CHAPTER 25
KEVIN

“What the fuck just happened?” I asked. “Why the hell didn’t you intervene?” Horrified, I paced around. “You knew they were going to take her.”

“We couldn't compromise the mission, Mr. Spencer. Brooke knew what she was getting herself into.”

“Chase down that damn car and get her and my daughter back!”

“Sir, we’ve got a problem.”

“What?” I asked as I whipped around. “What problem?”

“The tracking device. It’s not registering.”

“Let me see that,” the Chief of Police said.

The phrase ran around in my mind as I stumbled backwards. It wasn’t working? Why wasn’t it working? I barreled out of the house and ran across the beach as officers called after me. This wasn’t the plan. This wasn't supposed to happen. I ran out to the spot where Brooke had been standing and I looked around.

“Brooke!” I roared. My heart was slamming against my chest as a hand came down on my shoulder.

“Mr. Spencer, we have to get back inside.”

“Brooke! Where the hell are you?”

“We have to figure out our next move.”

“Next move? I’ll tell you what your next fucking move is,” I said, as I shoved my finger in the officer’s face. “You have twenty-four hours to find my fucking family, or I’ll have your damn job. That’s your next move!”

I shoved the officer to the ground and stormed back inside, just as Daniel was coming down the stairs.

“Daddy? What’s going on? Is Sydney back?” he asked.

“No, son,” I said. “Sydney isn’t back yet.”

Our plan had failed. Now, that asshole had both of my girls and we had no idea where they were. I heard the Chief of Police talking into his radio, pulling everyone out for duty so they could patrol the island. The Coast Guard was called in to case the shoreline up to five miles in either direction. I wrapped Daniel in my arms, holding onto the last shred of sanity I had as my mind raced.

The morning was a blur. Police officers took up residence in my home and I tried to keep Daniel away from it all. But he knew something was wrong. He knew Brooke wasn’t there. He was crying, and I was doing my best to console him and bat off questions from the police. I was trying to keep myself from bashing their fucking skulls in for somehow botching this plan. A foolproof plan Brooke had willingly come up with to try and save Sydney.

Was she even with my daughter?

Were they even still alive?

“Mr. Spencer! Come quickly!”

I jumped up, raced down the hallway and found an officer standing at the front door. He was holding something in his hands.

“I found this on the side of the road just up from where the car was,” he said.

When he held the object up, I grabbed it from him and fell to my knees on the porch. Brooke’s shirt.

I gripped it tightly in my hands and brought it to my face. I sobbed profusely, drenching it in my tears as the officers tried to get me back into the house. How the hell had this vacation gone so wrong?

They pulled me into the house and shut the door as I leaned against the wall. I couldn’t breathe in her scent enough. I felt Daniel crawl into my lap and I cradled him close. I couldn't shield him from my sadness any longer. He wrapped his arms around my neck and pulled me to him, my four-year-old boy comforting me in my time of heartache. I could feel his tears dripping down the back of my neck as he kissed me.

“There’s also a note,” the officer said. “They want five hundred million dollars now.”

“Then we pay it,” I said.

“You can’t do that. There’s no guarantee that they’ll hand those girls over now.”

“It’s the only thing we’ve got and we’re doing it,” I said. “We tried it your way. We tried it Brooke’s way. Look where it got us!”

I held up the shirt I was fisting as I pulled Daniel into my chest.

“Look where we are now! Your plan failed. Her plan failed. And now they’re both gone. We tried it your way, now we’re going to try mine.”

“We still don’t recommend that, Mr. Spencer,” one officer said.

“I don’t give a good fuck what you recommend,” I snapped. “This is my decision.”

The air hung thick and tense in the room. “I’m calling my own damn security team and they’re coming to close this case up. I’m finding those girls alive, even if it means I have to pay out five hundred million dollars. Hell, I’ll liquidate everything if it gets them back. And none of you can stop me from doing it.”

“You’re angry, and rightfully so,” the Chief spoke up. “We all are. We’ll regroup in the morning and we can go from there.”

“You can regroup with my fucking security team.”

“We’ll see you in the morning, Mr. Spencer.”

The officers packed up their things and left. Regroup. As in they were going to go home and take a fucking break while Sydney and Brooke were missing. I threw Brooke’s shirt against the wall and held my son close, rocking us side to side in the hallway.

“Is Brooke coming back?” Daniel asked.

My heart shattered into a million pieces and fell to the floor.

It was sweet, how attached he had gotten to her. But there was no way we could be together. Not after something like this. She would never stay, and that was assuming she got out of this alive. I couldn’t ask her to stick around after this nightmare was resolved.

My phone rang and I moved so I could pick it up.

“Hello?” I asked, breathlessly.

“What the hell is going on, Kevin?”

“Sarah?” I asked.

“I’ve got police on my fucking porch asking me if I’ve seen a little girl that looks exactly like my daughter! Why didn’t you tell me she was missing?”

I furrowed my brow as I got to my feet.

“Why would I?” I asked.

“What do you mean, why? Because I’m their damn mother!”

“No, you’re their egg donor, Sarah. You left without a trace, remember?” I asked. “They are strangers to you, and you to them. I don’t owe you shit!”

“Don’t you dare split hairs with me. My daughter’s missing in your custody and you didn’t even bother telling me.”

“How did you get this number?” I asked.

“The officer gave it to me when I asked!”

“I’ll have to have a talk with that officer for giving out my personal info like that. What was his name?”

“The hell does that matter? You lost our child!”

“I’m not going to even break down how idiotic that sentence is coming from you. You never gave a shit about these kids, why start now?”

“She’s still my daughter, Kevin,” Sarah said, surprising me with the fear that trembled through her voice.

For some reason, it just made me angrier.

“No, Sarah, she’s my daughter. I’ve raised her, I’ve comforted her, I’ve put her to bed every goddamn night since you left. Now let me go find her.”

I hung up the phone and promptly picked up my son. I held him closer than I ever had before. The guilt was too much, but the anger was even worse. Who the fuck did that woman think she was? She left us. Abandoned us. She had no right to be upset with me.

I bounced Daniel in my arms as I looked out over the beach. I hated the sight of it now. I couldn't stomach it. When this was all over, I was selling this property for whatever bargain-basement price unloaded it from my docket of real estate. I’d find us a cabin in the mountains. Somewhere else in this whole wide world.

Either way, I was never coming back here.

“I want Brooke back,” Daniel said.

“I know,” I said, as I kissed the side of his head. “I know you do. So do I, kiddo. So do I.”