Page 42 of Finding Gwen

“I’m switching cars. You can take your whiny ass son and do whatever. I don’t give a fuck.” Matt climbed out of the driver’s seat, quickly making his way around the car.

I looked to Ollie, trying to think of a way to protect him, when the silver bracelet around my wrist caught my attention. Why had I been so stupid? Acting fast, I took it off, pushing the charm like Anthony had shown me, and shoved it into the pocket of Ollie’s jacket. Anthony may not be happy with my choice, but he needed to be able to find his son. Knowing Anthony would find him put some of my frayed nerves at ease. I would be able to get away later.

“Daddy will find you, my sweet boy,” I whispered to Ollie, kissing his forehead. “You are so brave. I love you so much.” Matt yanked me from the car, Oliver’s renewed screams still audible after the door was closed. I forced back the tears threatening to escape. Matt would not get to see me cry.

Kimberly switched seats, a menacing grin on her face as she backed away and drove off. Matt yanked on my arm, causing me to stumble into him. Matt chuckled into my ear. “Let’s go, baby. I have plans for you.” I wasn’t going to follow willingly, not now that Ollie was out of the way. Spinning on my heel, I rammed my knee between his legs, making contact with my intended target.

“You stupid fucking bitch,” Matt’s grip on my arm loosened his hands flew down to cup his dick. You would think the asshole would have learned his lesson after the first time. I took a step backward and turned, breaking out into a run with no idea where I was going. Matt screamed something at me, but I forced myself to focus on getting as far away from him as I could.

A shot rang out. Searing pain on my thigh spread through my leg caused my knee to give out and I fell to the ground. Darkness creeped into the edges of my vision as I laid there. The last thing I saw was Matt standing over me with the gun pointed at my head. “I told you this wasn’t over…”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Anthony

Ihad no idea why I let Gwen convince me to meet Jason. The entire time I was gone, the only thing I could focus on was her. Jason understood, but still gave me a raised eyebrow every time I pulled out my phone to check her phone location. We didn’t even last an hour before he told me to get lost. A few weeks constantly in Gwen’s gravitational pull, and I was a goner. If this doesn’t convince me just how badly I needed her in my life forever, I didn’t know what else would.

I pulled into the driveway, deciding to make sure Gwen’s phone location was still showing them at the store, when I noticed something weird. It hadn’t updated the location in over ten minutes. As I stared at the screen, trying to get it to refresh, an emergency alert sounded–the one that meant the panic button on Gwen’s bracelet had been pressed.

Immediately, I tried calling her, but it was straight to voicemail. Without thinking, I threw my truck into reverse, pulling up the live location from the bracelet tracker as I backed onto the road. Rage clouded my vision, driving on autopilot as I followed the blinking dot as it moved.

If something happens to her or Oliver…

No, I wasn’t going to think about that. This was probably all a big misunderstanding. Gwen accidentally hit the button while getting things loaded into the car. She was fine. Oliver was fine.

The dot stopped, and I double checked the street address. The location was showing an apartment building, one known for housing drug dealers and the clientele they sold, too. I pushed on the gas, needing to get there faster. Whatever was going on, it wasn’t good.

I spotted Gwen’s car parked in front of a building, the tracker showing they were inside. Jumping out of my truck and grabbing my gun, I ran to the closest door and found myself kicking it down, all reason being thrown out the window. Nothing mattered more than Gwen and Oliver being safe.

“Daddy!” Tiny arms wrapped around my legs and I bent down, slipping my gun into its holster and scooping up Oliver. Tears ran down his cheeks and his little body shook against mine as I squeezed him tightly against me. “Ms. Gen said you find me and you did.”

“Always, figlio mio.” I kissed the top of his head, not loosening my grip even a fraction. He wrapped his arms around my neck, burying his face into my neck. I surveyed the small apartment. It was absolutely trashed, takeout bags and dirty clothes littering the floor. “Oliver, where is Ms. Gwen? Who’s here with you?”

He shook his head and as I started to ask again, a figure stumbled out of a door toward the back of the room and I barely recognized Kimberly. She was holding onto the wall as she walked, her body swaying fully from side to side with each step.

“Who the fuck are you?” she slurred as if she was drunk. My suspicions were confirmed when the smell of vodka burnt my nose. I had a death grip on Oliver, one hand protectively on his head to keep him from seeing his mother. She reached out as if to grab him, but I turned my body, forcing her to stop. “Give me my son.”

“Where is Gwen?” I asked, my voice calmer than I actually was. Her eyes lit up with recognition, the corner of her lips curling up into a smile that had me seeing red.

“Anthony. You came. Now we can be a family again.” She was out of her mind.

“Where is she, Kimberly?”

“You don’t need her, baby.” She tried to touch me, but I shrugged her off. Her smile disappeared as her eyes narrowed and she wavered on her feet, grabbing onto the wall for support to keep from falling. “What do I need to do to make you forget about that little fucking whore? That bitch shouldn’t be sleeping with other people’s husbands.”

“We are no longer married and haven’t been for years. I’m only asking one more time, where is Gwen?” I growled as images of my knife sticking out of the side of her neck and the life draining from her eyes flashed through my mind. My arms shook as I gripped onto Oliver tighter, focusing on my son to keep from losing whatever small amount of light that Gwen had planted in my heart.

“He took her. Good riddance,” she spat out, her back now against the wall as the grin had returned to her face. He? Was my ex-wife in partnership with the asshole that had attacked Gwen? Kimberly slid down the wall, crumpling onto the floor. I couldn’t bring myself to care whether she was okay or not.

I stormed out of the apartment, Oliver clutching onto me. Buckling him into the car, I draped a blanket over him while reassuring him that everything would be okay. I barely believed it myself, but Oliver didn’t need to know that. He had calmed down, relaxing into his seat with his eyes drifting shut as I closed the door. Pulling out my phone, I called in for an ambulance, then shot Jason a text telling him to meet me at the house.

My mind was spinning and I couldn’t think straight as I drove. How was I going to find Gwen? Every cell in my body was yearning to burn down this town to find her and bring her home safely. If that fucker had his hands on her, I would happily cut off each of his fingers and lay them in his lap. He would receive the slowest of deaths for touching what didn’t belong to him.

Parking in the driveway, I realized I had been running on autopilot. It wasn’t until I had stepped out of my truck did I realize there was a woman I didn’t know sitting on one of the porch chairs. Making sure Oliver was asleep, I made my way around the truck, a hand hovering on my gun that was still attached to my hip.

“Can I help you?” I called out, grabbing the attention of the mystery lady. She stood up quickly, seemingly startled by my approach. As I got closer, I noticed a suitcase sitting at her feet that I hadn’t before.

“Oh, thank goodness. I’ve been trying to get a hold of Gwen for hours. I wanted to surprise her and took an earlier flight, but apparently my plan has backfired.” The woman in front of me talked faster than I could process, but the voice was familiar.

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