Page 30 of Never Forget You

I collapse into sobs, so much crying that I can hardly keep it together. I feel like I am falling apart at the seams and there isn’t anything to hold me together. Ella is gone. Ben followed through on his threat and he’s killed me. Killed me dead. I can’t live without Ella, he knows that. Especially when I don’t even think he wants her.

“We will do everything that we can to find her.” He continues doing absolutely nothing to make me feel any better at all. “We have a squad out there now looking for her. Ben won’t get away with this.”

But this man doesn’t know who he’s messing with. He doesn’t have a clue who Ben is and what he’s capable of. Nor do I, really, but I’m sure it’s dreadful. The way that he smacked me about for no reason, just because he didn’t want me to win, is a sure sign that this man doesn’t care about anyone but himself.

Oh, God.All of a sudden, I remember something else. My brain aches too much for everything to come back to me all at once, but now it’s hit me hard. Harry was here, wasn’t he? Harry triedto help me and Ella but he was being beaten. Beaten to a pulp, and now… now, I don’t know what the hell is going on with him.

“Ha–Harry?” I turn to look at the police officer. “What happened to him as well?”

“He’s with the paramedics right now and will be taken to the hospital. They will want to see you as well.”

I shake my head hard. “I’m not going anywhere until I know where Ella is. I’m fine,” I shoot back dismissively. “My daughter… she’s the one… I need to know where she is. I want her here and I want her now.”

But the police officer gives me nothing. He isn’t telling me a damn thing at all, so I demand to use a phone. I need to speak to someone,anyonewho will know what to do here, and there is only one person I can think of. Mom. Thankfully, I know her cell phone number by heart because I don’t know what happened to my phone.

“Hello? Who is this?” Mom answers in a tart, posh sounding voice. This must be the way that she feels like she has to act in front of other people, which is sad. Why can’t she just be herself? It’s a real shame.

“M–Mom,” I stammer out, the emotion getting far too much for me. “Mom, Ben came here. He was… was violent with me, Mom. He took Ella and I don’t know where he is now. I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

“Oh, my God, Georgia, what’s going on? What’s happened? Ben has Ella? But he didn’t want Ella?”

“It’s just to punish me, Mom.” I sob hard. “I need you. I need you here, can you come? I’ll give you my address.”

She agrees right away, and I reel off the address to her, desperately wishing that she could just be here already. I know that it’s obviously going to take her a while, but I need her now. I’ve never needed my mom more than I do right now. I’ve always tried to survive on my own, but now I can’t any longer. I’m hurt, lost, and my daughter is missing. This is the perfect time for my mother to help me. I don’t think that I can cope without her.

“Please be quick, Mom,” I say in a deep rasp. “Please, I can’t cope. I don’t know what to do.”

I only end the call when the police officer tells me that the paramedic needs to see me. I need to get this health professional off my back because I’mnotgoing to the hospital. Not when my daughter is out there somewhere. Not a chance. I’m going to search for her somehow, find her wherever she may be, and save her. There is no way in hell that I’m going to let Ben keep her. He might have a lot of money, but I’ve got more fight in me. He’s about to find out how much. He shouldn’t fuck with a mother like me because I love Ella too much to let her go.

24

HARRY

“Stop it,” I call out angrily as I try to get the paramedic off me. “I’m fine. I don’t need anyone to look at me.”

I probably do. I’m in absolute agony, hurt all over, but this isn’t about me right now. There is the much more pressing issue that I brought Ella here into danger. I stupidly didn’t follow any of the school protocol. I brought her into danger, forcing her to see things that she definitely shouldn’t have seen, and also to be kidnapped by a madman.

I will never forgive myself for this, ever, and if something happens to her… no, I can’t even think about it. It churns me up inside. I want to throw up even imagining it. And that’s just me. I can’t even begin to imagine how Georgia must be feeling. She got hurt in this as well, and if I don’t find her soon, I’m going to lose my mind.

“Just let me go and see her,” I bark angrily to the man who is really only trying to help me. “Sorry, but…”

I push him off me despite his desperation to make me better and stagger to my feet. My vision blurs, but it’s been doing that onand off ever since the horrible beating that I got. I tried to defend myself, but I didn’t want to fight back to make this even worse for Ella. I didn’t want her to see me harming her father, however angry and wild he was. That would have affected her in a terrible way. But now that he’s injured both me and Georgia badly and taken her away, all I can think of is everything that I should have done differently. I could’ve protected everyone so much better.

“Georgia,” I call out, not sure where she is at the moment. “Georgia, I’m sorry. I feel so bad. I shouldn’t…”

All of a sudden, her arms are around me. I can feel her clinging tightly to me in gratitude and in desperation. Every emotion that’s circling through me is rocketing through her as well. We are in this together.

“I’m so sorry,” I gasp out desperately. “I didn’t know… I didn’t know… I didn’t think that this would happen.”

“It isn’t your fault. Ben is just a terrible person.” She does her best to reassure me, not that it gets me anywhere. I still feel just as shitty about it. “But I won’t let him have her. He can’t keep her. Iwillget Ella back.”

“Do the police know where she might be?” God, I hope so. The sooner we get Ella, the better. “Have they got any idea? I can go and look for her if you want. I won’t let Ben hurt me again. He won’t hurt anyone.”

“Youarehurt, Harry, already. You need help, you have to go to the hospital. You need to let them take you.”

“He hurt you as well,” I remind her. “He hit you too, didn’t he? Don’t you need to go to the hospital?”

“They checked me over already and they want me to go, but I don’t need to. I might go when Ella is back, but for now, I have to stay here.” Her hands touch my cheeks. “But you… he really hit you bad. You need to go.”

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