Page 127 of Whenever You Call

“She’s mydaughter, and I don’t know where she is, Logan. I don't know where she is because I was too busy losing myself inus!”

“Hannah, stop,” I barked, my voice firm. “Don’t do this.”

She shook her head and backed away, putting distance between us. “This is a sign, don’t you see? A warning.”

“It’s not. This is just a moment in time. We’ll find her. She’s safe.”

“And you can promise me that, can you?”

“Hannah, wait,” but by the time I’d reached out for her, she’d turned on her heels and was running back through the house, Bella’s name falling from her lips.

Despite the blow of her words, I swallowed them down and followed her anyway, all too familiar with how differently people reacted in a crisis. I caught up with her by the door, and she was just about to pull it open when I placed my hands over hers, freezing her in place.

“I know you’re upset,” I said, breathless, “But we’re not going to be able to find her unless we both calm down.”

Hannah looked up at me, her tears falling freely. “I can’t lose her, Logan. I just can’t. I won’t survive it.”

“I won’t let that happen. Ipromise.”

Her hand twitched beneath mine, and I looked down, seeing the key in the lock still.

“Do you make a habit of leaving your key in the door at night?” I pointed to it.

She looked confused at first, her eyes flickering and her scowl creasing before she looked down at the key herself. Hannah shook her head. “No. Never.”

“Was it like that when you came downstairs this morning? When you went to get my jeans from the driveway?”

“I…” She shook her head again. “I don’t remember. I was…”

“What?”

“I was too busy thinking about you. I couldn’t stop smiling. I didn’t even register anything about a key except the key box on the floor once I stepped back inside after picking your jeans up.”

“So, that key could have already been in there.”

“Yes,” she said, her voice quivering.

Our eyes met for only a second before we both tugged at the handle quickly, opening up the heavy door together until the Californian sun bled down on us.

“Bella opened it herself,” I said, piecing everything together out loud. “We weren’t in your bedroom last night. She went looking for us and couldn’t find us, so she came down here, tried to open the door, and used the key box to keep it wedged open.”

Hannah’s hands covered her mouth as her panic set in.

“Remember your breathing,” I said as I stepped outside. “You’re no good to Bella in the middle of an attack. I’m going to need you to open the gates, baby.”

Somewhere behind me, Hannah sucked in a breath, and a few seconds later, the grinding and creaking of the electronic gates slowly opening filled the air. It didn’t take long for Hannah to run up to my side, inhaling deeply and exhaling just as slowly when she did. As soon as the gates were open enough, we ran through them together, each of us yelling Bella’s name as loudly as possible. It didn’t take us long to reach the sidewalk, and I glanced up and down the street, seeing the place I used to sit and watch the house from a distance and suddenly hating myself for it.

What good had all this been if Bella got hurt in the end anyway?

“Bella!” I roared, my fists hanging by my thighs.

The other houses, spread far apart, looked idyllic from the outside, the way Hannah’s always had, but every possible gruesome thought and scenario ran through my head at the sight of them, none of us ever really knowing what went on behind closed doors.

If someone had taken her, I’d murder them.

I’d spend my life inside a cell after tearing them to pieces, limb by limb, because that’s what you did when you loved someone. You’d burn down the Earth and everyone in it to bring justice to their name.

And I loved Bella as much as I loved her mom now.

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