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CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Walter took my baby.
No matter how hard they looked, they couldn’t find Bron. The still-small voice told Adrianna it was him. That Cam’s father had been the one to take their daughter.
The thought pounded her head every time she stood still. And she couldn’t take it, couldn’t breathe thinking of what he could be saying to her. He didn’t care for Bron. He wasn’t even good to his own children. He’d probably be cruel to the little girl he didn’t consider family though she carried his blood.
She kept moving, shaking the thoughts away, not saying anything until she and Cam went inside places or ran into someone. They’d circled the block four times. They’d gone to all the businesses, asking if they’d seen her little girl. They’d headed to the park and the church a block away. They’d made it all the way to the supermarket and the Canton Harbor. There was no sign of Bron anywhere.
The dark taste of fear took over her mouth.
The wrought iron sign ofMi Tesorodidn’t bring her any comfort. The title, an homage to her baby, was but an empty reminder that she may not find her once she walked through the doors. She stopped walking and just stared at it. She didn’t want to cross the street and go in.
Because Bron’s not there. Her heart told her so. Lauren would have called her and told her to come home. She couldn’t make herself face the possibilities. How the hell had this happened? She should have been downstairs with her, watching her. But no, she’d gotten angry and stormed away.
Cold fingers wrapped around her arm and she jumped out of her skin. Cam was there. His gaze pained. “We should go inside.”
Never in her life had she wanted to put her face on his shoulder and cry more than this moment. But she couldn’t. She couldn’t fall apart. She was a mom and needed to find her daughter. “I think it may be time to call the police. I think this is your father’s doing.”
It hurt to breathe those words out. So bad she pressed a hand to her chest. His sharp intake of breath, the gasp that came along with it and the paling of his skin was like a knife twisting in her chest. He staggered back a step. God, she wished she could take those words back.
The slow shake of his head was more than Adri could take. She had to look away from him. “I’m sorry. We should’ve paid him. He would’ve left us alone.”
“Hestill would’vebeen blackmailing you,” Cam’s voice was hoarse and barely above a whisper, as if it hurt him.
“But she would’ve been safe. I don’t care what happens to me anymore. I just want her back.”
He cleared his throat. “Me too.”
She couldn’t take his fear or her own. She turned her attention back to the place she didn’t want to go in. Through the glass window, she made out Lauren’s figure. Her head down, shoulders sagged. A tall man had his hands on her shoulders.Oh God.
Adrianna rushed to cross the street. She walked fast with only her best friend in sight. Had someone come with bad news? Shock had her almost jumping back when Cam opened the door for her.
She barged in and Lauren turned around. It was Chase standing with her. His gaze shifted between Adrianna and beyond her to his brother.
“Lauren told me everything. I was asking if you had cameras. Cam, have you talked to Walter?”
Adrianna’s stomach dove past her knees. All ten years of fears showed again, like a ghost, to haunt her. “He has her.”
“There’s a camera in the office. Adri, let’s go now,” Lauren said, crossing the distance and pulling her towards the stairs.
“I’m going to kill him,” Cam said, his tone low and jagged.
Rage spread through her whole bodyrooting herin place on the first step of the stairs. She whipped about to face him. “I’ll kill him myself if he hurts my baby.”
“No one’s killing anyone. He’s going to jail, where kidnappers belong. Now, let’s go see that damned camera and be sure who took her.” Chase pointed up the stairs.
Adri ripped her gaze from Cam’s, turned back around and followed Lauren.
The four of them crammed in the small office. Adrianna pulled up the camera system, concentrating on what she was doing and forcing all the fear out. She pulled the footage and set back the clock to the time right before she headed upstairs. Her breath strangled, watching the way she stormed away. Her heart tripping on one single fact. She’d never turned to look back at her daughter.
Cam did. He turned and looked and said something but Adri never did. What kind of mother didn’t even turn? Tears filled her eyes. If she never saw her daughter again, she would never forgive herself.
A couple of minutes passed on the video and her heartbeat picked up as Bron moved from one table to the next. In the next frame, something flashed onto the screen and under one of the tables. Bron dropped the flower she was holding on the table and scooted down to her knees.
“What the hell is that?” Chase asked.
She opened her mouth but then her daughter stood up with a little dog in her arms. She turned toward the front door and mouthed something to a man at the door. They could only see his face partially but someone sucked in a loud gulp of air.
