Page 57 of Property of Max
The officer doesn’t even look up from his computer. “Ma’am, if she was signed out, then someone authorized must have picked her up. We can’t file a missing child report until she’s been gone for at least twenty-four hours.”
“Twenty-four…are you insane?” My chest tightens so badly I can’t breathe. “She’s ten years old. She’s been gone for less than two hours, and you want me to wait a whole damn day?”
“Calm down,” he says flatly, as if I’m a nuisance.
Why is everyone telling me to calm down when my child in missing?
My vision blurs, fury and terror mixing until I nearly collapse. Bree’s face flashes in my mind. Her smile, her laughter. Her pure innocent joy.
“Please,” I whisper. “Please, she’s just a little girl.”
The officer sighs, still unmoved. “Fill out this form, and if she doesn’t turn up, we’ll take the next steps.”
I slam my hands on the counter, and the world tilts.
The doors behind me explode open. Heavy boots cut across the tile, and Max is there before I can form the next frantic sentence. Arms already around me, pulling me into the solid wall of him. His chest is hot against my face, his heartbeat a hard drum beneath my ear.
“She’s gone, Max,” I sob, words coming out in ragged gasps. “I can’t find her and they won’t do anything until she’s been…”
“I know.” His voice is a low, dangerous thing. He tucks my head against his neck, and the strong sound of his pulse steadies me for a second. Then I feel the phone pressed to his jaw, the click of a call. “Ten minutes. Meet us at the clubhouse,” he says into the phone, voice flat and fast. He hangs up and looks at me with an intensity that makes my knees weaken.
“I can’t leave,” I babble. “I have to find her…oh no. Micah…I have to get home…I have to…” The world narrows to a pinpoint of white light, and then it rushes up at me. Everything tilts. My vision blurs. I try to force air into my lungs and fail.
Black closes my eyes.
I’m falling.
Strong hands catch me. Not the counter, not the tile…someone holds me steady. Max’s arms tighten, one hand braced under my shoulders, the other cradling my head. His breath is hot on my temple. For a beat, I feel unbelievably small and unbelievably held.
And so very unbelievably lost.
Chapter Fifteen
Max
“Cody’s at the apartment with Micah,” I tell the men around me. “Nurse is with them. I told him to act normal. Say Lila and Bree are out with the girls. No sense in putting that kind of worry on the kid.”
“Good,” Spike nods. He turns to Foster. “So, why’d you call us away from the station?”
Foster lifts his phone, eyes sharp. “Because I have the school’s security feed. The sign-out sheet shows Bree was checked out a little after eleven this morning by a man named Christopher Campton.”
“Her father,” I mutter, my jaw tight. “Except Lila swore he told her it wasn’t him.”
Foster rotates the screen toward us. “I can’t confirm or deny if this is actually him. The angle’s bad. But what we do know is that Bree didn’t resist. She lit up the second she saw him, ran straight into his arms. So, whether it’s her father or not, it’s someone she knows. Someone she trusts.”
“Let me see,” Lila’s groggy voice drifts from the couch.
We’re back at my old house inside the compound. When Foster called and said to forget the cops and to come back, I held her against my chest and flew us back on my bike.
Patch was already here when we returned and gave her a quick exam. I knew she’d just fainted, but I wanted his word on it. He said it plain: her mind hit overload, and her body shut down before it broke her completely. Self-defense of the brain.
Now she’s awake, pale and trembling, but still fighting to sit up. Still demanding to see what Foster’s uncovered.
I help her sit up, fingers steady at the small of her back until I’m sure she won’t tip. Foster un-pauses the feed and turns the phone so we can all see.
“That’s him,” she says, voice raw. She shakes her head like she can’t believe it. “That’s Chris. He said he didn’t pick her up. Why would he lie?”
“Are you sure, baby?” I ask, leaning in. “His face is mostly hidden.”
