Page 33 of Pretty Stolen Dolls

It was familiar, but strange. Comforting, but agonizing. Only part of me had returned, the other part was still there in that cell with my sister. My parents have been overjoyed at having me back, but I can see the way their eyes meet when I’m not looking. The questions dancing there on the tips of their tongues. The wondering about what happened to their two little girls. The unfairness that they’d only been given one daughter back instead of two.

The burning question in my own head: do they blame me?

I blame me.

With a loud exhaled sigh, I pick up the first newspaper cutting and my body tenses.

Sisters Still Missing—Community Fears for their Safety as Hunt Continues.

Macy smiles back at me from the image of her—so young and fresh faced.

She’s thirteen now. Four whole years had passed with us locked away, yet life went on.

Bo next door graduated college. The neighbors finally finished the extension on their house. Mom still worked at the diner and Dad at the garage.

Life went on…without us.

I drop the page and pick up another.

Body of Missing Teen Emma Miles Discovered

The slain body of missing teen Emma Miles was discovered in the early hours of yesterday morning detectives confirm.

Emma Miles went missing three days ago from a carnival where she was enjoying a night out with friends.

It hasn’t been determined if this case is related to that of missing locals, Jade and Macy Phillips, who disappeared over a year ago and have yet to be found.

My hand shakes as the innocent eyes of the girl who lives inside me stares up at the shell of a person I’ve become. The memory of him smashing her face into the mirror is still vivid in my mind despite the time that’s passed.

“How many, Mom?”

She doesn’t need to ask what I’m referring to. She can sense it in my sorrowful tone.

“Four in total, but older. They didn’t know if they were related to your case. There were four girls until a year ago, and then none. The case went cold.” Her tone is tired as she flicks her weary gaze to me. She’s aged in the time I’ve been gone. Lines mar her forehead and crinkle her eyes.

I counted four too, and then there were no more, not since the night he took my virginity.

Would he start again now that I was gone?

I knock the box to the floor as I stumble to my feet and rush to the bathroom. Vomit spurts out of me and when my stomach is finally empty, I cry over the toilet bowl, wishing I could be washed away with the flush.

“Where?” Dillon shouts, jerking me from my past. “Where was she found?”

I blink away my daze and focus on Chief’s words.

“Alena Stevens went off with a boy she met at the mall. But after a day with this boy and realizing he wasn’t all he was cracked up to be, she came home.” His cold gaze finds mine.

A gasp leaves me in a rush. “He let her go? Benny let her go?”

Dillon places his palm on my knee to keep it from bouncing. “Just stop, Jade.”

I blink in confusion and my eyes dart back to Stanton. “I don’t understand. They’re related. I know these two cases are related!”

My partner squeezes my thigh to get me to shut up, but I can’t. Nothing makes sense. I just knew he’d taken the girl. Just like he’d taken me. He was back. Hunting for more dolls.

“I want your badge and gun. Not only are you off the homicide case,” Chief snaps, “you’re taking some administrative leave. I don’t want to see you until all this shit blows over. You made the whole department look like a bunch of incompetent fools letting a victimized woman trample all over both cases. Your ass is gone for the rest of the week.”

I remain still as a statue as his words wash over me.

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