Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 73398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 294(@250wpm)___ 245(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 294(@250wpm)___ 245(@300wpm)
I stared at her, my mouth hanging open, unsure what to say.
“What?” she questioned.
“Why is everyone acting like this isn’t a big deal?” I questioned.
I was seriously dumbfounded.
“My father and uncles,” she gestured to the men that were still in the room looking at the two men she’d dispatched. “They taught me a lot. I was never in any danger…at least not from those men. I think, had they been smarter and taken me somewhere farther away, they might’ve treated this like a little bit bigger of a deal.”
“If I hadn’t gone looking for you…if I hadn’t known you were missing…would you have gotten away yourself?”
She shrugged. “Most likely.”
I blew out a breath. “This just feels so wrong. I mean, I feel like if this were my daughter, despite teaching her how to protect herself in case of situations like this, I still would’ve been freaking out.”
Cora popped the top on her Dr. Pepper, then took a long swallow.
“My dad, uncles, and us kids?”
I nodded for her to continue.
“They made us go through scenarios. We had to all prove that we could get ourselves out of almost any situation. Don’t think they’re taking this that lightly. They’re pissed, but they won’t show that in front of you. You’re an outsider. That chief of police over there is definitely an outsider. It’s hard to do illegal shit when the law is on your heels, watching your every move. They’re smart.”
Well, at least that made me feel better.
But still…
“And I was one of their best students. They’ve never been able to keep me ‘captured’ for long.”
I still didn’t know what to say to that.
“But…”
“But…I hate this. I hate it a lot. I’d rather just be home, where I don’t have to worry about any of this.”
“You and me both, Cora. You and me both.”
“I have a man that I trust on the way to your girl.”
My brows rose at the sound of Cora’s father’s voice.
“What?”
“Your girl. I have a man on the way there,” he repeated.
“I’m on my way there,” I countered.
He shook his head. “No. Until you figure out why they did what they did, you can’t go. You’ll tip your hand. Not to mention, if they were at your place searching for your girl, then they had no fuckin’ clue that she was gone. She’s safer where she’s at, away from here, and once she’s out of that test that you were talking about, my guy will introduce himself.”
“Who’s this boy you’re speaking of?” I questioned.
Gabe grinned. “His name is Castiel. He’s a police officer for Bear Bottom police department. I sent your phone number his name, number, badge number, and anything else you might want to know about him other than his shoe size.”
I looked down at the information he’d given me and realized rather quickly that these men weren’t as they appeared. First of all, I hadn’t given him my number. Second of all, as I pulled up the information that’d been sent to me, I knew that they weren’t normal people.
The papers they’d sent me had a photo of the man, his credentials, every single thing he’d ever done in his life—like buying two vehicles and three motorcycles—his credit report. You name it, it was on the information he’d sent me.
“Okay,” I paused. “But your guy will give me updates?”
My phone pinged in that moment, and I had a text from an unknown number.
Unknown: This is Castiel. I’m at the courthouse. In the room actually. Your girl is fine.
Then, accompanying that text, was a picture of my daughter sitting in front of a computer, staring at it hard as if she had a hard problem in front of her she couldn’t quite solve.
“Shit.”
Cora laughed.
***
I studied her. Hard.
I knew that she was tough—at least that was what she was trying to appear to be.
She was smiling and laughing, and it wasn’t until she gestured for her father to go home that I realized why she was doing what she was doing.
She wanted to be at her own place, and she wanted them all to leave.
Now, with them all here at her house, they were invading her safe place.
If she made it look like she was okay, then they’d likely leave her alone thinking that she was fine.
Though, I had a feeling that they would’ve left her to her own devices anyway. They still hadn’t taken today anywhere near as seriously as I would have.
I mean, I could see that they trusted her…but seriously. Even I could see that she wasn’t happy.
She wasn’t okay—not anywhere close to it, in fact.
But I didn’t contradict her words or her smiles.
I just sat back in my little corner and watched her put that fake smile on for her family and wondered why.
Why was she trying to be strong? Why was she acting like she wasn’t affected at all?