Speaking of Mason… I needed to update him.
I was still in the car, but even there, I didn’t feel 100% certain someone wasn’t listening. Greg could have bugged my car, for all I knew. So I texted him instead.
Hey Mason. Change of plans - can we meet somewhere to talk?
His response came a second later.
I was already on my way, but sure. Meet at the diner in fifteen minutes?
Sounds good, I texted back, tucking the phone away before starting the engine.
Something still didn’t feel right. I couldn’t put my finger on it.
As I drove toward the diner, I remembered past celebrations with his family. His mother’s birthday was always such a big deal. She always expected everyone to come together, so that wasn’t the problem. Especially for a birthday as important as her eightieth.
Her seventieth, I remembered clearly because that was the first time I’d met all of his family.
Wait, it was right after we started dating…we started dating in January. It was July.
I tried to keep my focus on the road, but my head was spinning. I was almost to the diner, and there was nowhere else to turn off. I sped to the diner and parked along the street at the first spot I could find.
With my hands shaking, I reached for my phone and scrolled through my calendar. I kept track of all of Greg’s relative’s birthdays for Skyler’s sake. We tried to send them cards or call them. Even his damned mother.
Henrietta’s birthday. Found it.
My heart stopped as I read the date.
February 25th.
I felt the world cave in around me, like I was suffocating in my own car. Just to be sure I wasn’t losing my mind or had misheard Greg, I tried to call him back.
No answer. It went straight to voicemail.
I didn’t bother leaving a message.
I decided to get some answers about what happened, how Greg got Skyler in the first place. I called Mrs. Ellison.
She answered, and she sounded worried when I told her I was Skyler’s mom. “Oh Danielle, how are you doing? I heard about the accident.”
“What accident?” I stammered.
“Greg told me you were in a car accident. He said it was really bad, and that you were in surgery so you couldn’t call. That’s why he had to pick up Skyler.”
My heart dropped.
“Thank you, Mrs. Ellison. I’m fine. There was no accident.”
“Oh dear, I told him I could keep her until I could speak to you, but he insisted. Is everything alright?”
I didn’t want to drag her into our mess and had no time to explain. I was shaking all over and needed to get off the phone. “Yes, everything is fine. It was a misunderstanding. But I really need to go now.”
I tried Greg again. Still no answer. Dammit. I had to get through to him.
Tony. He said Tony would be there. I still had his number and pulled up his contact info, hitting dial without a second thought. The phone rang and rang, and I feared it would go to voicemail.
Please pickup, I pleaded with the universe.
Finally, a man’s voice said, “Hello?”
“Tony? It’s Danielle,” I said.
Before I could continue, Tony said, “Oh hi there. Is everything okay?”
“Well, I was just trying to reach Greg. He took Skyler with him, said that your family was having a huge birthday celebration for your mom and I—”
“What? No, you must be mistaken,” he said with a chuckle. “There’s no party. My mom’s birthday is in February.”
Just as I thought.
“So there’s no family get-together this weekend?” I asked, feeling like my heart had been ripped out through my throat.
“No, not at all. In fact, we’re not even in the country. Shelly and I are in Barbados with the girls right now.”
My heart stopped. I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t even breathe.
“Dani? Is everything okay?”
“Uhh, I must have misheard, sorry,” I stammered, eager to get off the phone. “I have to go.”
I hung up in a hurry and stumbled out of my car. I had to talk to Mason. I had to tell him what was going on, and I had to find out what Greg was up to with my daughter.
Mason
“Danielle!” I called, running into the street after her. She stumbled out of her car and to the ground, in the middle of the road.
A car screeched to a halt as I stood in its way. It honked and the driver drove around me angrily, screaming obscenities out the window. But at least Danielle was safe. I knelt to the ground to help her up.
“What happened?” I asked her.
She stammered, “G-Greg has her. He took Skyler.”
Hearing those words caused every muscle in my body to tighten up. I had to get Danielle out of the road and somewhere safe. I took her arm and led her onto the nearby sidewalk.
“Tell me everything,” I said, helping her sit down on a bench not too far away.
Her entire body was shaking, and at first, she just babbled incoherently. I could barely make out the chain of events, but I was able to piece it together.
Skyler was at her friend’s house. Her dad picked her up and said they had a family event that weekend. She realized something was off and called his brother, who confirmed there was no family gathering.
“What do you think he’s doing? Do you think he’s going to leave the country with her?” Her eyes were bloodshot and wide.
“I don’t know, but we’re going to find out,” I said.
I reached for my phone and called Eli, who answered on the first ring. I told him everything.
“Get home, bring Danielle with you. Graham and Sam will be back soon, and they can stay with her while we get the girl back.”
“Thanks, Eli,” I said, still feeling like an ass for not confiding in my brothers sooner. I got off the phone and told Danielle the plan.
“No, we need to go to Greg’s,” she said.
“We need to get you safe first—”
“No, I’m going with you, and we’re going to Greg’s,” she stated, wiping the tears from her eyes. “And we can’t waste any more time. We need to go now.”
“Right. You’re right,” I said, not liking the idea of Danielle being there. “What’s Greg’s address?”
She told me. He lived outside of Liberty, in Sunville. It was a thirty-minute drive. We had to hurry.
I walked Danielle to my truck while calling Eli back. I gave him the plan and texted him the address. He promised me he would head out now and fill Sam and Graham in on everything they needed to know. They were still working the job, which meant they likely wouldn’t be checking their phones. It would just be Eli and me, but I knew we could handle it.
Danielle was mostly quiet on the ride over, staring out the window as the tears continued to flow. Her hand rested on her belly, which was protruding rather obviously from her too-small shirt and tight pants. She would need some maternity clothes soon. I didn’t know much about pregnancy other than watching what my sisters-in-law were going through, but she did seem larger than I expected. And if for some reason, Greg didn’t already know about the baby, he would now. There was no hiding the baby bump.
When I looked at Danielle, it was like a hand clenched my heart inside my chest. The pain was unlike anything I’d felt before. My protective instincts kicked into high gear, and I knew that I would step in front of a bullet to save her and my child.
“Eli’s right behind us,” I said as we pulled onto the street where Greg lived.
Danielle nodded. She tensed up as we pulled up to the address she had given me. “We’re here,” she said slowly.
The house was about as large as Jim King’s, and likely just as gaudy. I didn’t know why rich people wanted to flaunt their wealth. Even though my brothers and I had the money to live like this if we wanted to, we never saw a point in gaudy grandeur and McMansions.
The street was lined with cars - several black BMWs that looked identical. A white Mercedes stood out amongst the bunch, as if someone was intentionally trying to be different.
“Do you see his car anywhere?” I asked.
She shook her head. “He parks in the garage, never on the street.”
Eli’s truck pulled up behind me, and I waved at him to let him know we were ready to go. “Stay here,” I said, unbuckling my seat belt.
“No, I’m going with you,” she said.
She was her own woman, and I knew from the look she gave me I wouldn’t be able to keep her confined to my truck.
“Stay behind us then, at least a few feet back,” I muttered, even though she was already getting out of the truck and slamming the door. There was no controlling her. She was a wild one, an independent spirit. She was a mother who would do anything to protect her child.
Eli and I walked faster than her, however, and I was able to lead the way up the delicate stone walkway. The grass on each side of us was so perfectly green and cut with precision, I thought it might be fake.
We walked up the stairs to the porch, and I knocked on the front door without even checking for a bell. I assumed Greg, like Jim, would have a butler or doorman, so it surprised me when Greg himself opened the door.
Danielle, who had been standing behind us until that moment, rushed forward.
“Where’s Skyler?”
“She’s inside, Dani,” Greg said, his gaze moving over her body. He sneered at her. “Where she should be.”
“You lied to me,” Danielle said, calmer than I expected. “I talked to your brother. I know your mother’s birthday isn’t until February. There’s no party this weekend.”