Page 42 of Cautious

“There’s more. I found a smear of blood on the floor in her mother’s room. There’s no spatter and no drops, and definitely not enough to cause anyone any major concern. It looks like a streak of blood from someone who was already bleeding, like from, say, a cut to their forehead,” he concludes. It doesn’t take much for me to fill in the blanks.

“You think she fell and hit her head on the floor, and because she was bleeding from the bump she took in the car, it left a trace behind,” I state, trying to picture it in my head, but the thought of Callie bleeding is more than I can stomach.

“Yeah, but Blake, if it was an accident and she just tripped and fell, where is she? I know this isn’t what you want to hear, but I think she was taken,” Marcus says quietly, his voice almost drowned out by the roaring in my ears.

“Christian,” I spit out vehemently, turning to face Arlo, who came in behind me. “Chase up the security guy. I want that footage now.”

“Yes, boss,” he answers, leaving the room to do my bidding.

“Anyone talk to the mother yet?”

Marcus shakes his head. “She was in and out of consciousness when I checked the room out earlier. Freaked out so much the nurse asked me to leave. She looks bad, man. I heard the nurse say she has a fractured eye socket and that she has broken her nose, wrist, and collarbone. Every inch of her is covered in bruises, but they say she’ll make a full recovery.”

“Felix and I will go talk to her. She’ll recognize me, at least. Marcus, I want you to wait with Kellen for the security footage,then call me as soon as you have it. Kellen, have you been checked out?” I ask, noticing how he’s favoring his right side.

“I’m fine, just bruised, but I’ll live. Go, talk to the mother.”

I don’t argue with him. He’s a big boy, and if he says he’s okay, then he’s okay. Even so, I catch Marcus’s eye and give him a look that says, “Keep an eye on him.” I know he gets it when he nods at me.

“Banner will be here any minute. Fill him in and get him to talk to the security guards from the ground floor. See if they saw anything,” I call over my shoulder as I follow Felix down the corridor. I stop when he points to the last but one room on the left.

“Excuse me, sir, you can’t go in there,” a nurse calls from behind us.

Felix turns and dazzles her with one of his rare smiles before answering. “Blake here is her son-in-law, and I’m her nephew. Apart from her daughter, we are the only family she has left.”

Her face softens at the worried tone of his voice before she relents and gives in. “Fine, but you have ten minutes. She needs to rest,” she tells us before turning back the way she came.

I open the door and find a woman staring at me fearfully when I enter the room. I frown at her in confusion before apologizing. “Sorry, ma’am, wrong room.” I move to back out, but Felix blocks my way.

“Where are you going?” he asks, attempting to step around me.

“This is the wrong room,” I snap. We don’t have fucking time for this.

“What are you talking about? Callie’s mother is right there.” He points at the woman and stares at me like I’m on drugs.

“That woman is not Callie’s mother.”

Felix looks at me incredulously before walking over to the chart hanging from the bottom of the bed. “See, it says right here. Brenda Roberts, age forty-five.”

“Felix, I don’t know who this woman is, but she is not Callie’s mother.”

Callie

I come to with a groan. Sharp stabbing pain in my head feels like someone is trying to dig my eyeball out with a pickaxe. I roll over just in time to throw up over the side of the bed I’m lying on. Struggling to open my eyes, I wince when the bright light blinds me. I snap them shut, then take a deep breath in and out, and repeat it over and over until the surge of nausea passes.

This time, I open my eyes slowly, letting in the light little by little. Turning my head gently, I take in my surroundings, realizing belatedly that I have no godly idea where I am. The room is white: the walls, the lacy bedding I’m lying upon, as well as the blinds that are at the windows. Even the furniture is white, from the bedframe to the dresser on the far wall.

How the hell did I get here? Where the fuck even is here?

Then the hazy images flashing through my mind become clear as the fog begins to lift like a veil. The hospital. The woman at the hospital who was not my mother. And finally, Christian fucking Baylor jabbing me in the neck with something.

I hear the click of a lock being turned so I snap my eyes shut once more. The knowledge that Christian took me and brought me here, locking me inside, threatens to make my heart beat right out of my chest. I can’t play possum and pretend I’m asleepforever, but I need to do something to buy myself some time for Blake to find me.

If there is one thing I’m sure of, it’s that Blake won’t stop looking for me until I’m back in his arms.

“Callie, Callie, Callie.” Christian’s voice calls my name in a mocking, singsong tone that straight up makes me feel like I’m in a horror movie, and I want to curl up into a ball and cry.

Cracking my eyes open, I mimic my actions from earlier and groan, throwing in a few dry heaves for good measure before focusing on Christian and another man standing beside him.

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