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CHAPTER 16
DANE
I drove like a fucking maniac on my way to the Red Herring Motel after I ended the call on my cell with Officer Evans and let what she just told me to sink in. She found Michael alone and running down Lee Highway in Fairfax.
My jaw clenched, feeling sweat drip from my forehead as I climbed out of my car. I already had my gun out, pulling back to slide when I spotted Rory’s new Mercedes parked beside several squad cars along with paramedics.
“Michael!” I shouted, looking around, as the fear and anger numbed me.
“Daddy!” Michael shouted when he climbed out the back seat of a squad car and ran to me.
I tucked the gun in the back of my jeans, then scooped him up into my arms. I stood there for a long moment, holding him tight. I fought back the tears, feeling his little arms wrapped around my neck.
When I set him down, I knelt and looked into his eyes.
“Are you hurt, son?” I asked as my voice trembled.
He rubbed his elbow. “It hurts here. But I think I will be okay.” There were dried tears on Michael’s dirt-streaked face, and his clothes were dirty. “Mommy is gone. We need to find her.”
I held his shoulders, “I promise you we will find Mommy. Can you tell me what happened?”
He rubbed his elbow again. “Mommy picked me up from school. Her friend sat in the backseat of Mommy’s car and told her to dwive.”
“Is your Mommy’s friend a man or a woman?”
“A wo-mon.”
Just then, a woman in uniform approached. “Mr. Neri? I’m Officer Evans.”
“Where is my wife?”
“We don’t know, Mr. Neri. From what Michael has told me, he and your wife were kidnapped and brought to Room 103 at this motel.”
I looked over as a gurney with a body bag was wheeled out of that room by two men.
“Stay with Officer Evans,” I said to Michael, then marched over to the stretcher and stopped the men, then unzipped the body bag.
It was Desiree, her lifeless eyes staring up at me. I wished she was still alive so I could have killed her over again.
I turned and walked back to Michael, taking his hand in mine. “Let’s go find your mother.”
“But Mr. Neri, we need you to stay and answer a few questions so we can help –“
My eyes bore into Officer Evans’s cutting her off.
I gritted my teeth, feeling one crack. “I’ll handle this.”
I buckled Michael in the backseat of my car and climbed into the driver's side when my phone buzzed as it sat on the dashboard.
I knew then that Carlo set this in motion as his name flashed on the screen. I snatched my phone from the dash and answered. “I’m talking to a dead man.”
“That stupid bitch Desiree fucked up all my plans. It was her idea to take Aurora and Michael, not mine! That’s why I killed her. You have to believe me, boss!” Carlo replied over the phone.
“You have nowhere to go, Carlo.”
“If I go down, your wife goes down with me.”
“I want to talk to Aurora. Now!”
