Page 33 of Four Times Saved

But Lily was almost home, damn it.

"Don't worry. This is still good news. At least we know not to keep looking in North Carolina. The report will go live all over the news a little later, but in the meantime, we have a team on the ground in Virginia. Both the military and the police force are involved in the search. There's no way we won't find her."

With that, she hung up and I was left in an emotional limbo, my hand with the phone going limp at my side.

"What did they say?" Ethan blared from behind me.

"I guess they have it under control?" I turned to face them. "So, I guess now we just sit tight and wait until we get the call to pick her up."

"Like that'll be easy." Ryan walked up and down the hallway, shaking his head.

"Yeah, but at least we know she's still alive, right?" Matt swallowed.

"Yeah, but what was she doing at the hospital?" I swiped my hand over my face. The pulse beneath my cold-to-the-touch skin was a mere echo.

"The point is she's alive. We don't have to sit around and do nothing. If they say they're onto it, we should assume she'll be home soon, right? So we need to prepare the house for her." Ethan's voice shook a little with his attempt to be in high spirits. "We should go to her house and get some of her stuff, you know her clothes and shoes? She must be dying for some fresh clothes. Or do you think she'd prefer brand new clothes? There's no way she's going back to that house to live. We could get her favorite foods. She might need to go back to the hospital for a check-up though." I think Ethan had forgotten we were all still standing in front of him.

He was lost in his rambling and we were hanging on to his every word, because what else were we supposed to do?

"That's a good idea." Ryan took a deep breath and nodded. "I'll head over to her house right away." He started setting off when all of our phones pinged.

It was that unknown number again, and we all froze. In silence, we clicked on the message. There was a dull pounding in my head. It was another video, and from the still image, our hearts dropped. It was Lily. His grimy hand was in her hair, pulling her head back. She was on her knees, crying and surrounded by trees. We hit play, bile making a bitter stew in my stomach. Her cries were gut-wrenching.

"No, please!" she screamed.

A handgun entered the frame, pressed up against her skull.

Chapter 17

Lily

As the muzzle of the firearm bore into the side of my temple, every single day leading up to this moment flashed through my head like a story reel. There was a time in my life, before I had the good sense to know better, when I wanted my father's love. Those days were so long ago, I forgot they even existed.

I thought about my mother, when she was vibrant, before I knew she was struggling. Man, I couldn't believe I thought she was old then. But to a seven-year-old, everyone is old. She was still young though, even if she was almost forty. I wondered what her life was like before she met the monster of a man she was crazy enough to marry. Or who she was before she had us, me and my brother. I even shed a tear for that asshole. Guess I'd be meeting him again soon.

And Eric. Oh, how much time I wasted being mad at him. We could've had so many years together. I could've met his friends earlier. I would have avoided the car crash that was Marco. Instead, all we got were a few good months together, and that was it.

If I could pause this moment and reverse time, I would've called him, reached out to him on social media and asked him why he left. I would've professed my love, no matter how embarrassing it would've been for me since he ran after our first kiss. I wouldn't have spent years hating that I loved him.

My belly dropped to my knees with a thud as I thought about the wedding I never knew I wanted until the past couple of months. The wedding I'd never have. A ridiculous ceremony where I married four men at once.

I cursed myself for sending them away, and for refusing Ethan's offer. Of course it was insane for me to subject them all to living with me in that tiny house. I wasn't sure how serious I was about all of them or how possible it was for us to last longer than a good time. I didn't want to rush into anything. I thought I had all the time in the world to make a decision.

I was wrong. Bad decisions had led me here and I could kick myself. Couldn't I ever do anything right?

"Your girl made a deadly mistake," he said over my head.

My heart turned over and I waited to hear their voices. Nothing.

"Guys? I love you so much!" I screamed my last words.

"Shut up bitch!" He slammed me one with the butt of his gun and stars began to dance before my eyes. "They can't hear you and you're interrupting my flow," he grumbled.

I was baffled by the fact that my life was in the hands of this idiot, that his pea brain could organize this. It was even harder for me to think that Terry's single brain cell could come up with all of this, but he didn't need a brain cell to be ruthless. He'd always been a no good, piece of shit person. Man, I hated him.

That inner child that craved her father's love had been more than just disappointed once again. Where even was he, anyway?

"As I was saying..." The idiot pressing the gun against my skull continued. "Your girl thought it would be fun to play games."

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