Page 45 of Escaping the King
The fact that I had no fucking idea where they were was beside the point.
I needed to find them.
Bring them home.
I couldn't stand to think of them out in the world all alone.Without any of us.
So, I'd looked at a map and chosen the most logical route.
And then I'd left.
It couldn't have been more than ten minutes after my last phone call when the next one came in.I sent up a silent prayer that Giselle and Dani had been found.
Safe.
I swiped my screen.“Yeah,” was all I said and waited for Nick to speak.
“There's a pre-authorized charge on one of Carlo's credit cards.I have an address for you.”
A smile spread across my face.
And when Nick read out the address—that smile grew.
“I'm maybe a half hour away from there.I'll let you know when I arrive.”I tapped the screen and felt a jolt of exhilaration shoot through me.
I was going to find them.
I was going to find them and bring them home.
* * *
Forty-five minutes later,I was in the parking lot of a lower-middle range motel.
It wasn't great.But it wasn't crappy.
No frills, plain Jane lodging.
I jumped out of my car and headed for the front desk.
An older man stood behind it as he wrote in some kind of book on the counter.
He raised his head and squinted at me.“You need to be twenty-one to rent a room, boy.”
I nodded and cleared my throat.“Thanks for the warning,” I said, even though I had an I.D.that showed I was twenty-two.
I wasn't.
But my I.D.said I was.
“I'm actually here looking for my sister and my niece.”I pulled out my phone and scrolled through it.“Here they are.”I showed the man a picture of Giselle holding Dani on her lap.I'd been over for supper one night and snapped it.Dani was saying Unkie Asher to me and it sounded hilarious in her baby voice.
The man squinted and then grabbed his glasses.They hung around his neck on a chain.He slipped them on and took a closer look.“Ah, yeah.They left a short time ago.”He bent closer to my phone.“She was really nice.And the kid was cute, too.”
Bingo.
I quizzed him on a few more things, but from the sound of it, Giselle didn't mention where she was going next.
I thanked him and felt a little deflated.After I walked back outside, I stood on the sidewalk and looked around.
