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She pauses too long. “It’s okay,” I assure her.
“She exaggerated her role in his life of being a trusted confidant while falling in love with him. It sounds like a well-orchestrated effort, tears, sniffles, outbursts, shaking like a leaf—all the elements of a woman devastated. She claims to be in therapy for emotional and psychological depression because of his treatment of her.”
“Is that even a real diagnosis?”
“Who knows?”
“Did the judge buy this? Surely, he’s an expert on emotional manipulation in his profession.”
“She brought up you leaving, blaming you for his recreational drug use and excessive drinking. Connie used you as her bargaining chip, claiming that him marrying you was dangerous and detrimental to the kids. Her lawyer thinks he has found the hole to make you responsible for Pierce losing custody of his children. Not to mention, she publicly blasted him by claiming he never wanted the kids in the first place.
“He went back at her with the pregnancies being results of drunken hook-ups and her tampering with the condoms.”
“Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck…” I chant until my chest boils from holding my anger inside.
“You promised to hold it together.”
“I’m together, but I knew this was going to happen.”
“Darby! Now is not the time for self-righteousness contemplation. That man is drowning in pain, and he’s still trying to protect you from it. You can’t honestly be thinking of your fucking reservations about your relationship.”
“Yes, I am! But not in the way you’re implying. I am thinking about my reservations and how he crushed them. He is still trying to protect me, which stops tonight. He’s done fighting that bitch behind my back. Pierce may be strong, and fierce, and possibly on the edge of insanity right now, but he’s still out of his league. There is only one way to fight a woman scorned, and that’s with another woman scorned.”
“I’m glad to hear the fiery spirit, and that woman definitely deserves an ass-kicking. Try to keep that adrenaline pumping until you get here because you may need it.”
“That won’t be a problem.”
“There’s something else you need to know, and it’s the reason everyone is crowding Pierce to keep him from going to jail. The police searched Connie’s house for any signs of the kids and found the notes with her strategy. It read like a screenplay, equipped with highlights of when to bring on the tears, the cries, the screams. Lower your voice, raise your voice… when to look at the judge for sympathy… It was like she was preparing for the role of a lifetime. And, Darby, when I say it was detailed, it was precise.”
“You can stop now.” I grouse, my heart cracking for a new reason. She doesn’t have to verbalize it. I know. Pierce is known for a temper, but he’d only get violent if his family or I were threatened.
And that’s what’s happened. Connie set it up for Maya to find and read those notes. Instead of Maya retaliating by lashing out at her dad, she took Cole and ran away.
My flight doesn’t leave for another hour, and with the layover, it’s going to take too long. “Stephanie, we need to make miracles happen.”
“I figured we did. Have any ideas?”
I’ve made quite a reputation for my business and myself over the last five months, working my ass off along the way. “It’s time to pull some favors and take advantage of my position,” I tell her, already on my feet and headed out of the commercial terminal.
Chapter 34
Pierce
I stare at my phone on the counter, willing it to ring with some kind of news. Instead, it lies there like a ticking time bomb, taunting me into further desperation. The three people I love most in this world are out there somewhere, and I have no idea where.
Evin admitted he spoke to Darby, and she is coming. Only, he told me after her phone was shut off and she was somewhere in the sky. Annie looked into possible flights she’d be on, and the options had her going anywhere from LA, Chicago, Dallas, or Nashville before getting here. Darby acted on impulse, boarded a plane to get home and get back to me. Her last communication with Evin by text was to either be by my side or searching for Maya and Cole. She didn’t give him her arrival time either.
I should have called her the second this nightmare began. It should have come from me what was happening. Instead, I was too preoccupied, trying to find the kids and manage the situation while simultaneously guarding Darby against the horrors of the day. She has no idea what she is walking into.
We were with the judge when Connie got the call from her parents that the kids never arrived after school. The fear on her face sent an evil slither throughout me immediately. Snatched, kidnapped, injured… all of those were a possibility. It never occurred to me they would run away until the pieces came together, and witnesses told the police Maya and Cole walked away from that bus stop together, perfectly healthy, and went in the direction of town. What happened after that is unknown.
