I thought she abandoned me. That she chose herself and ran.
But she didn’t run. She was lied to.
By Grant.
By Richard.
And if I had just listened to Brooke, if I had gone to her house and heard her out, I would've gotten one moment with her. I would've been able to hug my mother for the first time in almost twenty years. I would've met my siblings instead of seeing them outside the house next to police.
I should've just gone.
I should've given her a chance.
Instead, I'm sitting here with blood on my hands, knowing she died thinking I didn’t love her.
And I hate myself for that.
My eyes drift to the picture on the nightstand. The one Samantha gave Brooke the last time we went to her house.
It shows me as a newborn, lying against her chest with a tiny pumpkin hat on my head. Samantha is smiling down at me in the photo like I'm the only thing in the world that matters.
I stare at it longer than I should.
I hear the door open downstairs. A familiar voice follows. I sit up slowly and pull on my shirt. I don’t rush. I don’t really want to face any of them yet. But I make myself move.
By the time I reach the stairwell, Brooke is already hugging Naomi in the foyer. Naomi looks thinner. Worn the hell down. There's a haunted look in her eyes like she hasn’t slept in weeks.
“You okay?” Brooke asks her gently.
Naomi gives a crooked little shrug. “Survived a hotel massacre, so… yeah. I guess I’m as good as I’m gonna be.”
Brooke gives her a knowing smile. “Not my first rodeo with a massacre.”
Naomi’s eyebrows lift. “Shit. Yeah. I forgot who I was talking to for a second.”
“I’m sorry about your friends,” Brooke's voice softens.
“Yeah,” Naomi looks down for a second before meeting her eyes again. “I am too.”
Brooke nods once, then cuts right to it. “I asked Travis to bring you here because I need your help. Really, your influence.”
Naomi looks between them, guarded. “With what?”
Brooke takes a breath. “Seth has two siblings. Their mom, Samantha, was murdered. We traced the kids to a foster home, but Grant is probably already looking for them.”
Naomi’s expression freezes.
“We need a way in,” Brooke leans in slightly. “Quietly, without police or social workers or raising any alarms. If you staged some kind of TikTok contest or influencer meet-up at their school, it might give us a shot at finding them without tipping anyone off.”
Naomi blinks. “So you want me to help you kidnap two children.”
Brooke doesn’t flinch. “Technically, yeah. But they’re his family. Andthey’ve got no one left. Samantha is dead. They’re next.”
Naomi’s voice sharpens. “I just watched people get massacred at a hotel. I’ve been trying to keep a low profile since. I thought if I went off-grid, they wouldn’t come for me too.”
“I know,” Brooke's expression softens. “I hate asking. But this is our only shot. If we wait too long, they won’t be there anymore.”
“I wouldn’t ask you if we had any other option,” Travis rubs a hand across the back of his neck before meeting Naomi's eyes again. “But you’re the only one who could pull something like this off without it looking suspicious.”
