Page 24 of Escaping the King
“One step at a time,” I muttered to myself.In the past, that always helped.Thinking about tasks in chunks.One at a time.
One foot in front of the other.
It was hard not to think too far in advance.But if you did that, you risked getting ahead of yourself—and missing things.
Getting sloppy.
And the last thing I could afford right now was being sloppy.
I turned the radio on and hoped it would give Dani's mind something to concentrate on—other than her dada.A love song came on the radio, and I suddenly got a lump in my throat.I quickly turned it to a country station and stared ahead into the dark road ahead.
7
Carlo
The knock at the door made my heart jump.Was it them?
Were Giselle and Dani at the front door?
I ran through the house and yanked open the door, hoping to see the two people I loved most in this shitty world.
“Aww, see?I told you we should have warned him we were coming over,” Eve chastised her husband.My face must show my disappointment.
I stepped back and let them in.They were here alone.No kids.
“Any word?”was all Nick asked as he strode inside.
Eve turned around and looked up at me expectantly.
I shut the door.“Nothing.”
After I spun back around, Eve was there, ready to hug me.And I took it.I knew she was worried about her friend.I also knew she loved me.So, she'd be concerned for how I was feeling right now.
“Did you talk to—” I started to say right before my brother opened the front door.“I guess you did,” I mumbled into the top of Eve's head.
Stefan stared at me with a mix of hatred and—I wasn't sure what else.
“I assume that since you're here, you haven't heard from Giselle?”
He shook his head and walked right by us, and into the living room where Nick was standing.They shared a few words, but their voices were too low for me to hear.
“We'll find them.”Eve hugged me tighter until Nick interrupted.
“My dear, come help us, please?”His hand waved her over.
Eve moved away and swayed over to her husband.He slid his arm around her back.“I want you to look around.See if anything's missing.”
She looked up at Nick and gave him a small frown.“Um, okay.Yeah.”She didn't seem very confident.But because Eve was Eve—she did what her husband asked.
I watched her wander around the living room, taking everything in.And then she went into the kitchen and slowly and methodically looked in every drawer and cabinet.
“We'll find them.”Nick walked up to me and stood at my side.I nodded, but I wasn't feeling as confident as him right at this moment.
Eve was thorough in her search.Giselle's kitchen was small.It didn't take her long to look in every cabinet and drawer.
She spun around to us.“All of her sippy cups are gone.Which is really weird.The most Giselle ever packs for an outing is one or two.And I think there were at least eight in here.”She pointed at the cabinet beside the sink.“Dani's picky about what she drinks out of.She likes a certain brand and that's it.”
“Fuck,” Stefan said and barged full steam ahead into the kitchen.He opened the cabinet and looked in it himself.“Fuck,” he repeated and slammed the door shut.Then he looked inside the fridge.Another “Fuck.”And he closed the door with force.
