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Tears blinded me as I fumbled my way down the hall.
“You should sit.” Lincoln slid an arm around my waist.
“I have to find him,” I wailed. I batted at the tears, desperate to get them out of the way so I could see. As soon as I swiped one away, another was in its place.
I felt my way to the bedroom with Lincoln’s guidance.
“Shoes. I need my shoes.” I willed the torrent to stop. “I can’t go in there.”
All I could picture was Eric locked in the closet for hours in the dark. What if it turned into days? I needed to get to him but didn’t have the courage to go into a perfectly safe closet to get my shoes.
Lincoln steered me to the edge of the bed. I sat when he gently applied pressure to my shoulders. In seconds, he’d found a pair of slip-on flats and knelt in front of me to put them on my feet.
“Do you have any idea where they would go?” he asked quietly.
“N-n-no.”
Get it together, Lexie. For Eric.
I breathed in ragged breaths, trying to get oxygen so I could calm. It took a few tries, but I’d managed to slow my tears and clear some of the haze in my brain.
“But I know who does.” Like a switch, my movements went from slow motion to frantic. I searched for my phone, dialed, and put it on speaker.
“Well, well, well, baby doll. I thought that brother of yours might get you to call.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Lincoln
Hooonnnkkk.
I laid on the horn at the car at the light in front of me. The driver shot me the bird out the window. As soon as the traffic light turned green I swerved around them, narrowly missing a bicyclist.
Lexie didn’t seem to mind my recklessness with her van.
Her asshole of a father had given us thirty minutes to meet them at their old apartment building. I didn’t think they’d do anything to Eric since he was the only leverage they had, but I wasn’t taking any risks.
“We get him in our hands, then they get the money.” I turned on two wheels at the next block.
He’d demanded two hundred thousand in cash. I’d had a little more than that in my safe, thank God. I’d stuffed it in a duffel bag as quickly as I could and we’d raced out the door.
I knew better than to give her parents what they wanted, but as long as we got Eric and he was okay, the money would be worth it.
And when the police arrested them for kidnapping, all the better. Daniel was going to make certain of that.
Lexie fisted her cotton-ball sweatshirt and stared out the window. She’d stopped crying, but only spoke when necessary.
I hated her silence. I had no idea what was going on in her head, other than absolute horrific pain.
I’d screwed up so badly.
Not only had I let down Lexie, I’d let down Eric too. They were counting on me for protection, and I couldn’t do it.
I’d taken that role seriously all my life. Believed I was good at it. In three and a half seconds, I’d been proven useless.
And as I’d relayed what had happened with Daniel, even his words hadn’t been any consolation.
“You had to make a choice,Lincoln. And with that gun pointed at Eric’s head, the right choice was to do as Marlene Logan had asked,” Daniel said.“People like that are motivated by money, and Eric was her best shot.”
