Page 39 of Take A Chance

My mind seemed to wander just as much as my eyes, taking me down a path of memories that seemed to stretch on forever. I thought of the conversations I’d had with my friends, their laughter echoing in the back of my mind. I remembered the walks I had taken by the waterfront, the current lapping against the bank. I thought of the books I had read, the stories I had discovered, the characters I had come to love. My childhood here had been so warm and happy.

The memories were both comforting and bittersweet, reminding me of how much my life had changed in such a short time. Life changed for me at sixteen, when I discovered that my father was more than just a wealthy businessman. My uncle, gunned down right in front of me in a blood bath, had warned me in his final moments that if I stayed here, I’d suffer the same fate. We all would.

Months later, my mother was taken from me. My father told me she died peacefully in her sleep, but I knew better. I watched the news, late at night when he didn’t know. I snuck downstairs and kept the TV quiet. I saw the news reports. A car bomb meant for him detonated and killed her. Days later, Giada was gone too. My world came crashing in around me, and I was left picking up pieces. So when Louie came along my freshman year in college, my whole world changed.

The hot water burned my skin, but it reminded me that I was alive. The bullet that split Louie’s skull, spraying blood and bone fragments all over me, had missed me by inches. There was so much blood, so much red. It was everywhere. I screamed. I ran, but they chased me. My father’s men accused me of plotting with Louie. I didn’t know he was my father’s enemy. To me, he was love embodied. He was the light of my life, but when my father’s underboss accused me of working with him, he didn’t stand up for me. He paid with his life, and I lost mine too.

Tears came hot and fast. I collapsed onto the floor of the shower, curled into a ball. My stomach hurt. My head hurt. My heart hurt. I wanted Blake. I wanted the life I'd dreamed of with him, free and out of the reach of my past, my father. My guilt. I wanted Katelyn and lazy summer days in the sun. I wanted hope and laughter. I didn’t want this. This family. This home. These memories.

I cried. I cried for myself, for my mother. I cried for Giada who was now in just as much danger as I was. I cried for Katelyn, for Blake, for everything I was in danger of losing. And when I cried so hard I thought I’d have no tears left, I threw up again. This time, only dribbles of stomach acid came up. I’d spent myself. I was exhausted.

I lay on the shower floor in a puddle of my own snot and vomit until the water started getting cold. When shivering made it difficult to remain there, I stood and washed myself quickly, then shut the water off and dried off. I wrapped a towel around my body, and one around my hair, then climbed into bed. I wanted my mother. I wanted Greta. I wanted to fall asleep and wake up in Blake’s arms, safe and happy.

I had to find a way to get out of this place, but first... sleep.

22

Blake

The phone rang again, and the detective sitting across from me behind the large oak desk didn’t touch it this time. Likely because the last time he did, I’d hung up the call and demanded he treat me with more respect. He eyed the phone nervously as he typed into the computer.

“The information is entered here, Mr. Emmerson, but I can’t officially file the report until we know for certain that she is actually missing. For all we know, she just took off without telling you.”

My hand came down hard on the corner of the desk, curled into a fist. “Goddammit, she didn’t just run off!” The jar of pens danced as the desk shook, and the detective glared at me.

“I’m going to have to ask you to calm down, sir. We see this all the time. Lovers have a spat and one of them runs off. Did the two of you argue about something?” His hands were poised over his keyboard to type my answer. I wanted to smack the smug look off his face. Instead, I focused on the mug of hot coffee sitting on the desk in front of him. It readWorld’s Best Dad.

“No. We had no argument. I told you everything. There was someone following us around for a few days. He had a camera, and he was taking pictures. I scared him off one night when we were getting ice cream.”

“What did this man look like?” His fingers flew over the keyboard, as if I hadn’t already told him all of this. If this was how work got done around here, I’d be better off to hire my own investigators.

“Dark hair. Dark aviator glasses. Dark clothing.” I raked my hand through my hair and tried not to lose control again. “Nothing distinguishing. He didn’t speak.”

The door behind me popped open, and a woman with brown hair and an upturned nose stuck her head in. “Sir, you’re needed on line three. It’s that child abduction you’re working. The tip line got a lead.” Her words struck my heart in an odd way. I wondered who the unlucky child was and was thankful that it wasn’t my Katelyn. I was tormented enough that Emma was gone.

“I’ll get it in just a second.” The detective’s head only turned for a split second before he was laser focused on the computer again. The door shut and he asked me, “Do you have any other details?”

“Yes, the car outside my home was a black sedan, Mercedes, maybe. It drove past for hours slowly. No license plates. This is insane. Who would take her?” I clenched my hands into fists. “You have to find her.”

“Look, sir. We have to wait forty-eight hours. She’s been missing for nearly twenty-four hours, so there is a chance she will still phone home.” He typed away, annoying me. “And when the forty-eight-hour mark is up, we will put an APB out on her and follow that up with a BOLO, alright? In the meantime, you need to go home and wait for her. If she calls or shows up, you call us immediately.” He stood and buttoned his suit coat, offering his hand. “I’m so sorry this is happening. We’ll do the best we can to bring your loved one home.”

I glared at him, ignoring his handshake. It felt like a slap in the face to come here to receive help, only to be told they would do nothing for another day. I stood and took a few steps away. “I thought the most important time to search for someone was within the first seventy-two hours?”

“Yes, sir, for children. Not for adults who can walk away of their own free will. Now if you will excuse me, I have to get this call.” He sat down and picked up the receiver, finger ready to press the line button.

I left the room, angrier than when I came in here. This place was no help at all. I had my private investigator’s number pulled up on my phone before I got to the car. Gary had the engine running, waiting for me, and I climbed in and hit the call button as I shut the door. “Gary, take me home.”

I waited for the line to ring through, and he answered on the fourth ring. “Blake, man, what’s going on?”

“Look, man. You know that girl I had you check out a few months ago? The nanny job. You did a background check on her.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he said. I heard the hiss of him taking a drag off a cigarette. “I got her shit pulled up right now.” I heard clicking, as if he were typing at a keyboard. “You need something else on her?”

“Yeah, everything. I need every single detail you can get on her, and I need it yesterday.” I hated that it had come to this. I wasn’t the sort to pry into someone’s life needlessly, which is why I had only run the basic background check before. I hadn’t thought of Emma like a staff member, and maybe that’s where I’d failed. I’d thought of her as a woman I was interested in. Had I learned everything about her, I might have prevented this from happening.

“Alright, so complete workup. I got it. I can have everything to you in a few hours, probably. How does that sound?”

“Make it twenty minutes. I’m headed home. I’ll call you back when I get there.” I hung up and shoved the phone in my pocket.

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