s backpack for peace of mind.
Five minutes passed. Little girls who looked like Mary exited the building, but Mary was nowhere in sight. I walked up to the teacher again because she was about to shut the doors, but I didn’t have my child.
“Did you dismiss the preschoolers?”
Her eyes widened just a tad. “They were dismissed at the south entrance, where the school buses are. They had their field trip at the pumpkin patch.”
“Wait. What?” I was already running with Sarah before the teacher got her next words out.
I ran like my life depended on it, arms pumping, legs making long strides. Sarah could barely keep up with me, so I slowed my pace because there was no way I was losing two kids in one day.
The buses were empty, and there was no one in the south entrance. No kids could be seen. When I saw a bus driver, I rushed toward her as she got back on the bus, and before the doors closed, I waved my hands like a lunatic to get her attention.
“Um, hi there,” I said to her as she frowned at me from her high seat. “When were the preschoolers dismissed?”
She blinked at me. “Yeah, they were just dismissed at the regular dismissal time.”
“What?” I barked.
She reeled back at the sharpness in my tone. “After the buses dropped them off, parents were supposed to pick them up from here. There were a few kids that went inside to go to the main entrance for pickup.”
I about-faced and hurried back to the main entrance, gripping Sarah’s hand so she stayed with me.
“Becky, where are we going?” Sarah whined, but I could hear the note of concern.
“We have to find Mary. She’s probably inside.” My voice was frantic.
Even though I knew it wouldn’t help the situation to freak out, I couldn’t help it. But it couldn’t be. She wasn’t gone. She wasn’t lost. She was inside. Where else could she be?
“Don’t worry, Becky. Since she didn’t come out, she’s in her class
for sure, or if not, she’s at the main office. We’ll find her.” Sarah’s calm voice was meant to ease the tension in my gut, but it didn’t.
I smiled down at her for her benefit. “We will.”
I hurried into the school, no longer being guarded by the teacher, and into Mary’s classroom, which was empty, and then I charged toward the main office. “Did the preschoolers in Mrs. Cininski’s class get dismissed yet?”
Brenda, the school secretary, peered up. “Yes, they were dismissed with all the other kids.” She glanced at the clock behind her desk. “That was fifteen minutes ago.”
“I can’t find Mary Brisken,” I said, my hands beginning to shake as much as my voice. “Would there be a dismissal without someone signing her out?”
She stared at me as though it was a stupid question to ask, and I admitted it was. Because this school’s number one priority was safety. Problem was, how did I not have my kid in front of me?
Brenda was trying to be patient with me. “They were dismissed how they usually are—in the carpool line.”
I blinked furiously, my nostrils beginning to flare. “She’s missing.”
Brenda’s eyebrows shot to her hairline. “What do you mean?”
“I went to the south entrance, and there are no more cars there, and my kid … she’s missing.” Please, please, please … please no.
Brenda picked up the phone and dialed security. “Can you search the area and school for a preschooler, Class 304, blonde hair, blue eyes?” Then, she hung up and dialed the principal’s office. “Ms. Klein, we have a situation in the front.”
Chapter 38
Charles
After I had explained the situation to my brothers, my anxiety heightened.
Brad was calmly seated at the long boardroom table while Mason paced the conference room.
“So, he’s here. In town?” Mason asked.
“I’m assuming so,” I answered. “Who else would’ve left her the note?”
Brad steepled his fingers by his lips.
“I’ve called our security team. They’re at the house now, and tomorrow, they’ll accompany Becky to drop off the girls and during all her errands if she needs to do any.”
The security company I’d hired, we also used at Brisken Printing Corporation and at any outside company event or if we needed personal security, which we typically didn’t. Normally, we were three grown men who could handle our own business.
“It’ll be fine,” Brad said, though his calm was receding.
“Fine?” Mason threw up both hands, already giving in to panic and rage. “We got a crazy man on the loose, following around our nanny and stalking our girls’ school. I wanna say I told you so, but I won’t.”
“Don’t,” I said, not wanting to hear it. My hands went to my hips as I stared outside at the other high-rises in the horizon.
“Did you contact the PI?” Mason asked, pacing a hole in the industrial carpet.
“Yeah. I gave him everything he needed to do a thorough search.” Now that I had complete information on this guy, I’m sure something would come up. “I paid an expedited fee, so we should be able to find out about him before today’s over.”
I needed this guy in jail. Stat.
She wouldn’t go into hiding anymore, and she wouldn’t feel the compulsion to run away. Whatever this was, whatever was happening now, it had been meant to be. I had been meant to find her and meet her and love her.
Mason dropped to the nearest chair. “How did we get here? What could we have done to prevent this?”
I shook my head. “Nothing.”
Because if this asshole wanted to find her, there was nothing I could have done to stop him.
I wanted this confrontation. This would only lead to legal ramifications, where I could keep this guy far away from Becky and the kids, where she wouldn’t be scared anymore to do the normal things I knew she loved to do—go biking, go out to a restaurant by herself without watching her back, and take the girls to a park, unafraid of who she might see there.
I reached for my phone and texted my security team to tell me when Kenzo, one of the head guys, arrived at the school. He texted back immediately and was only a few minutes away.
Brad kicked up his feet on the conference table. “They’ll be fine. Today, we are securing the house. Tomorrow, they’ll roll up at the school with security, like they’re famous. Then, we’ll find this guy, and we’ll have a good talk with him.” He ran one hand through his hair. “All will be fine. You guys are freaking out about a note.”
I texted Becky next, but she didn’t answer.
Kenzo will be there any second, I told myself. She’s probably getting the girls settled in the car, or Mary is keeping her preoccupied with her stories of the pumpkin patch.
Panicking would not help me right now.
The phone ringing from my back pocket broke up my random thoughts, and I plucked out my cell and answered. “Hey, Becky.”
“Charles”—her voice was a garbled sob—“Mary is missing.”
Her four words had my heart stopping in my chest.
It was an out-of-body experience, hearing the words but not knowing what to do with them.
I stood utterly still, unmoving, barely breathing.
There were a few other times where I’d had this sort of panic attack, not sure how to react, unable to connect my brain to my body.
For instance, when the doctors had told me that Natalie was dead. When Mason had called me at work, sobbing that my parents had been in an accident. And now … when Becky told me that my sweet Mary was missing.
“Charles?” She had repeated my name a few times before I responded.
“Mary’s missing? Where are you?”
Brad jumped off his chair, and both he and Mason faced me directly, their looks of complete shock most likely mirroring mine.
“I’m at the school. She didn’t go out of her normal door because they had a field trip. They dismissed from the south entrance and…” Her sobs heightened.
I was slow to respond, even slower to react. I should have been out of the corporate office and in my car by now.
“Don’t move. I’ll be there.”
“Cops are here. Kenzo just got here. They’re searching the vicinity for her.”
I hung up the phone and turned to the door, putting my body into action.
“What happened? Mary’s missing?” Brad said, the fear in his eyes evident.
“Yeah.” I pointed to Mason. “You get in contact with that PI and find out all we need to know about Paul. Tell him we need the info in the next hour. It doesn’t matter how much it costs to speed it up.”
“I’m going with you,” Brad said before I could give him a directive. “You don’t need the PI because I will personally find this guy and fuck him up if he has her.”
I couldn’t even let my mind go there.
I’m coming, baby girl.
We were both out the door in no time.
“Let’s go together because I want to drive Becky’s car home.”
Her nerves had been shot earlier. And so were mine now. Where could she have possibly gone? Warning spasms erupted within me, and it felt as though a hand were wrapped around my throat, preventing any air from getting in my lungs. Did he have her?
I gritted my teeth. I didn’t want my thoughts to swerve in that direction because it wouldn’t do me any good now.
“Give me the keys,” Brad said as we both approached my car.
I threw him a look, at him wanting to drive my car.
“Charles, you know me. I don’t do good sitting still, especially when some son of a bitch has my niece.”
“Don’t say that. We don’t know that right now.” But where else would she be?
A chill black silence surrounded us, but I didn’t have time to argue, so I threw the keys at him, and he caught them midair.
“Plus, instead of thirty, I can get us there in twenty.”
“We need to make it there alive to
be of any help.” All of my muscles tensed beneath my suit.
He didn’t say a word, which was so unlike him, as he drove over ninety miles per hour toward the school. Right before we got there, my phone rang again. It was Mason.
“Did you call the PI?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
“So, he’s here,” I said, wanting Mason to confirm what I already knew.
“Charles …” The way he uttered my name was the same way he’d uttered it when he called me years ago, telling me that our parents had died in an accident.
“What!” I found myself screaming into the phone as all of the muscles in my body tensed.
“Charles …” His voice shook with full sullen emotion.
“What? Just tell me, Mason.”
I couldn’t take any more bad news. I’d had enough bad news to last me a lifetime. We all had. Any more would break me.
“Paul’s dead.”
Impossible.
The ringing in my ears intensified.
“They did a search on him, and he’d died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.”
“How can he be dead?” I breathed. Goose bumps prickled the back of my neck. “Then, who the hell has my Mary?”
It happened in a split second as Brad registered my words. His eyes flipped to mine, but in that nanosecond, he didn’t brake fast enough, rear-ending the guy in front of us.
Chapter 39
Becky
“We found her backpack.” A police officer approached me, handing me Mary’s Little Mermaid backpack.
I rubbed Sarah’s back, who was sobbing beside me as we sat at the bench overlooking the swing set and slides in the back of the school. I’d never seen Sarah shed a tear, even when she fought with her sister, yet now, she was inconsolable.
“Why would she wander off? Do you think someone took her?” Sarah’s questions came at me, at the officer, at the teachers and principal, who had all tried to look for Mary. When we couldn’t give her the answer she wanted, she burst into tears again.
I rubbed her back and held her close as I glanced up at the officer. He was a taller male with a dust of red hair and sharp blue eyes. “Where did you find it?”
