Page 59 of The Monster I Loved
Frozen, I stood on the corner of the sidewalk watching Thaddeus move through the crowd, clearly unraveling. From one pedestrian to the next, he abruptly jumped in front of them, giving each no other option but to stop, then shoved his phone in their faces. Thaddeus’s hand was shaking so badly I could see it from here.
“Have you seen this boy? He’s missing. Please take another look.”
Each person shook their head no before Thaddeus ran to stop another one.This has seriously wrecked him.I didn’t think I’d ever seen him this frantic. The desperation in his voice wasunnerving. Each time I heard him ask the questions, my heart broke a little more.
He just wants to know that Wylie is safe. I could see it in his eyes, hear it in the waver in his voice. Thaddeus Fitzgerald charged down the sidewalk, suit wrinkled, hair a mess, begging strangers for help.
Few men in his position would go to these lengths for another man’s child. Friend or otherwise. He could easily afford to send Aston to scout the town while he sipped scotch in his mini-mansion. He didn’t have to be on the streets getting his thousand-dollar suit beat up, sweating as he searched for a missing boy.
But he was. And that spoke volumes about the character hidden beneath his cold, chiseled surface. He wouldn’t stop until Wylie was back with Ashley and Henry, and neither would I.
In a flash, the unfeeling jerk who’d ignored my pain and pleas as he sought his revenge had disappeared. Instead, before me was the Thad I once loved. A man who’d go out of his way to protect others from pain. Seconds passed as I stared at the human version of Thaddeus, who looked ready to tear Tarrytown up brick by brick to find Wylie. The monster was gone. The mask had dropped. He was human again. He was the Thaddeus I’d fallen in love with, not the monster who’d killed my father.
“Thaddeus!” I yelled, but he didn’t hear me calling. He continued down the street, grabbing the arms of strangers so they would stop. Then held them in place as he spoke.
“Have you seen this boy today?”
“No,” a man said and tried to leave.
Thaddeus yanked the man closer. “The least you can do is fucking look at it properly. How do you know you haven’t seen him?”
The man’s face went white, and his eyes widened in a jolt of recognition, and I saw the moment he realized who Thaddeus was. The man few people in Tarrytown still called a monster.
I hurried over to Thaddeus’s side and spoke gently. “I’m sorry. Our friend’s son is missing, and we’re scared.”
The man recognized me too. I could tell from the way he looked at me. He nodded and reached for Thaddeus’s phone, giving the photo a proper once-over. “I’m sorry. I haven’t seen him.”
Thaddeus yanked his device back and blocked the path of the next pedestrian.
“Thanks,” I told the man and noticed he didn’t walk away.
He looked from me to Thaddeus again. “Guess time heals all wounds. Surprised to see you two working together.”
Typically, I’d take time to wonder what the hell he was on about, but all I could focus on was one burning question: Were we running out of time? Was Wylie in danger? I unlocked my phone, found a photo of Wylie, and grabbed a few pedestrians Thaddeus missed.
As I shoved my phone into a few confused but concerned faces, I was unable to forget about the caring man holding himself together by a thread as he searched for a missing child. For years, I’d thought all the warmth and compassion had drained from Thaddeus when his mother died. That whatever had made him a soft, kind human had been snuffed out and buried alongside her. Right now, watching him, frantic and heart in pieces on the crowded sidewalk, I realized I’d been wrong.
There was still a heart in him.
It just turned on for the people Thaddeus couldn’t afford to lose. The last time I saw Thaddeus so disoriented was the night his mother died.
14
EMOTIONAL ROLLER COASTER
Thaddeus
I’d have doneanything to prevent my best friend from experiencing the loss of his boy. For Wylie’s sake, Henry had tried hard. When Ashley told him she was pregnant, my friend wasted no time doing the honorable thing. He shut the door on the life he’d always wanted to give his son: a real family. I’d already heard Henry beating himself up extensively for ‘failing’ at making it a lifetime commitment. He wouldn’t survive if he thought the breakup had forced Wylie to run away. The boy had made his objection to the divorce very clear, but Henry and Ashley had hoped that in time he’d adjust. It had looked like they were right, until today. Now he was missing, and no matter how confident I’d sounded earlier, I was losing faith.
“Shouldn’t the police have called by now with something?” Summer asked, her face pinched, and her voice tight.
I swallowed hard. Maybe. Maybe they had called, and it was bad news. In my experience, that was their specialty.
“Call Eden,” I suggested.
As Summer did what I asked, I thought about Wylie running away. Between us all, we’d searched every inch of the town. How did someone without a car get out of Tarrytown? As I stood in the middle of the street, a loud horn echoed in my ears. There was a train at the station. Images raced through my mind, darting from Wylie getting lost among the crowds of people shuffling on and off the car, to the unthinkable picture of him wandering on the tracks.
“Summer!” I said as my eyes bulged. “Let’s go.”
