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Her house looks like it always does as Mom maneuvers down the extensive driveway.Sterile.Monstrous in size. Ominous in the way it lacks any form of warmth.
“Stay here,” I tell her.
I try her bedroom window first, knocking when it won’t open at my insistence. Hands cupped over my eyes, I squint through the sheer curtains, praying I’ll see her. Nothing looks out of the ordinary. Everything is in its place, but no Henley.
Stalking toward the front door, I bang on it over and over again. Each knock more forceful than the one before it.
“What do you want?” Derrick Wright snaps as he pulls open the door.
“Henley. Where is she?” I move to push into the house, but he stops me with a hand to my chest.
“She’s not here.”
My fists clench of their own accord. I’m shaking, but with anger or panic, I don’t even know anymore. All I know is that this asshole is standing between Henley and me, and that’s unacceptable.
“Where is she?”
He doesn’t answer.
“Where is she?” I scream in his face so loud my throat feels ready to tear on the inside. Spit hits his face, but he doesn’t move to wipe it off. He just continues to stand there, watching me blankly.
“Brooks,” my mom chides, moving from the car to stand behind me. “Mr. Wright. My son is worried. He just wants to know if Henley is okay.”
“I don’t know where she is,” he finally speaks, his voice a hollow void. “I don’t know where Jacinta took her.”
With that, the door closes in our faces.
I bang again.
“Brooks.” Mom pulls me back. “Let’s go, honey.”
“What does he mean he doesn’t know where Jacinta took her?” My eyes water unexpectedly. “Why isn’t helookingfor her?”
Pulling me to her chest, Mom hugs me. “I’m sure he is.”
I wipe my face against her shirt, depositing my tears to the material. I can’t recall the last time I cried.
“Don’t be sad, babyface. We’ll find her.”
“I’m not sad,” I stutter. “I’m frustrated and angry and worried and. . . and—”
“And you don’t know what to do with it all,” she says what I can’t seem to vocalize.
“You’re allowed to feel all those things. Jacinta loves her daughter, Brooks. Wherever she is, we know she’s safe.”
I let that settle inside me, but I don’t quite believe it. Jacintathinksshe loves her daughter. But causing Derrick pain would be of a higher priority, as it’s always been, Henley’s welfare be damned.
7
HENLEY
“Please, Mom,”I cry.
“Stop being so emotional, Henley.”
I shift forward on my seat. “You haven’t told me anything.Whereare we going? You cannot just uproot me in the middle of my school year. Where is Dad? Does he know?”
She ignores me, her thumb flicking across the screen of her phone.
