by Linzi Baxter
She smiled. “Your son is amazing. They had such a good time. I hope we can get together again soon.”
“Me too. Thank you for watching him. Next time, we can have them over here.”
The woman wrapped me in a hug before turning and heading back to the car. Tommy and I were both waving at the car and not paying attention to our surroundings. I had let my guard down, and a man jumped out from nowhere and grabbed ahold of Tommy’s arms.
Tommy screamed, “Mommy! Mommy!”
I beat the guy on the back with my fists, but he didn’t stop dragging my boy down the street. “Let go of him!” I yelled as I kicked him in the leg. He stumbled for a second, and Tommy was able to get away.
The man turned to me. I’d never seen him before. “Just let me have the boy, and I won’t kill you.”
He punched me in the side, and I went down for a second. The man ran after Tommy and grabbed his sweatshirt hood and tugged him backward. He stumbled and fell on his ass, letting out an ear-piercing scream as he hit the ground. I took off running toward the guy who’d dared to touch my son. I charged into him, knocking him to the ground. I quickly pulled Tommy up from the ground, and we took off toward the door again.
“You just had to be a dumb bitch.” The man grabbed my ponytail and yanked my head back hard enough that it felt as if he’d ripped the hair right out of my head.
“Run, Tommy!”
Tommy took off toward the doors.
“They wanted the kid, but I guess you’ll have to do.” The man started to drag me to a windowless white van, which looked exactly like a stereotypical kidnapper’s van, parked on the side of the street. I kicked backward and knocked the knee of my attacker.
Tommy must’ve made it in because Abe was sprinting down the sidewalk toward me. My attacker hadn’t seen the hit coming when Abe used all of his body weight to take him down. His grip on me loosened, but I still fell to the ground, landing on my knee. I screamed in pain as I felt my kneecap pop. I rolled to my back and watched Abe wrestle with my attacker. I stretched my leg forward and pointed my toe, slowly raising my leg until I felt the top of my kneecap snap into place.
“Go inside, Lily. I’ll call the police and take care of this.”
I nodded at Abe and rushed into the building, where Tommy sat next to the doorman with tears running down his face. We weren’t safe. Greg had found us, and instead of coming himself, he’d sent someone else, who almost got my son. I couldn’t let that happen. I ushered Tommy into the elevator and waited for it us to get to the top floor.
I knew what I was about to do was probably the wrong decision, but Tommy was my main concern, not me. “Go pack your bag with clothes and toys. We’re going for a ride.”
“I want Jacob.”
I closed my eyes and willed myself not to cry. This was what I had worried would happen—my son was attached to Jacob, and we needed to leave. Tommy might hate me for the next few days because I took him away, but as long as my son was safe, I would do whatever it took. “Go pack.”
“No.”
“Then you won’t have any of your things.”
I turned and ran toward the bedroom. I pulled my pink bag out of the closet and filled it with as much as I could fit. Jacob would be back soon, and it would be harder to say goodbye to his face. I knew I was doing the cowardly thing, but I knew that if I looked into Jacob’s eyes and he asked me to stay, I would. And that decision might put Tommy in more danger.
I walked back into the living room with my bag rolling behind me. Tommy sat in the living room with the spaceship backpack Jacob had bought him and the spaceship prototype in his hands. The tears in his eyes broke my heart.
Kat would track my phone if I took it. I placed it on the counter, grabbed my purse and keys, and took one last look at Jacob’s place. I couldn’t hold the tears back as I looked at the bedroom. What we’d shared the night before would be in my heart forever.
“Let’s go.”
“I want Jacob.”
“I know. We’ll come back.” I just lied to my son. I didn’t think we would come back until the day Greg died.
Tommy wiped his arms across his nose and followed behind me. I knew Abe would catch us if we went out the main way, so I pressed the button for the third floor on the elevator. From there, we exited out the back door, down the stairwell, and to the back parking lot. Tommy and I hurried across the parking lot to where my car was parked. I threw our suitcases into the trunk and put Tommy in his booster seat.
When I got into the front seat, I rested my head against the steering wheel. My heart wanted me to exit the car and head back to the man I was falling in love with. Who am I kidding? I love him, and if I stay, I’ll only put him in more danger.
I twisted the key and hoped my old car would start. It did, and I pulled out the back side of the lot and pointed us north. I didn’t know where we were going. I just knew we needed to leave.
“I hate you, Mommy.”
I tried hard to stop the tears, but Tommy had never said anything like that to me before. “We will find new friends wherever we end up.”
“I don’t want new friends. I like the friends I made. Jacob promised to let me watch the launch tomorrow.”
“We can still watch it together.” I would head toward the coast, drive up it for an hour, and find a little motel on the edge of a small city. Jacob hadn’t changed my payment option with NSS. Last week, they’d paid me my weekly salary in cash again. I saved enough money to stretch for a few months and would find a job working as a waitress where ever we ended up.
Kat would have been able to find me in no time if I’d used any type of electronics or cards, and I wasn’t ready to talk to her yet. She would have told me I was being stupid and tell me to either come back to Ft. Lauderdale to stay with her and Antonio, or go back to Houston. When he comes home and finds me gone, he’s going to be pissed.
When I looked in my rearview mirror, Tommy was looking out the window with tears streaming down his face.
We were only on the road for a half hour when I saw blue and red flashing lights behind me. I slowed down and moved to the edge of the road. I quickly wiped the tears from my eyes and reached for my purse.
The Texas sheriff stepped out of his car and placed his cowboy hat on his head. I watched in the side mirror as he walked toward my car. He looked at the license plate and said something into the radio pinned to his shirt.
I cranked the window down as he stood next to me.
“Good morning, ma’am. Do you know why I pulled you over?”
I hated the question and had never understood it. Does it really matter how I answer? “No.” I didn’t know why he pulled me over. I was going under the speed limit. Kat will see where I am.
“Were you in a fight this morning?”
I rested my head back against the headrest. “Yes.”
“Is there a reason you left and didn’t talk to the cops?”
I clenched my teeth. “I’m running from my ex-husband.”
The officer tapped the pad in his hands. “We need you to come back and make a report.”
“If I don’t press charges, do I have to come down?”
He turned and said something into his radio. When a lady’s voice crackled back over, he took a few steps back.
“Yes, ma’am. We can do this on of two ways. You can come with me, or you can follow me down.”
“Fine,” I ground out. “I’ll follow you.”
The officer tipped his hat to Tommy before he turned around and headed back to his car. I waited for the officer to pass me so I could follow him. There was no way my old beater could outrun a cop car. It was just a minor setback to me getting out of town. The cops had never been able to protect me in the past. Leaving the state didn’t even help. It was time Tommy and I went off the grid to the middle of nowhere. We were going to start our life over again once we gave our report.
18
Jacob
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up t
he closer I got to home. Blue and red lights flashed outside my building, making my stomach turn. I took off in a sprint, trying to get home as quickly as possible. Police had everything blocked off, and I could see Abe next to a white van talking to an officer.
I pushed my way through the crowd until I reached the front of the scene and an officer held up his hand and told me to take a couple steps back. Sidestepping his hand, I yelled for Abe. He turned from the officer he was talking to and waved for me to come over. The man stopping me looked across the scene to see if the other officer would allow me to move. When he nodded, I jogged over to where Abe was.
“What’s going on?” I asked. I glanced to the side and saw a man sitting in the back of a police car with his arms crossed, staring straight forward. His face was hard to see with the tinted windows, but he looked to be in his late thirties.
Abe ran his hand through his hair. “I was on my way over here today to talk about me heading back to Ft. Lauderdale. When I came around the corner, I saw Tommy running toward the doors screaming for help and Lily fighting with the man in the back of the car. He was trying to drag her into the van.”
The van door was swung open, and I could see a couple detectives in there looking around. “Who is he?”
“We don’t know. He’s not saying a word. When we got to the scene, we checked for an ID. Nothing. One of the officers checked for paperwork in the van and found nothing. I’m hoping when we get him down to the station and run his prints, something will come up, and we can get some answers.”
I glanced around the area, and I didn’t see Lily anywhere. “Where is she?”
Abe looked toward the building. “I told her to go up to your place, and I would take care of everything down here. Tommy was pretty shaken up. He didn’t need to be around that guy any longer than he needed.”
I held out my hand to the officer. “I didn’t catch your name.”
“Yeah, things are a little crazy. I’m Detective Landon, and I will be the lead detective on the case. Not sure what we will find if he doesn’t talk.” Landon stopped talking and pointed to his ear. Someone was talking to him. He let out a sigh. “The van was reported stolen this morning. I was hoping when we ran the plates, we might get a hit. I’ve never seen anyone scrub their identity this much before an attack—normally, the perp isn’t this smart. I’m going to need Lily’s statement, after all. I thought we would get some leads, but I need to talk to her and see what she says.”
I wanted to check on Lily, anyway. Just standing around watching the police wouldn’t do anyone any good. I turned toward the building and motioned for the detective to follow. “Let’s head up to the condo. I want to check on Lily.” She had to be scared out of her mind. This time, her attacker had gone after Tommy. When the man had taken her purse, it was just her. I worried she would want to leave because Tommy might be in danger.
When we entered my penthouse, I knew they were gone. I walked down the hallway and looked in each room as I went to make sure my gut instincts were right. I pulled open the closet to find her suitcase gone along with a chunk of her clothes from the dresser. The door was still open, and a few pieces of clothing were sticking out of the drawer.
On my way back to the main area where the officer and Abe waited, I checked Tommy’s room. His prototype rocket was missing along with his backpack. My anger was rising because she didn’t trust me enough to keep her safe. Hell, she didn’t even leave a note. When I walked back into the main area, Abe had her phone in his hands. Her keys were missing from the hook on the wall.
Abe looked at me. “She’s gone, isn’t she?”
I nodded.
“I’m sorry,” Abe said. “If I would’ve been there sooner, she might not have freaked out this much. Let me call Antonio to see if he can use the tracker.”
I shook my head. It was useless. She knew we would track her, which is why she left her phone. Over the past few weeks, all of her paychecks had been in cash, so she had enough to stay under the radar for a while. If she didn’t want us to find her, we wouldn’t unless she contacted us.
If anyone were going to call Kat, it would be me. She answered on the first ring. “She ran,” I said before saying hello.
Kat let out a sigh on the other end. “Well, she lasted longer than I thought she would.”
I blinked a couple times. “You expected her to run? How did you know she would be attacked?”
“She was attacked?”
“Yes, why else would she run?”
I heard fingers typing on the other end. “Because she’s scared you won’t want her, and she’s falling for you.”
If she had been falling for me so much, she wouldn’t have left me. “She left without saying a word.”
“Stop being such a drama queen. If Tommy was with her when she was attacked, she’s scared—she’s more worried about him than her own heart. And from the report, it seems someone went after both of them.”
I didn’t ask how she already had the report so quickly.
“She thinks she’s doing what’s best. I assume she needed to make a statement and ran. If so, have the cops flag her plates. Here’s the license number.”
Kat spouted out the number, and I quickly wrote it down.
The officer called it in and finished taking Abe’s account on the attack. Someone had pulled Lily over and was making her come to the station. I wasn’t going to let her go this easily, I grabbed my keys and went to head out with the detective.
Abe grabbed my arm. “You need to cool down, man. She’s scared.”
He was right. If I went in with my temper high, she would shut down and run. I needed to think it through and figure out a way to convince her to come back home with me. I didn’t want to be in my place unless she was there.
By the time I made it to the station, my temper had cooled. I just wanted to make sure she was okay with my own eyes. We still didn’t know if Greg had hired the man to get Tommy or Lily. Before I got off the phone with Kat, I told her to find Greg and figure out what was going on. We needed to stop tailing him and watching him from afar.
Two days before, Kat had told me they found Greg again, that he had a new job, and that it almost looked as if he was cleaning up his life. I didn’t know if he was cleaning up to try to bring Lily back, but I would never let that man touch her again.
The ride to the police station was quick. I pulled the door open and followed Abe and the detective into the building. In the corner of the lobby, Lily and Tommy sat in two waiting chairs. She still had tears running down her face when she looked up, and our eyes met. She didn’t have time to grab Tommy as he launched himself out of the chair and ran to me. I bent down and caught him as he threw his arms around my neck.
“I told Mommy you would come for us.”
I looked to where Lily was still sitting. She hadn’t left the chair. I could see the tears streaming down her face—she used her sleeve to wipe her face clean. I hugged Tommy tighter. “I will always come for you when you need me.”
The detective stopped next to me and asked if I could watch Tommy while he spoke to Lily. I wanted to ask her why she thought it was okay to run. However, I still needed a few minutes to calm down, so I nodded, and the officer went over to Lily then took her into the back.
I took Tommy over to the chairs along the wall and sat him in one. I took the chair next to him. The waiting area was empty. The floors were shiny and white, and a black-and-blue flag hung on the wall.
“Did you have fun with your friend?”
“Yes.” Tommy stuck his bottom lip out. “Please don’t let Mommy take me away. I like it here.”
I leaned over and wrapped my arm around the boy. More than anything, I wanted to promise him she wouldn’t leave. Besides sadness, I saw the determined look in her eye, and an idea popped into my head. “Hey, buddy, do you still have the phone I gave you yesterday?”
He nodded and went to grab it.
“No. Keep it in your bag and use it if you ever need me,
okay? Just call, and I’ll be there.”
If she really wanted to leave, I couldn’t stop her, but I would be able to track the phone Tommy had to know where she was. I already planned to ask Abe to follow her and watch over her.
The doors to the back swung open, and Lily walked out.
“Lily, we need to talk.”
She closed her eyes and took a couple of deep breaths. “Tommy and I aren’t safe with you.”
“I’ll get more security.”
“Tommy, go sit over there for a second. Jacob and I need to talk.”
For a moment, it didn’t look like he would go, but he finally got up and went to the other side of the room.
“Jacob, you have things to figure out. Your ex-wife is crazy and on the loose, and my ex has found me. The man after me almost got Tommy today. That man almost pushed him into the van. I can’t have my son in that kind of danger.”
I ran my hand through my hair. “Do you really think running will stop whoever’s after you?”
Lily squared her shoulders. “It’s one less crazy I have to worry about. What we had was fun, but I need to make sure Tommy’s kept safe.”
Fun. She called our relationship fun. “You’re telling me what we had last night was just fun? I was there, Lily. We have a connection. Taking Tommy away isn’t going to solve your problems.”
I stepped forward to grab her hand, but she sidestepped. “There is no us, I need to think about my son. Goodbye Jacob.” Lily turned and walked toward Tommy.
“I don’t want to leave, Mommy!”
She swooped down, picked her son up, and walked out the door without looking back as Tommy screamed my name. My heart broke as I watched them walk away. The only way I knew I could get her back was to make sure her ex was in jail. I would do everything in my power to make sure she was safe, even if she was no longer in my life. She would be the only woman to ever have my heart.
