Page 103 of Saving Sophia

I lurched forward. “What?”

“She’s gone back to Renaissance.”

I broke into a sprint, the hallway blurring past.

She couldn’t be gone. Back into the hands of that psycho? “Go get her, Hayden. I’ll be there in three hours.”

“Ethan,” he spoke slowly. “I can’t barge in there and drag her out.”

I burst out of the Lodge House and ran toward the cabin. “Something’s wrong. She wouldn’t go back there willingly.”

“I know.” Hayden sighed. “Get here. Bring Griff. We’ll figure it out.”

* * *

The cabin looked like she’d left in a hurry. Her clothes were gone. Her toothbrush gone. Nothing left of her in the bathroom except that tube of red lipstick I never saw her use.

She left her dolls. The ones I had shipped here. The ones I bought for her. The broken ones she’d been working on. Caroline. Ruthie lay on the floor, her little plastic legs sticking up at awkward angles. I picked her up as if holding the doll would bring Sophia back to me. None of it made any sense.

My call was declined.

I started to dial again when a text popped up.

Sophie

Leave me alone

What’s going on? Where are you?

I said fuck off

Answer my call. Let’s talk about this

Then nothing.

The cabin door crashed open. Griff stalked in, shoulders brushing the threshold, talking to someone on the phone. “I’m here. We’re heading to the airport now.”

“She’s gone,” I said miserably. He must have been talking to Hayden.

“Callie’s gone too.” He clicked his phone off and stuffed it in a pocket, his scowl dark.

* * *

It still didn’t make sense four hours later, sitting in Hayden’s apartment.

“Listen to me,” Hayden said earnestly. “She’s okay.”

I glared at him from the same spot on his couch I’d been sitting on the night we got her call for help. “She is not okay. She’s in there with that bastard.”

He held up his hands in a calming gesture. “I mean they haven’t hurt her. I saw her. Confirmed her phone call before Roscoe’s lawyers started threatening to sue the department for harassment if I didn’t leave.” He sighed. Griff scowled from where he was leaning against the back of the couch.

“Callie’s there too. I thought I saw some bruising on her face, but neither of them want to talk to me,” Hayden said.

Griff’s eyes darkened, but he said nothing.

“Officially, there’s not a lot I can do,” Hayden added. “They went there by choice.”

“That’s bullshit and you know it,” I snapped, dropping my head in my hands.

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