Page 130 of Daddies on Ice
The ride back to the hotel is quiet, but it’s a comfortable silence filled with unspoken promises and shared warmth.
I’m tucked between them again, feeling safer and more loved than I ever have in my life.
But that feeling shatters the moment we walk into the hotel lobby.
The babysitter rushes toward us with tears streaming down her face. “Oh, thank god you’re back!” she cries. “I’m so sorry, I don’t know how it happened, I only stepped away into the bathroom for a minute…”
“What’s wrong?” I demand, ice-cold fear replacing the warmth from our magical evening.
“The girls,” Emma sobs. “I can’t find them anywhere. Becky and Krystal. They’re gone!”
47
TISH
The words hit me like a physical blow, stealing the breath from my lungs. “What do you mean they’re gone?” My voice comes out as barely a whisper, but the panic threading through it is unmistakable.
The babysitter, a college-aged girl named Emma who loves hockey, wrings her hands nervously. “I-I put them to bed at eight-thirty like you asked. I checked on them at nine, and they were sleeping. I went to brush my teeth and wash my face, and when I came out…” Tears well up in her eyes. “Their beds are empty. I’ve looked everywhere in the suite.”
Carl’s face has gone ashen, his usual composed demeanor cracking. “Krystal,” he breathes, and I can hear the raw fear in his voice.
It’s the same terror that’s clawing at my chest, threatening to tear me apart from the inside.
“We need to search the hotel,” Ash says, immediately taking charge. His protective instincts kick in, and I’m grateful for hissteady presence even as my world tilts off its axis. “They can’t have gone far.”
Jake’s already moving toward the door. “I’ll check the lobby and common areas. Maybe they just went exploring.”
But even as he says it, I know it’s not that simple. Becky might be curious, but she’s not reckless.
She wouldn’t just wander off, especially not with Krystal, who’s even more cautious than my daughter.
“The pool,” I gasp, my mind immediately jumping to the worst-case scenario. “What if they went to the pool? What if?—”
“Hey.” Carl’s hands are on my shoulders, his blue eyes boring into mine with an intensity that grounds me. “Don’t go there, Trisha. We’re going to find them.”
The way he says my full name, the way his voice wraps around it like a promise, makes something inside me steady slightly.
But the fear is still there, a living thing with claws that dig deeper with every passing second.
We split up to search the hotel.
Carl and I take the upper floors while Jake and Ash cover the ground level and basement areas.
Emma stays in the suite in case the girls return, though she’s crying so hard I’m not sure she’ll be much help.
Every door we check, every empty hallway we walk down, feels like an eternity. My heart pounds so hard I can hear it in my ears, drowning out everything else. Carl stays close to me, his presence both comforting and charged with the same desperate energy that’s coursing through my veins.
“The stairwells,” he suggests, and we check every single one. Nothing.
“The business center,” I say, remembering how Becky was fascinated by the computers earlier. Empty.
We meet back up with Jake and Ash in the lobby, and the grim expressions on their faces tell me everything I need to know before they even speak.
“Nothing,” Jake says, running his hands through his dark hair. “We checked everywhere. Pool area, restaurant, game room, even the parking garage. Hotel security hasn’t found them either.”
“The police,” I say, my voice breaking. “We need to call the police.”
Ash nods grimly. “I already did. They’re on their way.”
