Page 114 of The Reborn

The flash of police lights lit up behind her blinds as the cops arrived at the house. I pressed a kiss to her temple and left her long enough to let them in, not at all surprised to see Kade pulling up to the curb just behind them.

I stepped outside to speak to him, giving her a moment to talk to the police officers.

“Any news?” he asked.

“No.” Everything in my gut churned that I couldn’t do more, that the truth had been right under my nose the entire damn time. “I can’t believe I fucking missed it.”

He stared me down from behind his aviators. “Some people are born deceivers. You know that, Ashford. Plus, she’s just a college kid. I wouldn’t have put her top of the list either, and I for sure wouldn’t have suspected she might be the secret big sister. Jesus, man, that’s like out of a movie. Give yourself a break.”

I huffed out a big breath, not quite ready to let myself off the hook. “Still. I should’ve looked harder. She was always skittish around me. She was the only one who took the studio key for a weekend—”

“To teach, then gave it right back. Not the biggest of red flags.” He yanked off his glasses. “And looking back, sure, skittish because she had something to hide. In the moment, what did you think?”

“That she was a nervous kid.”

He shrugged as if to say there you go.

I couldn’t believe Kade the badass was not kicking my ass harder.

“You keeping Camden in the loop?” he asked.

“Yeah. She asked me to. And he’s keeping up with the rest of the family. She’s not up for having everyone over here making her more nervous, though I think she needs their support.”

He glanced back at the house. “I think she just needs yours.”

I turned to find her looking out the window at us, her eyes haunted and red, her face pale. It was like a mule kick to the center of my chest right then... I’d known for a while that I loved her, but today it felt like we were a real family. I no longer worked for her. I simply loved her and that little girl. They were mine and I was theirs, and that was the most humbling thing I’d ever felt in my life—because I now knew that God was not ignoring me when I’d pleaded and prayed with him all those years ago. He had answered me... by saying no. He had something so much better in store for me when I got to the other side of that pain and bitterness.

“You’re right,” I murmured. “Let me get back in there.”

I spun to go back inside and wrapped her back up in my arms, letting her borrow whatever strength she needed as she faced the rest of the detective’s questions while Kade made himself scarce in the dining area with my laptop. We’d worked together long enough that I knew he’d be stepping in to help me lock down security on all other fronts since we had no idea what else Sofia might be capable of at this point.

That left me free to focus on Olivia, who was barely holding it together, as she dug out a recent photo of Elizabeth for the police.

“Thank you,” a kind-eyed detective said. “We’ll use this to put together the Amber Alert bulletin, which should be going out within the hour.”

“Oh God.” Olivia turned to me, everything in her screaming silently in pain. “We’ll find her, won’t we?” she whispered.

I’d seen the looks on the cops’ faces. They all thought it was hopeless. I’d sworn to her I would always protect them... and I would give my life for either of them... but even I didn’t have a crystal ball.

And I wouldn’t go down without a fight.

So I told her a lie.

“Yes.”

Twenty-Nine

Olivia

Three hours later and nothing.

Sofia’s car had been found in the parking lot of student housing with no sign of Elizabeth. The police had brought in their scent dogs to look for her, starting at the daycare, but the trail had apparently run cold about a mile south.

I had never felt more helpless in my life, and my panic was bubbling just under the surface, ready to overflow to outright hysteria at any moment. Only Justin’s calm presence, as he handled all the details, kept me somewhat together, though even he couldn’t fix this. Nothing could fix this. I only wanted my baby back and nothing else.

My gut churned with relentless worry. What was happening? Was my little girl safe? Where was she? Was she scared? Had they hurt her?

God, what if—?

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