Page 179 of Split You Open

“How about you go try out the new hot tub, Santi?” Wes suggests. “It might help calm you⁠—”

My phone rings in my pocket, cutting off Wes’s stupid suggestion. Me? Calm? Not without Blair here by my side again. I might not be as anxiety riddled as Rhett is, who completely shut the fuck down the minute Blair disappeared into the woods with her dad, but there’s no way I’m even remotely interested in trying to relax.

I shove my hand into my pocket, eager to hear Blair’s voice.

Except, when I check the screen it’s the Caddawalk Police Department. Frowning, I answer the call, “Hello?”

“Good evening, I’m sorry to be calling so late but this is Deputy Les Wilson with the Caddawalk Police Department, and I’m looking for Mr. Santiago Navarro. Am I speaking with him?”

The hairs on the back of my neck rise. My expression must reflect the dread suddenly spreading through my veins because Ledger instantly rises from the recliner and Wes tenses.

“It is. Can I help you?”

“There’s been a…” There’s a pause before the deputy continues. “An incident at your residence. We’re calling to: one make sure you were safe, and two: to see if you can come speak to us. We’re looking to get some answers as to what took place here.”

An incident at your residence.

Where my cariño is.

Almost too afraid to ask, it takes me a second to form the question, “What happened?”

“If you don’t mind, we’d like to talk to you in person. Can you meet us at your house?”

I nod, but stop when I realize he can’t see the reaction. “Yeah, I’ll be right there.”

I hang up before bothering to say goodbye. The world tilts beneath my feet and I stumble forward. Someone catches my arm to steady me.

Bile climbs up my throat as a thousand different “what if’s” bubble up. What if she’s hurt? What if she’s in police custody? She’s not even supposed to exist—how would we get her out of that situation? What could’ve happened within the past two hours that would’ve warranted a call like this? It has to be something involving Dixie. What else could it be? But if it is Dixie—how did he find Blair and her dad?

I don’t realize someone’s talking to me until I attempt to bolt from the family room only to be stopped by the same arm that braced me. Someone’s shouting but I can’t hear it over the roaring of blood in my ears. I blink rapidly trying to dispel the panic so that I can focus.

“Breathe, Santi! You have to focus!” Wes demands, jerking me around to face him.

Staring up into his pale blue eyes, I can see he’s scared too. The thing is, he knows even less than I do.

“Santi,” Wes shakes my arm, hoping to regain my full attention. “Santi? Who was that? What happened?”

Swallowing hard, I manage to choke out, “Something’s happened to Blair.”

Body after body after body is rolled out of my house.

It’s almost like watching circus clowns getting out of an impossibly small car.

Except nothing about this is funny.

In the driveway sits an unfamiliar car that’s been set ablaze and is now just charred remains. Whose car is that and why is it here?

Judging by the bloody trail throughout the house someone was dragged out of here and they were seriously injured.

We found a backpack full of survival gear in the kitchen that sat untouched. No identification inside so we’re not sure who it belongs to.

There were broken zip ties and head coverings in the basement. Someone was using your house to hold people.

Neighbors say they heard a woman and child running down the street calling out for help.

By the time we got here, everything was quiet but the car was on fire.

The deputy who had called had filled us in on what they knew—which wasn’t a lot. But it was enough for me to want to curl up into a ball and just scream. They’d told us to wait a few more minutes before they got the bodies out but that was thirty minutes ago.