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“I can’t be civil when this prick doesn’t give a fuck about his daughter.”
Frank points to the couch. Sean and Carl sit but I don’t budge. A staring contest ensues and I know it doesn’t matter who wins. He will in the end. He has seniority.
Sean scoots to the middle, freeing up the end for me. “Come on, man. Let’s have a conversation.”
So we do. Sean, Carl, and I sit shoulder to shoulder, squeezed onto the couch.
“Don’t ever talk to me like that again and don’t ever accuse me of not caring about my daughter. I have a tracker on her phone. I know where she goes all day every day, and she is perfectly safe, but she has some lessons to learn and so do you.”
“What the fuck?” I jump up.
“Sit down,” he yells.
My pent-up energy has me about to explode. I circle behind the couch and grip the back of it to keep myself from punching him. “Where is she?”
“If she wanted you to know, she’d tell you.”
“She should be here. It’s our Christmas dinner.” My irritation borders on petulant child.
Mom defends Dad. “Bianca was included in the group chats. She’s choosing not to be here.”
“Where the hell is she?”
“Lower your voice, Mark.”
“I’m not lowering my voice. You’re the scumbag who doesn’t value your daughter any more than any other asset. It must perform. It must be perfect. She must be perfect. You two have ruined her.”
“Son. She has a lot of growing up to do. She’s still a teenager.”
“Don’t patronize me.”
Sean uses his ultra-calm voice, which tells me instantly that he’s anything but calm, but he has a knack for this. “Let’s focus on Bianca’s safety. Can we be sure that she’s safe? Does she have people she can talk to?”
“I can assure you she’s safe.” Frank’s assurances don’t mean anything to me.
I rush over, yank his phone out of his hands, and toss it to Carl. “Find her.”
Carl springs to his feet and is out the door the second the phone hits his hands. He has some computer gadgets in the car. Hopefully enough to get into the phone.
I point at her father. “Don’t move.”
“You stole my phone.”
“Unlike you, I will give up everything for your daughter. Her happiness is the only luxury I can’t live without.”
“You might want to think about those luxuries before you keep running your mouth. I own this building. I can evict you.”
“If you paid more attention, you would have noticed we moved.” I storm out, and Sean is only a pace behind me. I yell over my shoulder, “We’ll give your phone back when Carl gets what we need.”
It’s true. Frank has a tracker on her. We can see everywhere she’s been. She’s busy all day, all night. My poor sweetheart barely has time to sleep. We make note of the address, an apartment complex, then decide to keep Frank’s phone in case she leaves before we get there.
Carl offers a piece of wisdom. “We haven’t talked about the possibility that Bianca’s already carrying one or more of our babies. Now is not the time to point that out to her. Are we clear?”
We agree to focus on getting her back first.
Based on the dot on the phone, we narrow Bianca’s location to two possibilities, upstairs or downstairs, of the apartments in front of us.
Aromas of cinnamon and sweets guide me to the upper choice. Her schedule is ragged and yet, she’s baking?
