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“Please, honey.”
“I promise, Mom.”
A gunshot rang out. I didn’t know what had happened. Trey had a gun, but I was not hurt. What the fuck was happening? Then I saw Bex crumble. A second shot had her falling immediately.
I didn’t have time to scream. I knew if I didn’t get out of the car, the man would see Sky, and I couldn’t have that happen. Slowly, I stepped out. “Trey, what are you doing?”
“This is all your fault?” He came around the car and grabbed me.
I knew I had no choice but to keep his attention away from the back of the car. “Why did you shoot her? It's me you wanted. All you had to do was come to me.”
“It's your fault.” He pulled me towards another car. One sitting in the parking lot of the apartment building.
I prayed Sky would get help. Even if I didn’t make it, Bex could still be alive. And at least my kid had found her father.Even though the neighborhood wasn’t the best, it was still in a small town where things were always relatively quiet. No one was around. No doubt someone heard the gunshots and reported it. But if I got Trey away from the scene, Sky could move and call 911. She may be able to still save Bex. With that in mind I decided to be a little more compliant.
As he shoved me into the passenger seat, he pulled out a pair of handcuffs from the glove compartment. He put one end around my wrist and the other around the handle of the door, effectively making it impossible for me to move from the car.
Sirens blared in the background getting closer and closer. I knew, in that moment, that my daughter would be safe.
Trey sprinted around the car and climbed in the driver’s side. As he drove from the building he didn’t speed or do anything else to draw attention to himself.
The more I realized my daughter was safe, the more fear for my own life took hold. We’d been driving for a while as he ranted about how everything wrong with the situation was my fault and I made him do it. I sat still for a long time until the anger started taking over. “Why are you doing this?”
“Because it was meant to be you and me.” He drove back towards central Marina De Ferrier. “I met you first that night. We met at the door to The Dane and we connected.”
I had to admit, I didn’t remember meeting the man. I had only been to The Dane once. I met Noah that weekend. It was the Five Hearts album wrap party. I met Ricky that night, too. But Trey seemed to think he met me first. I took a guess knowing everything Noah had told me. Because those were conversations I remembered. His friend had hired people he had worked with in the Marines. Trey could’ve been one of those people. “You were a security guard?”
“I was the one who directed you to Smirk. You touched my arm when you thanked me. And then you were chatting to that Gilles fellow.”
“Ricky.”
“Whatever. I knew you were not interested in him and all his smooth moves.” He turned onto Main Street. “But then you had to take Moore up to your room. I saw you get into the elevator with him. Did you try to trap him? Because you knew who his parents were. You thought if you slept with him and got pregnant that he could further your career, didn’t you?”
Having recently learned who Noah’s parents were, I could see the logic leap Trey had taken, yet the fact that he referred to my daughter as a ploy to trap a man just fueled my rage. “Noah was not a coward. He came up to me and asked if I wanted to spend time with him. He didn’t hide behind a false name and disgusting letters and packages. You disgusting coward. You can take me or get whatever you think it is you’re getting from me, but know this. I am Noah Moore’s. You force yourself on me, I will think of Noah. I will be fantasizing about him. You can take my body, but you will never have me.”
The smack was a shock to my system. And louder than I expected. I mean, yeah, it hurt like a motherfucker, but that was still far too much noise.
I was so focused on the pain to my jaw, I didn’t realize the car was spinning. Brakes screeched and Trey cursed. As soon as we came to a stop he was out of the car once more and ran around to the passenger side. He pulled me out. But with my hand connected to the door handle he couldn’t pull me away.
It was while he was trying to break the door handle that two cars had screeched to a stop next us.
Trey stopped what he was doing and pushed the gun to my head. “Stay away, Moore. I won’t hesitate to shoot her. If I cannot have her, no one will.”
30
NOAH
By the time we got to Bex’s car, the first responders were already there. My daughter was crouching close to Bex, tears streaming down her face as a paramedic placed a blanket around her. The police would obviously want to question her, but that would need to wait. The cops had yet to arrive, and I would make sure Skylar let them know she was waiting on her parents before she spoke. As much as I needed to maintain my headspace and find the fucker who did this, I needed to go to her.
All three cars stopped at the same time. Jared, and Aidan joined me next to Sky. While Nick and Daniel went to Bex along with the other three Salingers in the last car.
“Sweetheart.” I walked over to her and for the second time in one day she ran into my arms.
“Dad, he took Mom. He had a gun and he took Mom.”
I held her close, not wanting to let her go but knowing that I needed to. “I’m going to get her back, sweetheart. I promise.” I didn’t add that the nightmare would be over before she went to bed that night. That was a side I didn’t want my daughter to see. I looked over to the ambulance and they were wheeling Bex into the back and Nick was joining her. From what we could gather,there were two gunshots besides the one that Cartwright’s neighbor had reported.
Daniel walked over to us looking worried. “Two GSWs to the abdomen. Cops still haven’t arrived. Not unusual for this neighborhood. I’m going to meet Nick at the hospital. I’ll take Sky and Aidan with me, and we’ll get her checked out and sorted too. If the cops want to talk to her, I’ll tell them to hold off.”
