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WILL
The imageon my phone is blurry, but the identity of the kids is perfectly clear.
There’s Mia’s red hair. Ben’s dark hair. Rope in their mouths.
There’s a utility pole of some kind.
They’re tied to it, hands behind their backs.
The first thing I do is cross the hall and throw up in the bathroom sink. I’m instantly, painfully sober. There’s toothpaste and a new toothbrush in the drawer and I shove it against my teeth. I just need to not taste tequila, because there are things we need to do.
Whoever it is wants something from me. It’s not Dad, because he’s in prison. It could be any one of the people he’s fucked with over the years. Somebody with a grudge against Summit, or maybe even Hughes Industries. Somebody with a grudge against Bristol who knows she’s with me?
Doesn’t matter who. What matters is that we have to move. We have to act.
I go back to the living room and get my wallet from the floor.
Bristol’s footsteps fly down the stairs, and she sprints into the living room, face white, green eyes vivid with tears. She already knows. Did they text her, too? What the fuck is happening? She holds up a crumpled ball of paper. “The twins ran away.”
Holding up my phone so she can see the photo is the worst thing I’ve ever had to do. “They didn’t run away.”
“No.”
“Somebody lured them out. Somebody has them.”
“No.” She folds forward, a sob coming out of her that sounds inhumanly terrified. I catch her in my arms, holding up all her weight. Her knees are nothing. They can’t hold her up. Mine want to collapse, too, but that’s not an option. “Will. Will. What do we do?”
I pull her upright so she can breathe, and she screams into the front of my shirt, her voice breaking. I put a hand on her hair. Citrus and sweetness and tears. I keep my arm around her waist. It’s not enough. I know that. Holding her is never going to be enough.
“We’re going to find them. That’s what we’re going to do. We’ll get them back.”
“It could happen again.” Her voice is stricken with panic, shaky. It’s hard to understand her, but she says it again. “It could happen again if—”
“No. We’re going to find the twins. They’re going to be safe. And when I find the people who did this, they’re going to be dead. They’re never going to come for anybody again.”
She says something that’s so pained I don’t catch it.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart.” I’m so fucking sorry. “I couldn’t hear you.”
“Please.” A wracking sob. “Please stay. Please. Please.”
I take her face in my hands, my fingertips slipping on her tears. “Listen. Bristol. Listen. I need you to breathe. Take a breath, sweetheart.”
She does, her face scarlet with pain and fear.
“Another one.”
Bristol puts her hands over mine.
“Can you hear me?”
She nods. “What should I do?”
“You’re staying with me. I. Am. Never. Leaving. Again. Do you understand?” This is, without question, the biggest risk I’ve ever taken. I can’t let her down. I can’t fuck this up. The stakes are life and death.
Bristol swallows hard. Blinks tears away. “Yes.”
“Then let’s go find them.”
* * *
