Page 14 of Ours to Keep

Jax: I’m with Elliot and River. Ask her to do what she can to keep Mia talking and on the phone.

I show the screen to Lily, but her focus is on her phone in her lap, as if she can see Mia through the screen.

“Why wouldn’t I be? I’m just with Daddy. It was an early Christmas present. You’re such a worrier, Lils. He surprised me and brought me to the South of France,” she says.“I wish you were here. But he said you were busy.”

Fucking arsehole.

Lily’s eyes roam to mine, her hands visibly shaking as she ponders how to respond.

“Yeah, I’m sorry. Maybe I can try to get over there and meet you. Where exactly are you?” she asks.

“Hmm, somewhere in the South of France, I think,” Mia replies. “You should see this Yacht Lils. You’d love it.”

Lily frowns and clears her throat. “Maybe you could send mesome photos. Speaking of, where’s your phone, Mia? I don’t recognise this number.”

Mia lets out a groan. “I don’t know. I think I lost it,” she admits. “But it’s okay. Daddy promised to buy me the latest iPhone.”

“So whose phone are you using?” Lily asks.

I give her an encouraging nod.

“I borrowed it from one of the deckhands. Daddy wouldn’t let me use his phone. Can you believe that? He said something about wanting to be unplugged.”

I keep glancing down at my phone, hoping to see a message from Elliot, wondering if he’ll be able to get a pinned location. I know he has access to a server for emergency services and law enforcement.

“Shit, Lils, I’ve got to go, Daddy’s coming.”

“No, Mia, wait!” Lily’s voice trembles with desperation, her fingers gripping the phone as if it’s her only lifeline. I can see the fear and anxiety etched into her features, her whole body tense, ready to break. I keep my phone in my lap, my eyes darting between the message thread and Lily’s distraught face.

The line goes dead, and the silence that follows is suffocating. Lily stares at the screen, her breaths coming in short, shallow gasps. I gently place my hand on her shoulder, offering what little comfort I can.

“Lily, we’ll find her,” I assure her, even though I can’t guarantee anything. The uncertainty of Mia’s situation gnaws at me as well.

She nods, but the tears that spill down her cheeks tell a different story. “She’s with him, Tommy. What if he?—”

“We won’t let that happen,” I cut in, my voice firm. “We’ll get her back.”

My phone buzzes with a new message from Elliot.

“Elliot couldn’t get a trace,” I say. “But we have a numbernow, so he’s working on it, okay? We’re so much closer than we were five minutes ago.”

Her sobs are my undoing as she clutches her side, no doubt her ribs hurting. I move the tray to the side, and before I can think better of it, I climb onto the small space beside her on the bed. As carefully as I can, I pull her body into mine. Her arm reaches over, and she holds onto me as I rub soothing circles over her back.

“She sounded okay, though, right? Just excited to be wherever they were?” she says in a whisper.

“Yeah, she sounded like herself, excited even.”

I feel her body physically relax a little.

“Do you think I should risk trying to call her back?”

“No, let her call you. If Richard gets wind of you trying to contact her through whomever’s phone, that was, we could risk losing communication altogether.”

I hold Lily, feeling her tense muscles relax as she leans into me. The room is quiet except for the occasional hum of hospital machinery and the murmur of distant voices. Her breathing starts to even out, and I can feel the shift in her, the moment when exhaustion takes over and her body surrenders to it.

“Try to rest, Lily,” I whisper, brushing a strand of hair from her face.

She nods weakly, her eyelids drooping. I stay with her, holding her close, offering her the only comfort I can. My thoughts race, the need to find Mia burning in my chest. I think about the man who took her, the monster we know all too well. The anger that surges through me is familiar, a constant companion since my days as a prisoner of war. But I push it down, focusing on Lily, on the moment.

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