4
DANIELA
The police have left,promising to “keep us updated.”Whatever the hell that means.They don’t care for that little girl like I do.They have nothing driving them to take every step to ensure she gets home safe and sound.The house has gone quiet again.Raven’s upstairs lying down and Vinnie is in his office making phone calls and tracking leads.
Hawk is in the kitchen on his phone.
I should be helping, but I can’t.
My brain keeps looping through the same thought.
She’s gone.She’s gone.She’s gone.
Belinda’s laugh echoes in my head—the way she called me Dani with that little lilt, how proud she was when she won a cheeseball empire playing poker, her beautiful touch on the piano.
She was a light in all our lives.
And now she’s gone.
My chest tightens.I focus on breathing, but the air presses down instead of filling my lungs.
Hawk hangs up one call and immediately makes another.His voice is lower now, quieter.
I don’t interrupt.Not until he ends the call, murmurs something I can’t catch, and finally looks at me.
“You’re eerily calm right now,” I say.
He gives a humorless half-smile.“You think this is calm?”
I shrug.“You’re functioning.I’m not.”
“You’re in shock,” he says gently.“That’s not the same thing as not functioning.”
I bury my face in my hands.“I can’t even think straight.”
He takes a step toward me, his gaze softening.“That’s why I’m here.”
I hate that I want to believe him.
He walks toward me.“You said DHS came before the cops got here?”
“Right before.”
He frowns.“The timing is too perfect.”
“I know.”I sink down on a chair at the kitchen table.“That note wasn’t hers.I know it.Every word felt…off.Like an adult trying to sound like a kid.”
“Listen to me,” he says.“We’re going to find her.”
“How?”My voice cracks.“She could be anywhere.He could be anywhere.”
“I’ve got calls in to every contact I have—Interpol, DEA, three private investigators who owe me favors.If Brown’s on the move, someone will see him.”
“And if he’s not?”
“Then he’s close,” Hawk says.“Which makes him easier to find.”
I shake my head.“You make it sound simple.”
