“You hungry? I think I have some popcorn we can make.”
“Popcorn! Yes, pease!” She is beaming at me, and I head into the kitchen to make it for us. As it’s cooking in the microwave, I can’t help but wonder if Jake and I will ever have kids. It’s so far down the road, but it’s something I never even considered or thought I wanted before. The more I’m with him, the more of our life I start to envision. He makes me happier than I have ever been.
When I first met him, I never thought he would be the person to change my life, to make me see how unhappy I was. Carly was right, he did save me. I have been wanting to tell him that I love him lately, but I keep second guessing myself. I don’t know if it is too soon or if he would even feel the same way. I’m terrified of the possible rejection from him. What if he doesn’t feel the same way about me?
The beeping snaps me out of my daydream. I grab the bag from the microwave before everything goes black.
Chapter Twenty Four
Jake
“So, you guys are serious?” Mason looks over at me.
“Yeah, she’s unlike anyone I have ever met, Mase. I was ready to give up before I met her. From the first time I saw her, I knew there was something there. It was like this crazy electricity started flowing through me. I knew I had to have her no matter how much she had tried to push me away.”
“You sound like Lacey. She always told me that she knew I was it for her from the start. For me, I just knew she would save me, and that’s why I avoided her for so long.” Mason lost Lacey about a week after Grace was born. She had cancer and lost her fight. “I can never thank her enough for giving me Grace. That little girl is the only thing that keeps me going some days.”
Mason hardly ever talks to any of us about this stuff, so I almost don’t know what to say to him. “You’re doing good with her. Lacey would be proud of you.” We pull into the driveway, and Mason about jumps out of the car. I can tell this whole conversation made him feel downright uncomfortable. “Jake!” His yell from inside the house has me running. I walk in frozen by the scene in front of me: things are knocked over, and the TV is playing, but no one is watching it. “Grace!” Mason runs upstairs as I go into the kitchen.
There is a bag of busted popcorn on the floor and next to it something that makes my heart stop. Blood. A puddle of it. I pull my phone out calling Ryan.
“Yo, I’m working can I call you later?”
“Get to my house now. 911. Bring whoever you can.” I hang up looking for any clue as to what happened here. I walk back into the living room, and Mason is holding Grace’s doll. He looks at me with murder in his eyes.
“I thought you said shit was good!” He comes toward me. “You fucking said everything would be fine! I would have never left her here!” He’s thinking the same thing I am. Whoever was terrorizing Nina never really went away. “She better fucking be okay, Jake!”
“Mason, calm down.”
He charges me, throwing me into the wall. “Don’t you tell me to calm the fuck down. She is my world! She is all I have left of Lacey!” His hand grips my throat. “I will not lose her!”
“Mason!” I hear Ryan’s voice shout. “Let him go, Mase, and tell me what happened.” I can hear sirens in the distance. Mason releases me, and I double over trying to catch my breath.
“Nina was watching Grace. This is what we came home to.” He turns away from Ryan and walks out of the room.
“You okay, Jake?”
“Yeah, how the hell did you get here so fast?” I rub my neck.
“We were only a couple streets down. What is going on?”
“There is blood and food spilled in the kitchen and the living room looks like this. That’s all I know. We just got home.” My mind races with what could have happened, with who this could be. “We have to find them, Ry.” My hands shake and my entire body is tense. She has to be okay.
A few officers come walking in, and Ryan begins to give them instructions. “Jake, I need you to think. Who would want to hurt her? There has to be motive somewhere.”
“Fuck, I have no idea.” We thought this shit was behind us. After everything that happened with Jaimie, the notes stopped, so no matter what she said I always thought it was her. “Do you think it could be her?”
“I’ll have one of my guys check on her, but my gut is telling me that we are missing something. I need you to think, Jake, who could do this?”
I sit down on the couch trying to figure out any possible scenario that might explain this. I can’t. I have no idea who the hell could have done this. I feel helpless, useless. I feel like I’m failing her. Where ever she is, I know she is praying that I find her. She needs me now more than ever, and I can’t do anything. I stand up pacing the room, anger flowing through my veins at being so helpless.
I always promised her that I wouldn’t let anything happen to her, and then this happens.
I need to save her.
I need to make sure that she stays safe at all costs.
Chapter Twenty Five
Nina
Nina! Nina, you need to wake up!
Carly?
Nina, you have to fight. Be careful.
I can hear noise, it’s muffled but it sounds like TV. I think I hear someone crying too. My mind is so fuzzy, and my head is pounding. Where am I? The last thing I remember is getting the popcorn out of the microwave. I try to force my eyes open, and the sunlight blinds me. I blink a few times before things start to come into focus. I’m on a couch, and the TV is on. Cartoons are playing. I turn my head wincing at the pain. I can hear crying coming from next to me. Grace is sitting on the floor at the other end of the couch. Her legs are pulled up to her chest, and her arms are wrapped around them.
The walls are all wooden and outside I can see trees. Where are we? Grace looks over at me; her eyes grow wide when she realizes I’m awake.
“Nina! I wa-want to go home. I don’t want to be h-here. I don’t want to be Cindy.” Cindy? Who is she talking about? The pounding in my head is making it hard to focus on anything. “I just want my daddy and Unkey Jake.”
“What—” I grab my head. Even talking hurts. I decide to whisper hoping it will be easier. “What are you talking about, Grace?”
“The bad man. He keeps calling me Cindy.” The bad man? I try to sit up groaning as my body fights me. I can’t see anyone else in the room. If no one is here, we should run while we can. That’s when I hear them, footsteps. They are coming from outside. They are coming inside. “He’s back!” Grace climbs onto the couch with me. The door opens, and I hold my breath.
Camden.
“You’re awake.” He smiles at me, and I’m utterly confused. “I was starting to get worried about you, Carly.” Carly?
“Camden, what’s going on? Why are we here? And why are you calling me Carly? You know we lost her years ago.” I hold my head in an attempt to ease the pain.
“NO!” His scream causes me to whimper from the pain. “See, that’s what you wanted me to think. You looked so peaceful like you were just asleep. I never knew you fooled me and then ran away with Cindy here.” He looks at Grace. “Come to Daddy, Cindy.”
“No! You’re not my daddy!” She clutches onto my shirt, and I can feel her shaking.
Camden’s face twists in anger. “What have I told you about that? Carly, you better teach our girl some manners, or I’ll have to.” He disappears around a corner.