Page 42 of Be My Traitor

“You’re kidding?” Lucas grabbed my arms, then spun away from me, biting down on his fist to contain his happy cry.

“I would never kid about something like that,” I told him. “Dad said that he’ll give us all the information he’s got if we go and see him tonight.”

“That’s incredible! I can’t believe he found her so soon. I’ll have to do something nice for your dad to say thank you.”

“Don’t worry – I’m sure Dad will find a way of making sure you pay him back.” Knowing my father, he’d extract a very high price from Lucas, although the way Lucas looked right now, I really didn’t think he’d care.

“What’s the earliest you can get out of here?” Lucas asked.

“Amber’s on a field trip and they’re not due back until five,” I told him.

“Five?” Lucas’s face fell. “Can’t you get Claire to pick her up?”

“Normally I would, but she’s on leave this week. There isn’t enough time to get to my dad’s and back before I’m due to pick her up. I’m sorry, Lucas, but you’re going to have to be patient just a little while longer. You’ve waited this long to find your sister. A couple of hours isn’t going to make any difference.”

Lucas sighed. “You’re right. I just really want to find my sister, you know? All this time I thought I was alone in the world and it turns out that I have a family after all, a real one. She’ll be able to tell me all about my mother – she must have so many stories to tell. I can find out about where I came from. You have no idea how much it means to me to be able to learn things I never thought I’d know. I want to give my sister a big hug and tell her how much I love her, even though we’ve only just met.”

“I get that.” I smiled at Lucas. It was hard for me to understand what he was going through. Growing up in a large family, there were plenty of times I wished my siblings would disappear, but the truth was that I loved them all to bits and I couldn’t imagine what life would be like without my family, let alone having the kind of abusive upbringing Lucas had endured.

Lucas was about to say something else, but the bell rang to indicate the start of the school day, interrupting him.

I put my finger over his lips. “Hold that thought,” I said. “I’ll come and see you when I’ve finished teaching and maybe we can kill the time checking out that desk of yours.” I stood on tiptoe and dropped a quick kiss on his lips before leaving to go to my first class of the day.

“You look happy, miss. Have you got a new boyfriend?”

“N-no.” I flushed at the question from Charley, one of my pupils. “What makes you think that?”

“You’ve just been smiling all day and you’ve got that far away look in your eyes.” Charley exchanged a look with her friend, Maya. “We just thought you might have a boyfriend.”

“And we’re happy for you if you have,” Maya put in. “It’s about time you were with someone. You deserve to be happy. You’re our favourite teacher.”

“That’s very sweet of you to say, but no. I don’t have a new boyfriend. Now get along before you’re late for your next class.”

I covered my bluster by shuffling together papers on my desk as Maya and Charley slouched out of the room in that way only teenage girls can, giggling and nudging each other. Had it really been that obvious that I was seeing someone? If my pupils could tell that something was up, I wouldn’t stand a chance of hiding it from my friends and family.

For the rest of the day I was like a bear with a sore head, snapping at people in an attempt to pretend I wasn’t all that happy. It was exhausting – and it wasn’t fair on my poor students either who really didn’t deserve it. By the time the bell rang to signify the end of lessons, I wanted nothing more than to go home and put my feet up, but I had to hang around for Amber to come back from her trip.

On the upside, Lucas would still be in his office and he did have that very large desk…

Smiling, I grabbed my things and made to go over to see Lucas when my phone rang. Pulling it out, I saw someone was calling from a blocked number. Normally, I wouldn’t answer if I didn’t know who was calling, but some gut instinct told me this was important.

“Hello?”

“We have your daughter. Tell no one and wait for further instructions.”

Chapter 17

My blood turned to ice in my veins as I stared at the phone in my hands. It had to be a joke. A sick one, but a joke no less. I couldn’t believe someone had taken my beautiful child.

My phone rang again, this time with a number I knew. Hands trembling, I swiped the screen to answer.

“Hi, Kym. Is everything okay?”

The teacher was doing her best to sound professional, but I could hear the unmistakeable tremble in her voice.

“I don’t want to worry you, but we can’t find Amber. We need to send the rest of the children back to school because the driver can’t wait around much longer, but I’m going to stay here to help look for her. We’ve called the police and-”

I hung up on her. I didn’t need to hear anymore. They weren’t going to find my daughter. She was in the hands of some criminal gang and I had to get her back.

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