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Chirp.

I was dizzy. I was awake. I was asleep. I was eight years old and Mom was gone. The food had run out and the smoke alarm was chirping and I was too small to reach it. Couldn’t drag the ladder. Couldn’t ask for help.

Chirp.

Nobody was going to come.

Do I die here? Do I dig up carrots from the yard? Boulders falling on me in a fever dream. Kittens slipping through my fingers like Slinkys, a truck and headlights, Justin. The docking station. The chirp won’t let me sleep. Just be quiet. Be quiet. Be small.

Chirp.

So hungry. My bedroom light was on. Couldn’t get up to turn it off. It screamed into my eyes, burned into my brain.

This is why people need people. For flicking switches.

My phone ringing. Justin calling.

Justin…

“Justin, I’m so sick. No, don’t call an ambulance. I don’t know. I don’t know. I can’t.”

Silence.

Chirp.

Nothing…

CHAPTER 31

JUSTIN

The second I hung up with Emma, I was out the door.

She’d sounded bad. Really bad. Disoriented bad.

She’d said not to, but I was a hairbreadth away from calling 911. The only reason I didn’t was that she was a nurse and I figured she must know what kind of shape she’s in and she didn’t think it was an emergency, so at least there was that. But I didn’t like the way she’d sounded at all. I called Brad to come get the dog, Leigh to ask her to watch the kids, I left Alex in charge until she got there, and I sped to Neil’s house.

When I got to the mansion, I rang the bell frantically. Maria opened it. “Dios mío, what is it—”

“Do you have the keys to the yacht?” I said quickly.

“Excuse me?” She put a hand on her hip.

“I need the keys. Emma’s really sick and can’t come pick me up. I have to check on her.”

She shook her head. “I don’t have them. Mister keeps them in the safe—”

“Well where is he?”

She crossed her arms. “Like I know? He left with Amber two days ago. He said Cancun, but I don’t know where.”

“Can you call him?”

“He told me his phone would be off the whole trip.”

I cursed under my breath. “Does he have another boat?” I asked. “A canoe? A kayak?”

She shook her head again.