Page 29 of Daddy's Christmas Rescue
You should have signed.You should have been grateful. This is what you deserve.
I tried to remember what it felt like to be safe. To have someone say you did good, even if you’d only managed to make cookies and not burn them. But no matter how hard I tried, the only memories that came were the ones I wanted most to forget. My mother’s hands in my hair, pulling too tight. My father’s voice, full of disappointment. Vincent, face so close I could barely breathe, whispering, “You belong to me, Holly. You always have.”
It was cold enough that my hands went numb after a while. I curled up in the corner, and tried to sleep, but there was no way to get comfortable. My back hurt, and my feet wouldn’t warm up, and every time I closed my eyes, I saw Amanda’s perfect smile and Blake’s look of horror when I’d tried to kiss him.
If I hadn’t been so stupid, I could have stayed. I could have decorated the tree, and baked more cookies, and maybe gotten a real smile out of him, just once, just for me.
Chapter ten
Blake
The call came in just after ten. It had taken some time to charge my phone.
I’d spent the whole morning driving through town, checking bus stations, diners, anywhere someone scared and alone might stop to breathe. No one had seen her.
Biscuit was restless in the passenger seat, whining every time I slowed near a crowd.
When the phone buzzed, I almost didn’t look. Then I saw the name. Cas.
I hit answer so fast I nearly dropped it. “Tell me you found something.”
“I found a lot,” she said. Her voice was tight—not the calm, controlled tone she used when she was warning me off. This was different. Urgent.
“Start talking.”
“You were right to keep digging,” she said. “And I was wrong.”
I gripped the wheel. “About what?”
“Holly Turner.”
The sound of her name nearly stopped my heart. “Go on.”
Cas exhaled, paper rustling on her end. “So I went deeper. Looked at the original Clearwater Insurance filings. Turns out, the company was founded by Elizabeth Turner, who is Holly’s grandmother. Solid reputation back in the day, clean audits, community awards, all of it. Then Elizabeth died twelve years ago. That’s when things changed.”
I didn’t breathe.
“She left her shares to Holly,” Cas went on. “Not her son or daughter-in-law—Holly.A legal trust was set up, transferring ownership to her when she turned twenty-one. Until then, her parents and a third trustee—a lawyer — were to manage the business ‘in her interest.’”
My throat felt tight. “You’re saying—”
“I’m saying your girl never stood a chance,” Cas interrupted softly. “The minute she turned eighteen, they started using her authority. Claim authorizations, fund transfers, all under her name. The kind of stuff she couldn’t possibly have understood. They’ve been hiding behind her signature for years. The engagement was never about love, Blake. It was about keeping her quiet and legally compliant.”
My grip on the steering wheel tightened until my knuckles went white.
“Jesus Christ,” I muttered.
“It gets worse,” Cas said. “I traced her movements after she left your place. A missing person report was filed three days ago by her parents—public enough that the local cops flagged it automatically, and somehow your call wasn’t registered which is suspicious as hell. But here’s the catch: Vincent’s got contacts in law enforcement. A lot of them. When she signed her real name at a shelter downtown last night, the system pinged it.”
My heart stopped. “What?”
“Standard intake forms,” Cas said grimly. “Her name hit the national missing persons database. Someone—probably Hale—got the alert before it even reached the responding officers. She stayed overnight at St. Anne’s Shelter. Left just after dawn.”
“Don’t tell me he—”
“He found her,” Cas finished quietly. “Security cameras show a black sedan pulling up out front at seven-forty-five. Matches the registration of Hale’s vehicle. He got her, Blake.”
Fuck.
