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“We need to get to Sacramento, now,” I say to everyone.
“I’ll book flights,” Jack says as he clicks away on the laptop.
“I’ll call ahead to the airport and set up a rental,” Nathan says as he pulls his phone from his pocket.
“Leave Sophia with us, Nathan. She’ll be just fine here with us,” Irene says.
“Thank you. You’re a lifesaver,” he replies as Addy goes over to pull Irene into a hug.
“I’ll pack a few days of clothes. Charlie, will you help me?” Andrea asks shakily.
I follow Andrea down the hallway into her bedroom. Sophia’s there, watching her tablet.
“Hey, kiddo,” I say, trying to force a smile when all I want to do is curl up in a ball, collapse to the floor, and cry.
Sophia is too smart for that. Her eyes study Andrea and me. “What’s wrong? Why are you crying?”
Andrea sniffles but forces a laugh. “Us crying? No way!”
Sophia squints her eyes at us. “Grown up stuff?”
“Yes, baby, grown up stuff,” Andrea says with a wink.
“Can I go in there with my mom and dad now?”
“Sure thing, kiddo. Go ahead.” I don’t have to tell her twice. She’s out the door, and I can hear her little feet heading up the hallway.
Without a word, Andrea and I pull each other into a hug and hold on to each other for dear life.
“He has to be okay,” I whisper to her.
She nods into my shoulder. “I know. He has to.”
We’re all desperate for Andrew to be one of the unidentified men in the hospital. I’ll hold on to that hope with everything I have. We release each other and both take a deep breath before blowing it out.
“You and Addy will just have to wear my clothes,” Andrea says as she stands and pulls open drawers before tossing clothes on her bed.
“Fine by me. I just want to get there and see his face and know he’s still here,” I choke out. I’m trying desperately to hold it together.
“Me, too, Charlie. Me, too.” She never slows in her effort to get things together to leave.
It feels like none of us can get out of here soon enough, and it’s reassuring. It feels like we’re a small army.
But that means their father is the enemy.
That’s a disturbing thought as I watch Andrea work. What a horrifying development. We not only have to battle the big bad dragon that is Christopher to save the day, but it appears there were two dragons in that lair, one of them hiding in plain sight.
It looks like we’ll go to war soon… In fact, I’d wager as soon as we get Andrew back with us. This ends now. Andrew will have his freedom, if it’s the last thing I do.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Charlie
We’re in Nathan’s car, speeding down the highway toward the airport. The past hour has been a total frenzy with everyone trying to get out of here. Andrea threw enough clothes in her suitcase for her, Addy, and me. Jack did the same for him and Nathan. None of us wanted to waste more time than we have to.
My eyes water for the millionth time tonight as I watch the lights pass by us in a blur. It’s all too much. Mentally, I’m struggling with the fact that something happened to him, but we don’t know how bad yet. My heart is another story. There’s a deep ache settling in a pit in my chest that I can’t shake. It’s all-consuming and powerful. Every time I breathe, the ache grows.
I rub at the spot, trying to ease it, but that’s a fruitless gesture. I need to see him. I need to hold him and breathe him in. Only then will this ache subside.
