Page 14 of Ruined

“Wilder?” The thought hits me, and I ask the group. Everyone pauses and stares at me. “I know a lot. She didn’t tell me it all, but I’ve seen the reports.”

“It’s possible, but he would have taken her. She walked away of her own free will.”

“Her GPS was disabled at six thirty this morning. The box says another computer linked up and wiped it,” Titan offers as he clicks away. No one asks how he’s able to find things that Keys can’t. It’s not just because he’s that good, which he is. But it’s also because he has access to programs that are military grade.

“Do you have an address of where she was when it went dead?”

“Yeah.” He rattles off an address, which sets Jinx off.

“We know who’s there. She did this on her own. I still don’t know why.”

“Mommy, what’s up?” Sky walks into the large office. She looks around, and I can tell she’s a little nervous. She’s hiding something.

“Little Bear, where did you go with Frenchie yesterday?”

She smiles and starts rattling off places. “After Tae Kwon Do, we went to Fred Meyers, but they didn’t have what she wanted. So we went to Safeway next. But she didn’t buy anything there.” She looks down and starts fidgeting with her fingers.

“Baby, did something happen at the store?”

“Um.” She looks around the room and walks to her dad, who picks her up.

“Little Sunshine, tell Mommy what she needs to know.”

“I can’t,” she says so softly that we all lean forward to hear. “I pinkie promised.”

“Shit.” Riddler moves around her desk and to her daughter. “Little Bear, sometimes you can break a pinkie promise if the other person is in danger.”

“But Frenchie won’t ever trust me again if I break our promise.”

“Yes, she will, baby,” Thad says, trying to get her to tell us what she knows.

“You promise?”

“I do, Little Sunshine.”

“A man came up to us. She accidentally hit him with the cart, and I thought he was mad about that. But then he leaned down and whispered to her. All I heard was that he would ‘kill them all.’ He was super scary, Mama. He was also stinky.”

“Thank you, Little Bear.” Riddler kisses her cheek and then lets her mom take her out before we start again. “That sounds like Wilder.”

“Keys and Titan, I need footage of the Safeway on this side of town. We need to confirm it was him.”

“On it,” they both say, then sit down, mumbling.

“I need to make a phone call. You can stay here.” She points to me. “Vixen, give the man a break. By this note, she loves him too.”

“I’m worried. The last time she said she wasn’t whole and had to go was when she tried to take her life.” Vixen’s words cause my heart to clench.

“No, she isn’t that low,” I say.

“You don’t know. You weren’t there. She was a complete wreck. Then her mother called her ruined and used up.”

“I love her, and I want her alive. If it means I walk away from her to help her, I will.”

“Give me a moment,” Riddler says as the sound of ringing fills the room. She has the phone on speaker.

“I knew you’d call.” A man’s deep voice comes across the line.

“Did she go to you?”

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