Total pages in book: 143
Estimated words: 132834 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 664(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 443(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132834 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 664(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 443(@300wpm)
My feet were thudding down the stairs to the first level before I realized where I was going. Finn. Instinct brought me here, and I rounded the corner, skidding to a stop inside the kitchen doorway, something inside me relaxing just a fraction as Finn looked up, took in my face, and straightened.
“What? What’s wrong? What happened?”
“Nicky,” I said, my words running together. “Nicky is missing. Scarlett called. She picked up August and Thatcher, but no one can find Nicky, and they don’t know—” I stopped, breathless. The more I said it, the more terrified I was. Nicky. Where was my baby?
Finn came around the island, his arm sliding around my shoulders, turning me back to the door. “All right, let’s go. I’ll drive. Have you called Hawk?”
“Scarlett is calling him and West. I came straight to you.”
Finn squeezed me tight, dropping a quick kiss on my temple. “You did the right thing. I’ll drive. We’re going to find him. Everything’s going to be okay,” he promised.
More than anything, I wanted to believe him. Because it was Finn, I almost did. My phone rang in my hand. Hawk.
“Hawk, did you talk to Scarlett?” I asked, following Finn into the garage and jumping in the passenger seat of his Jeep.
“You’re on the way to the school?”
“Just got in the car. Finn is driving.”
“Good. Good. I’m on it. I’m calling West. You and Finn go. I’ll meet you there.”
“Okay.” I didn’t know what else to say. I wanted to scream, to beg Hawk to find Nicky. Pointless. I knew Hawk. He and West would do everything possible to locate my son. I didn’t need to beg or scream. I needed to do something, but there was nothing I could do. I didn’t know where my baby was, and there was nothing I could do.
As soon as Finn had the car pointed down the drive, he took my hand, squeezing it tight. “We’re going to find him. He’s okay.” I heard the fear in his words, the slight tremble in his voice.
I squeezed his hand back. “We’re going to find him,” I repeated.
Any other outcome was unacceptable.
Finn drove with tight control, as fast as he could in the top-heavy Jeep. A half mile before we got to the Inn at Sawyers Bend, Finn swung to the right and took a shortcut loop around town. We hadn’t chanced the narrow, steep road in the ice storm, but it shaved a good five minutes off the trip, letting us bypass the traffic in town.
“Do you know where Lydia was staying? In Asheville or Sawyers Bend?” Finn asked.
“You think it’s her?” I asked.
Finn’s eyebrows drew together, and he shot me a quick look. “Don’t you?”
I nodded. “I don’t know who else it could be,” I said. “I can’t see someone showing up in the campus pickup line and randomly grabbing a student. And holiday pickups—” I sucked in a breath, remembering getting the kids the day they let out for Thanksgiving. As usual, there had been plenty of cars in the pickup line, but an equal number of parents and extended family had been on campus, eager to see classrooms and meet teachers. It had been a zoo.
“We met for lunch at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, but I don’t know if she was staying there. I should have asked.”
Finn squeezed my hand again, drawing my eyes to his face. “You couldn’t have known she’d do something like this,” Finn said. “Threatening to sue for custody is crazy, but kidnapping is a whole other level.”
“What if they can’t find her?” I asked, my voice so small it was almost silent, my worst fears too horrible to give volume. “What if she takes him and just disappears?”
“No, Savannah.” Another squeeze to my hand, this one hard enough to hurt, the slight pain pulling me from the well of fear. “Not happening. She can run with him, but she’s no match for Hawk, West, and Griffen. West knows every inch of this county, and this kind of thing is what Hawk and Griffen do best. There’s no way your mother-in-law can run from them. Not for long.”
I nodded, squeezing his hand back as hard as he’d squeezed mine. Flipping my phone over in my lap, I stared at the dark screen, willing someone to call me with good news. I thought about texting my mother to let her know what was happening. I didn’t. Not when I had nothing to give her but fear. I’d call her later when I had good news.
Resting on my lap, my phone stayed dark and silent. I wasn’t surprised. Cell reception on the shortcut was spotty at best. It rang the second we popped out on the state road that ran from Sawyers Bend toward school. Scarlett again.
Chapter Forty-Four
SAVANNAH
“Did they find him?” I asked, hearing the desperation in my voice.