Page 104 of Finding His Redemption

Mariah’s face went pale. “Oh, honey.”

“They can’t find him.” The words came out strangled. Her chest felt like it was collapsing in on itself, each breath a struggle. “He’s been gone twenty minutes.”

Twenty minutes. Oliver was small for his age and somewhere out there alone. The storm clouds were rolling in fast, and the temperature was dropping. He didn’t even have his jacket because it had been so warm this morning.

“Okay.” Mariah’s voice was steady, grounding. “Okay, we’ll find him. Where would he go? Does he have a favorite hiding spot?”

Nessie’s mind went blank. She didn’t know. She couldn’t think.

Except…

“Oh, God. He wouldn’t try to go to the ranch, would he?”

“I’ll get the car,” Mariah said and ran for the door.

Nessie grabbed her phone again and hesitated over Jax’s number for a split second. She’d just told him she couldn’t have him around her son. How could she call him now?

But Oliver was out there, scared and alone. Pride wasn’t worth her son’s safety.

She dialed.

“Nessie?” Jax sounded rough, uncertain.

“Oliver’s missing.” Saying it out loud made it feel even more real, and tears sprang to her eyes. “He ran away from school. I-I think he’s trying to go to the ranch, but it’s so far…”

“I’m coming.” No hesitation. No questions. “Where do you want to meet?”

“The school, I guess. I—” She couldn’t finish the sentence. Couldn’t admit how terrified she was, how much she needed him right now.

“I’ll be there as fast as I can. He’ll be okay, Nessie. We’ll find him,” he said with absolute certainty, and hung up.

Nessie grabbed her keys and purse, her hands still shaking. As she locked the bakery, Mariah’s car pulled up, followed by two other vehicles. In the battered pickup was Delwyn Marks, the owner and bartender at the Rusty Spur, and the SUV belonged to Cody and Jodie Simms, who owned the hardware store.

Word was already spreading.

Del rolled down his window. “We’ll find him, Nessie. Whole town’s on alert.”

“Thank you.” She could barely squeeze the words out as she slid into the passenger side of Mariah’s car. She turned to buckle and saw more cars filling Main Street—too many cars for a sleepy Monday afternoon. “How do they all know?”

“I called Margery Pendry,” Mariah said simply, as if that explained everything.

Thiswas why she’d stayed when Brandt wanted to relocate them. Maybe Solace wasn’t safe anymore…

But at least when she needed help, the whole town came running.

chapter

thirty-one

When they reached the school,a small crowd had gathered in the parking lot. Principal Martinez was there, along with two deputies and a handful of parents. Nessie recognized some of them—customers from the bakery, people she’d smiled at and made small talk with, but never really gotten to know.

They all looked at her with a mixture of sympathy and curiosity. She could practically hear their thoughts:Poor thing. That whole mess with the murder suspect? No wonder the kid’s acting out.

The sound of engines made her turn. Three Valor Ridge trucks pulled into the parking lot, and her heart clenched as Jax jumped out of the passenger seat of the first one before it even stopped rolling. He was dressed in mud-spattered jeans and boots, his shirt still damp with sweat, and she didn’t care. She threw herself into his arms the moment he got close.

“Hey, shh,” he murmured, smoothing a hand over her hair. “We’ll find him.”

The solid warmth of his chest against her cheek, the familiar scent of sawdust and soap clinging to his shirt—it anchored her, pulled her back from the edge of panic that had been clawing at her throat since the phone call. She pressed her face into hisshoulder and breathed him in, letting herself take comfort in his presence for just a moment.

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