Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 131916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 660(@200wpm)___ 528(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 660(@200wpm)___ 528(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
They were leaving.
They were getting out of there.
They were going to make it.
I’m going to give you a good life, she silently promised again and again.
She did her best to keep her same daily routine. Feeding Levi. Playing with him on his floor. Acting as if nothing was amiss since she was sure Frederick would be monitoring her on the video.
She didn’t make any deviances. Not until twenty to ten when she slipped on her shoes, grabbed her son, and walked out the door. It wasn’t that odd for her to leave during the day. Frederick wanted to make sure she kept up all appearances.
Doing yoga and lunches and fundraisers. Things the wife of a man like him would do.
Though she was shaking out of control as she buckled Levi into his car seat, her sweet boy babbling and waving his puppy. She kissed his cheeks, his knuckles, tried to calm herself as she climbed into the driver’s seat and made the fifteen-minute drive to meet her father.
She pulled into the parking lot. Immediately, she saw her father’s car on the other side of the lot. She took the spot beside it, her pulse clattering through her veins.
Her father was in the driver’s seat, and her mother was in the front passenger.
Her cousin Lilah got out of a car on the other side of them.
Her stomach was a riot of knots.
Barely able to get her hands to cooperate, she unlatched her door and climbed out of her car just as her father and mother got out of theirs.
Fear and determination pulled through her mother’s expression. “Grab Levi and buckle him into our car.”
Confusion bound her, but she remembered what her father had requested of her. She needed not to question. They didn’t have time. She had to trust that he was going to get them out of this.
She immediately did, unbuckling her son who was giggling and cooing and waving at his grandparents, no idea of what they were about to embark on.
Having no idea the danger that surrounded them.
Panic thundered, but her determination was stronger.
Her mother opened the back door of their car, and she was quick to buckle Levi into the car seat that was already there.
“What’s going on?” she asked while she fumbled with the straps.
“We decided this morning it would be best for you to take Lilah’s car and leave yours here. Lilah is going to come with us, just in case anyone is watching,” her father rushed.
Lilah resembled her. A lot. Tall with long blonde hair. A slow, sinking feeling crept over her when she realized what her father was thinking.
“But Levi…” Her voice croaked when she said it.
“We think it’s best to separate you two.”
She understood immediately. Her father wanted to throw Frederick’s guys off their tracks. Disorient them.
“You’ll meet us here tomorrow.” He shoved a folded piece of paper into her hand.
Sickness coiled in her being, and her spirit screamed at the thought of being separated from her son for even a second.
“Trust me. It’s the best way,” her father urged, his voice low. His attention whipped around as he searched the lot, as if he were worried that they might be being watched.
Because if Frederick had picked up a trail, if he had any idea, then…
Horror gripped her, a cyclone of fear ripping through her senses.
But she had to.
They had no other choice.
She had to take this risk.
“Go,” her father gritted.
In a frenzy, she ducked back into the backseat of her parents’ car, and she smothered kisses all over her little boy’s face. Her hands were on his cheeks as she murmured, “I love you. I love you more than anything.”
He babbled and yanked at a lock of her hair.
She forced herself to straighten and then she threw herself at her father. “Be careful,” she begged.
He nodded. “You be careful, too.”
She hugged her mother and then rushed to hug her cousin, murmuring, “Thank you.”
Lilah nodded against her shoulder. “It’s time for you to live free and without pain. I’m honored to have a small part in making that happen.”
She choked over a cry and hugged her cousin harder because she knew she’d never see her again.
Then she raked the tears off her face before she tossed her phone into the bushes then climbed into her cousin’s car. She fumbled to plug the address where they were supposed to meet in Columbus, Ohio into the map on the dash.
And with her heart in her throat, she sped away.
FIFTY-TWO
CHARLEIGH
“How are you holding up?” Concern filled Raven’s voice as she peered at me from where we sat at the island.
She had asked me that no less than fifteen times throughout the day.
“I’m okay,” I told her. “Shaken for sure, but I know they’ll figure out who it was.”
It was strange that I was the one who was reassuring her because honestly, I was terrified.