Page 53 of Fall

“I will find our daughter, I promise you,” he tells me, and if anyone else would have said that to me, I wouldn’t have believed them, but Harley is different.

“Madam?” a female police officer asks, moving to sit on the other side of me and pulling out a pad and pen. “Anything you can tell me, we can use. We have every available police officer looking for him and checking every car that leaves the village. But we need to know some things,” she tells me.

“I’m going to find him. I will bring Hope back home, Tilly,” Harley says, and I can’t speak as I watch him walk out, with Devon and Luke at his side. Sebastian, Elliot, and everyone other than Izzy is out looking. Except for my mum who is in the hospital with my father at her side.

“We spoke to your mother, she gave us a photo of Daniel. She told me that you ran away from him because he attempted to rape you, is that right?” the police officer asks once the room is empty of everyone other than Izzy and me.

“Yes. I didn’t know he knew about the baby,” I say in a whisper, watching as she writes things down on a pad.

“Tilly thought she saw him a few weeks ago, didn’t you?” Izzy says, and I nod. I should never have stayed here, not when my family came. I should have taken Hope and ran.

“Yes. Also, I’ve had someone cold call me several times a day, every day. I thought it was someone selling something with a bad connection,” I tell her and then burst into tears. “I’m so stupid, and Hope is gone because of me.”

“This is not your fault, Tilly,” Izzy says, pulling me into a hug. I let her rub my back as I haven’t been able to stop crying for a long time.

“It’s been hours, he could be hours away with her by now,” I say, knowing we have no idea how long my mum was out, and how long he has had Hope for.

“Harley won’t give up until he finds her, none of them will. Hope is a King, and we stick together,” Izzy tells me as I keep sobbing.

“If it helps, Miss, we believe he didn’t leave the village. Usually, men like this are obsessed with the mother as well. He might be waiting to lure you out,” the officer says gently, but I can’t hear her as I stand up.

“Then we go and search the village, I can’t stay here,” I say, smoothing my top down and picking up a tissue off the side. I wipe my eyes as Izzy stands up.

“Miss, we recommend that you stay here in case there is any news. I have to stay with you for your own protection,” she tells me.

“Then come with me, I’m not staying here. If Daniel wants me, he can find me. I don’t care, but I want to find my daughter,” I say, knowing that staying in this house, surrounded by her things, isn’t going to help me find her. Daniel is playing a game, a game to mess with me.

“Okay,” the officer says, nodding. Izzy doesn’t say a word as we get into my car and drive into town.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Harley

“You sure?” I ask Tilly’s oldest brother, Grayson, over the phone. I wasn’t surprised he had my number, as I checked the twentieth hotel we have been in today. They hadn’t seen any babies, and there has been no news from the police. The police have started going door to door in the village, but I doubt he is stupid enough to stay there.

“Look, don’t ask how I found out, but he is at that hotel in Blackpool. Go and get my niece back. I’m trusting you, Harley King. With everything I know about you and your family’s past, I’m trusting you,” he tells me, making it clear he knows a lot about my family as well. What the hell does Grayson Fox do for a living?

“You can trust me. Call Devon, as he’s with the others, and call Tilly to let her know what’s going on. I’m with Luke, my brother, and close to Blackpool,” I say, knowing we have been checking all the hotels all last night and all day today. It’s been over forty-eight hours since he took Hope. Thank God, we have some kind of lead. The police have been useless, and Tilly sounds more desperate every time I call her.

“I know who Luke is, and I will call the others. Bring Hope home,” he says, and then the line goes dead. I pull my car out of the carpark.

“Grayson says he is certain Daniel is at an old hotel near the beach in Blackpool,” I say, and Luke nods.

“Let’s find him then,” he says, and neither of us say anything more as I drive the ten minutes it takes to get to Blackpool. We were close. I pull up outside the little hotel that is on a range of old hotels on a tiny road. It’s an excellent place to hide; I’m sure the people who run it would take cash.

“I will get Hope, and you take her to the car. Daniel is mine to deal with,” I tell Luke.

“Dude, I’m not going to let you kill him. This isn’t The Cage, and Arthur isn’t here to hide the body. You just escaped, we all did. Let’s just get Hope and leave,” Luke says, pulling on my arm, but I shake him off.

“I won’t kill him, but he will wish I had,” I spit out and storm off up the steps of the hotel.

The entrance hall is small, with a desk and a young woman sitting behind it. She stands up when we walk in. “How can I help you? Do you have a booking?”

“No booking, but a man is staying here with a small baby. Which room?” I ask her.

“We can’t give information out about customers staying here,” she says, and I reach into my pocket, pulling out my wallet. I pull out the ten fifty-pound notes in there and slap it down on the desk.

“You can tell me, and take the cash. Or I can come around there and find the information I want,” I tell her, having had enough of this messing around.

---