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“Calm down, let’s not make this worse than it already is,” his boss Brady Crowley, said in what Michael was sure was meant to be a soothing tone. “Fin’s son is missing.”
“And now so is Samara. She gave herself to her stalker to get Asher back because she’s still trying to make up for the suicide attempt when she was thirteen. She thinks you’re still angry with her for doing it.” He glowered at Fin who was right at this moment the target for all the fear swarming inside him.
“I am,” Fin shot back, fear no doubt spurring him on as well. “We had the same childhood, we had the same people walk out on us, and I never tried to end my life. I never gave up on Samara, but she gave up on me.”
The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them even though he knew he had promised Samara he wouldn’t tell her brother the truth about her suicide attempt. “Your parents and grandfather leaving weren’t why she did it. Your grandfather was abusing her. She was thirteen years old and felt all alone with no one to turn to for help, so she did the only thing she feltshe could do, and you’ve been punishing her for it for the last fifteen years.”
Fin paled dramatically and swayed enough that Chloe stepped up and wrapped an arm around his waist. “What?”
“She has spent the last fifteen years trying to make up for what she did because you wouldn’t forgive her for it. She didn't do anything wrong, but you made her feel like she did, so now she feels like she has to be perfect and maybe that will get you to forgive her. She’s gone, and we still don’t even know the stalker’s name. He has her, he’s going to take her and disappear, and we might never get her back.” Michael had never wanted a drink so badly in his life. If they didn't find Samara, he could easily foresee how the rest of his life would turn out. He’d drink himself into oblivion until death finally released him from hell on earth.
“I didn't know,” Fin said softly, his face devastated.
“She didn't want you to know.”
“Why?”
“Probably because she doesn’t think you’d care,” he spat back. He needed to do something that helped him control his overwhelming need to drink and lashing out at Fin was achieving that.
“I love my sister. I always loved her. I was hurt because I thought she wanted to leave me as well, but I never stopped loving her. Before she disappeared, she wanted to tell me something, but I brushed her off because I was only focused on Chloe. She was going to tell me that the stalker contacted her again.”
Fin was no doubt correct.
If he had just listened to what Samara wanted to tell him, then she never would have walked out of this house determined to sacrifice herself to save Asher.
Before he could say anything else, Brady jumped in, “Wejust got a report of an abandoned toddler matching Asher’s description about four blocks from here. Apparently, someone left him on the front porch, rang the bell, then ran off. We know Samara left here to meet the stalker, so he had no reason to keep Asher.”
“Let’s go,” Chloe said, already running toward the door.
No one spoke as the four of them piled into Brady’s car and made the two-minute drive to the house where the toddler had been left. As much as Michael hoped that it was Asher and that the child was safe, if the stalker had left him behind, then that meant he had what he wanted.
Samara.
She was now in the hands of a violent man who had killed to try to get her. When he realized that Samara didn't love him, he would wind up killing her too.
“Asher.” Chloe sobbed as Brady parked the car and she caught sight of her son. Both she and Fin flung their doors open and jumped out, and Chloe snatched up the little boy and clutched him tight. “Are you okay, baby?”
“Mama, too tight,” the child said, squirming in his mother’s arms, seemingly unfazed by the ordeal he’d been through.
“He’s okay, he’s okay,” Fin murmured over and over again, as much to reassure himself as his wife Michael suspected. He wrapped his arms around his wife and son and the three of them stood together, reunited, and happy. This nightmare was over for them, but it wasn't for Michael, and it definitely wasn't for Samara.
Brady went to speak with the cops, and Michael stood off to the side by himself, yanking out his phone. He needed access to Samara’s phone, if he could get into the GPS system, then they might be able to get a read on where she and the stalker were. His computer skills might not be as good as Samara’s, but they weren't bad, and in a couple of minutes, a red dot showed up onhis screen.
“I got them,” he called out to Brady.
“And I got the license plate of the car the stalker is driving. The woman whose house he left Asher at was right by the door when he rang the bell. She chased after him because she knew something was wrong and made sure she got the license number,” Brady said, joining him.
“Let’s go.” Hope surged through him. They knew what car Samara and the stalker were in, and so long as Samara kept her phone on, they would be able to trace her.
“I’m coming too,” Fin announced.
“Stay with your family,” Michael said dismissively. Fin was partly to blame for Samara being in danger, and he didn't want the man anywhere near him while he was teetering on the edge, barely able to keep his fear and anger under control.
“Samara is my sister, and I love her. She’s in danger, and it’s my fault. I’m coming with you,” Fin said firmly.
He didn't want to waste any more time arguing. They could lose the signal at any moment, so Michael merely grunted and climbed into the front passenger seat. He had promised Samara that he wouldn’t let her stalker hurt her and he intended to keep that promise.
*****
