Page 46 of Take A Chance

“Why am I searching this?” he asked, but his fingers never slowed. He was the expert at this sort of thing, and I paid him good money too.

“Emma called. She’s in danger. I told you she was in danger.” I breathed down his neck for ten minutes straight, and just when I was about to give up and call the police, he stumbled onto an image of an old gas station with a sign on the building that saidMoe’s. “There,” I said, pointing. “Go back.”

Harrison scrolled back and stopped on the image. He clicked it, and it opened up in a preview. It was a Facebook post shared years ago about a daughter whose father won some sort of an award for his chili cheese fries. The old filling station was now a convenience store and a restaurant all in one.

“Pull it up on the map,” I ordered, still hovering over him. My tie dangled down his back, but I didn’t care. My full attention was on the screen in front of me. “The map, now!”

“God, Blake, chill the fuck out. My internet only goes so fast.” He clicked around a bit, pulling the Google map up. It showed the place listed over an hour north of here, north of Newark. It was north of Scarsdale too. They’d taken her way out in the middle of nowhere, on the outskirts of any city.

“Can you get GPS coordinates?” I asked him, pulling my phone out. Between unlocking my phone and glancing at the screen, I felt lightheaded. He sent the address to my phone, and I slapped his shoulder. “Thanks. I gotta get my girl.”

“Blake, wait!” he called, but I was out the door. I faintly heard him warning me not to go alone, but the only thing on my mind was getting to her.

I didn’t even wait for the elevator, taking the steps two at a time until I burst out the door where Gary had the car running. I raced up to the driver’s door and opened it. “Gary, get out.”

“Sir?” He acted confused when I grabbed his lapel and pulled him out the door.

“I’ll explain later. Use my card to get a taxi back to Scarsdale, and call Wilem. I know where Emma is.” I had the car in gear and rolling before I even shut the door. In the rearview, I watched Gary straightening his suit coat and running his hand through his hair. The tires squealed on the pavement as I peeled out into traffic.

There were too many cars on the road to move quickly. I weaved in and out of traffic, narrowly avoiding an accident more than once as I sped across town. I was certain I would be stopped for a traffic violation, but no cops bothered me. If they had, I’d have called emergency services and let them know why I wasn’t stopping. The woman they claimed had just run off was in terrible danger, and I had to get to her.

It took me thirty minutes to get to the edge of town and head north on the highway, and by then I was running out of gas. So I turned off at a truck stop and pulled up to a pump. It had been years since I drove, but it all came back to me just like riding a bike. My hands were so jittery, though, I found it difficult to pump gas. The woman filling up on the other side of the pump eyed me, and I turned my back.

My shoulders were tight, my chest pounding. What if I was running into an ambush? Harrison had warned me not to go alone. I heard him shout it. I had no backup, and I hadn't told Wilem where I was going. Harrison was the only one with the coordinates, but I knew he’d sit right at his desk doing nothing. He was an investigator, not a hero.

It was up to me, but did I really want to rescue Emma?

As the pump ran, filling the car, I leaned on the roof, folding my arms there. I rested my forehead on my arms and sighed. Katelyn’s mom had done some crazy shit, deserting me and Katelyn. When I found her later on, she spat in my face, told me to get lost. But even then, she hadn’t purposely endangered Katelyn. She’d done the right thing by her, leaving her in a safe place with instructions to find me.

Emma, though? Emma had lied to me, told me she was someone she wasn’t. She hid her ties to the mafia, and even when men were following us—men she clearly recognized—she said nothing. I began to think I was stupid for believing her. That I was an idiot for coming to her rescue. Wasn’t this what she deserved? To go home and face whatever music it was she had to face? She was with her family now, where she belonged, right? So why was I going after her?

“You looked troubled...” The older woman’s voice hit my ears, and I straightened and faced her.

“Uh... I’m okay.”

“Don’t lie to me, young man. Now you tell me what’s the matter.” Her kind eyes sparkled with wisdom. A woman her age had no business being out this late at night alone. She wiped her hands on a napkin from the dispenser on the light post.

“Just some relationship troubles, I guess.”

“Ah, yes. Well, I’ve had my share of those. Married fifty-four years next month.” She winked at me. “Ain’t nothing I haven’t heard.”

Like some strange angel sent from heaven to comfort me, she lingered there, waiting for me to spill my guts.

“What do you do when the person you love lies to you?” I didn’t want to tell a perfect stranger my troubles, air my dirty laundry, but she was there, and I was tormented.

“That’s a hard one.” She nodded her head. “You have to think like they think. Why did they do it? What motivated them or scared them?” Her eyebrows rose. “If you know that, you know whether you can trust them again. You know in your heart.”

“I do?”

“Yes you do, Son. Just follow your heart.” She smiled softly and disappeared behind the pump and got into her car and drove off.

The pump chimed and shut off, my car full of fuel. She was right. I knew in my heart that Emma loved Katelyn more than her own life. She’d never have put her in danger if she thought it would happen. It just wasn’t her nature. She’d come in and turned my entire world upside down to make sure Katelyn was happy and loved. Just that fact was enough for me to know she hadn’t intended to lie to me and never would have unless fear had driven her to it.

I took my receipt, replaced the hose in the pump, and climbed into the car. I still had at least twenty minutes to go in the drive, but if I drove fast I could cut that down to fifteen. No matter the reason Emma had lied to me, I was getting her back. My heart told me she was worth it. I was going to marry this girl, make her mine forever, but that meant a plan because I knew her father wasn’t going to let me just walk in and take her.

I called Harrison on the way, told him to look up Amelia Bonetti and get every shred of dirt on the Caruso Crime Family he could. I’d convince her to go to the authorities. I had to protect her at any cost, even if it meant I had to take down the mob to do it.

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