CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

I reach home and I’m surprised when I don’t see Emmy’s car in the driveway. I can’t have beaten her home. Wouldn’t I have passed her? No, I came another way from the office. I jump out of my car, jog up the porch steps and try the front door handle and find it’s still locked. I open it up, walk inside and call out for Emily.

“Emmy! You here!”

When I hear nothing, I pull my phone from my back pocket and dial her number. It rings out and goes to voicemail.

“It’s Em, leave a message and I’ll call you back when I can.”

Beep.

My gut clenches; something’s not right. Where would she have gone? I grab my keys to head back in the same direction Emily would have come from. I’m walking down the porch steps when I hear car tires screeching and then watch as Jake’s SUV speeds down my driveway.

Joseph’s in the front passenger seat, holding on tight to the roof while Jake brakes and the car skids sideways. Before the car has even stopped, Joseph is out and running up to me.

My stomach completely drops at this moment, the moment I know they’re about to tell me what I already fear. Donovan has Emily and I wasn’t there to protect her. I fist my hands waiting for the words which will destroy me.

Joseph reaches me breathing heavily, “Kanye, we found out Donovan is in Hastings and has eyes on Emily. We need to keep her out of sight. Don’t let her go anywhere,” he says, scanning the area around us and then turns back toward me when I don’t say anything.

Joseph’s confusion turns to fear, as what I’m guessing he’s seeing is my whole body go pale. I lower my head and tighten my fists to where I know my knuckles are now white and my short fingernails are digging into my skin.

I sense Jake run up to us. “What are we doing standing around. Time to grab our shit and go kill a motherfucker.” I hear his words drift off on the end and he asks, “Where’s Em’s car?”

I raise my head and growl, “He has her. Emmy should have been home by now. She should have beaten me home easily. Fuck! He has her!” I end with a roar.

Jake’s whole body goes stiff and he whispers, “No, not again. This can’t be happening.”

He takes two fast steps toward me, cuffs my collar and sneers into my face, “You were supposed to protect her. You were supposed to be keeping her in your sights. That’s my baby sister, and if anything more happens to her, I’m going to hold you responsible.”

I push Jake off me and roar, “I know! Fucking, fuck, fuck, motherfucking cunt! If he touches her again, I won’t ever forgive myself!”

Jake and I face off, both with our chests rising and falling rapidly.

“Both of you shut the fuck up. If...” My eyes swing to Joseph and see him raise his hands in a maybe gesture. “If Donovan has her, he’s still in Hastings. We have a real shot at finding him and getting Emily back. Stop the blame game. You both know even if you watched her twenty-four seven, at some point this fucker was going to get to her. He’s obsessed with her. He was willing to wait you all out for as long as he needed to.”

A ring sounds and we all look to our phones, but it’s Joseph who speaks, “Holy shit. It’s Alexa, she’s calling me.” He presses answer and turns the speaker on and says, “Lexie, where the fuck are you?” Disbelief still evident in his voice.

A feminine voice speaks through the phone, “I was on my way to Emily’s house to warn her about Donovan, but now I’m heading east following three BMWs, two black, one silver. I passed them just before seeing a car matching the description of Emily’s abandoned on the side of the road, driver’s side window smashed. I turned around and caught up to the cars. You need to be on the road now and head east. I’ll call back with an address when they make it to their destination.”

“Like fuck. You turn around, right now, Lexie. Get the fuck out of there and out of this dangerous situation. I’m heading that way now. We’ll find them.”

“No,” Alexa states firmly. From her tone, there will be no arguing with her.

“Jesus Christ!” Joseph yells out. “Do. Not. Stop. When they do, you keep driving and call me when you have a destination. Do you understand me, Lexie?”

“I’m going in after them. I’m not going to let them hurt her. I’m armed and ready to kill if they dare touch her.”

“No!” Joseph shouts. “Don’t, please, Lexie. Leave it to us.”

“I have to, Joey,” Alexa says into the phone. “I didn’t help her when I should have, at the beginning. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself now if I drove straight past and did the same thing again. I would rather die then anyway.”

Joseph looks up to me and Jake, begging for us to say something, but we both stay silent. If it was Lily or Emily, we would be saying the same thing as Joseph. But if she can save Emily, keep her from being taken away again, then I’m not saying a damn thing.

Joseph realizes what’s plainly on my face. I’m willing to sacrifice Alexa to find Emily. He grinds his teeth and we watch as his jaw tightens. Then we all start running for Jake’s truck.

We’re in when Joseph speaks again. “Lexie,” he breathes out her name. You can hear the defeat and pain in his voice.

Jake starts the car, revs the engine, and spins us around; we fishtail it out of my driveway. My home with Emmy. Please, God, let this still be our home, not my home again.

“We’re on our way. Just don’t do anything stupid, Lexie. I need you. I need you alive, baby.”

As Joseph says the words we didn’t think we would ever hear from a man as strong or brutal as him, the line goes dead.

Joseph roars into the back seat and throws his phone to the ground. He punches the back of my seat a few times, but I don’t say anything. I completely understand. If I was a better man, I’d call Alexa back and tell her not to do it, not to try and save Emmy.

But I’m not a better man at the moment. I’m a desperate man.

I hear a dial tone and realize Jake’s calling someone on speaker phone through the car. It feels as if I’m moving in slow motion, even though I can feel how fast we are driving.

“Smith, it's Jake. Emily’s been taken, again,” Jake growls into the car. “Put an APB out for the man we talked about earlier, Donovan Bradley. Shut down the airports closest to Hastings and have patrol cars out to the city’s exits, right fucking now.”

“On it.” With that, Smith hangs up and we continue speeding along the road. Jordan Smith is the Lieutenant at Hasting Police Department. Jake must have called him earlier when he knew Donovan was in Hastings.

Emily’s car comes into view. It’s parked to the side on an angle. Jake slows when we pass and it’s easy to see the smashed driver’s side window.

“Fuck!” I roar into the car.

Jake revs his truck and we speed up Main Street through the middle of town and straight on to the back road, heading east. I know what’s east. It’s lots of abandoned houses, and Willow’s Ridge Airfield.

If they secure her on a plane, I’ve lost her all over again. Emmy’s come so far. How could she overcome any more hurt and pain? She couldn’t. She’ll be lost to you. I try to shake off the fear spreading through my mind.

I twist and turn in my seat, wanting to jump out and run to her. Wanting to do anything except sit still and pray we get there in time.

My heart is pounding in my ears. It’s raging with anger that someone dare stole what is ours, yet again.