Page 87 of Connor

“Does Daisy know them? Were they in contact?” Dad asks, and they both shake their heads.

“No. Never. I have never seen him or spoken to him since I left.”

“Daisy doesn’t know anything about them. It’s a past life…” her father starts, and I interject.

“Not anymore. Now it’s very fucking present.” I’m angry, knowing that they were aware of the threat before Daisy made her way to Whispers and never once mentioned it. I move around a little, wanting to start doing something, anything, that will get me closer to finding her.

“We didn’t know they were capable of this. We didn’t know he would even find her,” Rainbow implores.

“Why did you leave the commune?” the sheriff asks her, his pen and notepad out, taking notes, when all I want to do is get in a fucking truck and drive to where they are.

“I was born into it. From a young age, we are taught to obey the men. From the age of fourteen onward, I was repeatedly forced into bed with a young man whom I now understand to be the leader of the commune. It was there I fell pregnant with Daisy,” she explains, and my head whips around to look at Daisy’s father.

“Daisy isn’t my biological daughter,” he admits.

I’m shocked into stillness for a moment.

“Daisy didn’t mention that,” I say, frowning, wondering why she hasn’t confided in me.

“Daisy doesn’t know,” he says, concern lining his features. I feel like I have been hit in the gut, knowing how much pain this is going to bring to Daisy.

“Once I was pregnant, I knew I couldn't raise a baby up there, especially if it was a girl. I didn’t want her to go through the same horrible experiences I did. So in the middle of the night, I left. I had memorized the way to the highway from our few trips to town to get supplies. I ran and ran until I got to the road,” Rainbow says, pausing for a moment as she wipes her teary eyes.

“I picked her up on my way home from an accounting conference. Thought a hitchhiker might make good company on the long drive back to the city,” Daisy's father continues for her.

“It wasn’t until I got out of the commune life and met Gerald that I learned I’d been brainwashed, and it was more likely a cult. Psychedelics will do that to you.” She looks at the sheriff, but I don’t care about her drug-fueled past.

“Where is it? This commune?” I ask, too harshly. I’m going to break out of my skin. Daisy could be there, subjected to what her mother had experienced.

“It’s called Forest Falls. It’s about three hours south of here,” she tells us.

“Can you indicate the location on the map?” the sheriff asks, showing her a screen, a map of the area already up and synced to all our phones.

“Three hours south, in the forest next to the border,” she says, pointing to a spot within a thick forest. There are no roads or dwellings on the map, nothing at all to indicate people live there.

“She’s in the middle of fucking nowhere!” I yell, frustrated I can’t just get her and bring her home to me right this second.

“Helicopters?” Dad asks, and I pull out my cell, ready to get a whole fucking fleet here if I need to.

“No, the forest is too dense. You can’t land,” the sheriff says, and I fist my hand so hard I almost crack my phone.

“We will need to drive all the way in,” Dad says as we all look over the map and zoom in, seeing a small dirt road.

“The roads are barely drivable. We need to wait for backup. We don’t know what they have by way of weapons. Cultists usually stockpile a range of things, and they don’t like visitors. We’ll get some drones into the air,” the sheriff says.

“No. They will hear them, know we are coming, and scatter deeper into the forest,” Rainbow says, panicked, and I nod in agreement.

“No drones,” Dad agrees, and I grit my teeth. This is all taking too long.

“Fuck them. I’m going.” I’m already walking to my truck, sick of waiting, sick of standing around, not wanting to think of what they may have already done to her.

“I’ll go with you,” Dad says, grabbing Victoria, who looks concerned, giving her a quick kiss before he runs after me to the truck.

“We’re coming too,” Daisy’s parents say in unison, and the two of them run behind me, jumping into the back as the sheriff continues yelling at us to stop and wait.

But we don’t.

I’m already out of the airport before he and his team are running to their cars as well, as does our security team. It’s three hours away, and we need to get therenow.

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