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“Grace, baby, you just need to do everything I say, and we’ll both be okay, alright?”
“But who is that guy?” I ask, fear puncturing every word.
“Edward James,” she whispers, watching me as if she’s inspecting my reaction. The name means nothing to me though.
I shrug my shoulders. “And he’s?”
“Cash James’s father,” she replies, as if that means something to me.
“Cash James,” I say, letting the words settle on my tongue. It’s a nice name. “Never heard of him.”
A flicker of something I don’t recognize jolts my mother, but she turns away from me before I can consider it further.
“So now what?” I ask as she opens the door.
We’re met by the barrel of a gun. “Now we go for a ride.”
I’ve got to be honest, as confused as I am, I know that I don’t like this guy. And I’m getting really annoyed at having a gun aimed in my direction. But since I’m not really all with it, I follow my mother and listen to her warning to just do what she says.
The car is a black sedan, nondescript with no plates on it.
Not suspicious at all.I roll my eyes.Can this day get any weirder?
Also, I’m starving and the baby in my stomach is kicking. I have a feeling neither it nor I have eaten in hours. Or maybe I’m always this hungry. I have no idea because I had no idea I was pregnant until like ten minutes ago.
Also, where the fuck is Steven?
My mother sits up front next to our kidnapper, and they seem a little too friendly. Where are we going, and why is my mother spending time with this psycho?
I clear my throat, and he glares at me in the rearview mirror. “Sorry, just…”living.
I roll my eyes.This guy sucks. I stare down at my stomach as the car starts to move.
The ride is quick. While we travel I look out at the streets, taking in the brownstones that seem familiar but not. I haven’t lived in the city since I was in high school with Marion, but there is something about this area that feels like a tingling in the corner of my head, like I can visualize it but I can’t. I close my eyes and try to summon my memories, but the pounding in my head hurts too much, so I give up and lean my head back, waiting for the next surprise.
What is this guy’s plan?
As the car pulls up to a behemoth of a building, I press my nose as close to the window as I can get so I can look up. Even this close I can’t see the top of the building. It’s all glass and a hundred miles high.
“Don’t move,” he says to my mother before darting a glance in my direction. Then he gets out of the car and stands on the sidewalk before picking up his phone and calling someone.
My mother whispers without her lips moving, “Get ready to run, Grace.”
“What?” I ask, darting my eyes in her direction.
“Don’t look at me,” she hisses. “Just…just get ready to run when I tell you to, okay?”
“Where am I running to?”
“Just keep going down the street in the direction we just came from. There’s a police station around the corner. Don’t stop until you get in there, okay?”
“What about you?”
My mom turns back to me, and she reaches out her hand to my stomach, resting it there. “I’ve been an awful mother, Grace. I’m so sorry,” she says as emotion starts to fog her eyes.
My hand goes on top of her own. “Mom, stop, what’s going on?”
She shakes her head. “Just remember that, please, Grace. Remember I’m sorry. And make sure you tell the police to call Cash James when you get there. He’ll be able to fill in the blanks. And Grace, be happy. Be fierce…and be a better mother than I was.”
I nod, tears falling down my face. I don’t know why but this feels like goodbye. And if not for the fact that I’m pregnant I would stay. I would try to convince her to come with me. But I am. And I don’t know much about being a mother—but I know this baby comes first. I open the door to leave and whisper, “I love you, Mom. Thank you.”
As soon as I turn to step out of the car, the man turns back, spotting my attempted escape, and I watch as a sneer jars his face. He looks up at someone in the distance and shouts, “Now you’ll understand what it’s like to watch the woman you love die.”
And then the world goes black.
