Page 102 of Slow Burn (The Boston Beauties)

I took a deep breath and sat back down next to Jose at the island, ‘She works at the Bar, her father owns it...and she’s my ex-girlfriend,’ I added in a low breath.

The detective looked up to the officer standing in the kitchen watching over Jose. ‘Can you ask for forensics to come fingerprint?’

‘What makes you think Lisa took her?’ the detective asked.

I shook my head and dug my phone out, calling Steve and raising a finger to her. ‘Hey, you’re on speaker,’ I informed him. ‘I’m at our house and there are a few officers and a detective who’s started asking questions. Do you want Abby here with me?’

‘Always,’ he instructed me.

‘But I want them to start looking, I think Lisa took her.’

There was silence on the other end of the line for a few moments. ‘What do you mean, took her?’

‘She asked to borrow bolt cutters last week, so I dropped them by the bar. Jessa knew about it, she saw the text message come in. Now I see the same ones here next to Jessa’s ankle monitor.’

‘There’s also tire tread marks out back,’ the detective offered.

‘And you couldn't lead with that?’ I snapped at her.

‘Drew, I need you to take a breath and calm down,’ Steve encouraged. ‘If you want to say anything, record it. That way Abby is able to know what was said as a matter of record. I’ve already called her. She’s wrapping up a meeting with a client and will be on her way out straight away. Her assistant was going to make the calls to the DA.’

At this, I saw the detective’s eyes go wide. Yeah, bitch, this is much bigger than you.

As the afternoon turned into evening, officers and forensic teams came and went. The Cahills arrived along with Abby, but there was no word or lead on where Jessa might be.

I was a complete mess, beside myself with worry. I had just gotten her back, she was carrying my baby,ourbaby.We have sacrificed so much, suffered so much to be together, it cannot end, not now, not ever and especially not like this.

I’d been advised not to call Lisa or leave the house to try and find her. It was killing me to stay put. I wanted to go and find them.

It was almost three in the morning before I finally showered and crawled into an empty bed. A bed that less than twenty-four hours ago I was sharing with her, making love to her in. Now there was a giant void next to me and my soul felt hollow without her.

I used to worry about her all the time, but now, with the baby, my anxiety was capable of swallowing me whole. I didn’t know how parents did it. The little bean wasn’t even born yet, still, I loved it and was protective over it in a way that was completely foreign, yet so natural.

Breton would be here in a few hours. If anyone could find her, I knew it would be him.

CHAPTER 35

JESSA

I awoke with a sharp pain in my shoulders, arms, and wrists. Opening my eyes, I saw a dim light hanging from the ceiling a few feet away. I was propped up against a cold metal wall, my hands tied behind my back, legs bound together at my ankles. The room was empty and not all that large, appearing to be a storage locker of sorts. There was no use in trying to struggle against it, all I was doing was chewing up my wrists.

My head hurt, but I had to think. The last thing I remembered was Lisa returning the bolt cutters at the house. I was pretty sure she knocked me out with a chemical, I had no idea how long I was out. There were no windows in the room, no clock, no way to judge the time of day. I was hungry, no surprise there, I always was these days. I was feeling thirsty and knew I’d have to pee soon. I couldn’t even call out as I had a gag over my mouth. I felt so completely helpless at the moment.

I should have tried harder to fight back, thinking back to the few self-defense classes I took at the resort, and of Marcus’s mocking words,‘A kitten has more fight in it than you do.’

He was making fun of me at the time, from the security of the four walls with padded mats on the floor for our protection. Never thinking that we’d ever be put in a real situation where we might have to use self-defense skills.

I missed him, but from his last email he seemed to be doing well, finishing up school and interviewing for jobs. If I ever got out of here, I still intended to bring him over to help start my business with me. But right now, that was a bigif.

I started to tremble, and the tears like a broken faucet wouldn’t stop. My nose began to fill with snot and run which I couldn’t even wipe or blow, making it harder to breathe, and I started to panic. Soon I wouldn’t be able to breathe enough as the gag covering my mouth made it much harder through my mouth.

I looked down to my stomach, willing myself to calm down for the sake of the baby. That set off another level of anxiety. What if the baby was at risk due to the chemical used, my stress, or lack of food? I closed my eyes and concentrated on some deep breathing exercises that I had learned last year at the retreat as a strategy to decompress, meditate and connect to one’s self. At least I could use something from here in this fucked-up situation.

It took a while, or at least it felt as if it did, but I was finally able to calm down enough by concentrating on my breath—inhale, hold, exhale, repeat.

I had to clear my mind of everything else to gain control over my body at the moment. It was the only thing I could control in my present predicament. I calmed as much as I could given the current situation and closed my eyes again, listening carefully. I couldn’t hear anything; no hum, no animals, cars, nothing.

In time, I must have fallen asleep again due to the emotional toll, clearly proving too much for me to handle. I awoke next to a loud grating sound and artificial light from a small source streaming in through a garage-style door opening. I blinked a few times, lifting my head with much difficulty and a lot of pain due to stiffness. A silhouette walked in, pushing a cart of things I couldn’t make out, before closing the door again. When the person turned on a lamp, I could then make out it was Lisa, taking off a jacket. I watched her every move, scared to death of what she might do next. She unloaded a radio of sorts from the cart and hooked it up to a plug on the other side of the storage locker.

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