Submerged(Bound Together Book 1)(83)

 

“Did you see a woman with a baby in here?” I yell at her. My emotions are all over the place as I do everything in my power to tamp down the threatening panic. Carly and Nat need me to keep a clear head right now. Losing my shit isn’t an option.

 

“N-no,” she stutters before I turn and stomp out of the room. After a quick check of the men’s restroom, I head towards the fire exit door at the end of the hallway. Pushing through the door, I notice instantly that the alarm doesn’t sound. Fresh black tire tracks catch my eye on the pavement next to the door.

 

Quickly grabbing my phone from my pocket, I dial the first person I call for help. “I thought you were busy today,” Luke starts before I cut him off.

 

“They’re gone.” Saying the words rips my guts out. I’m left bleeding to death all over the concrete outside of the place my child and the love of my life were taken from.

 

“What do you mean?” he asks.

 

“They went inside a café to use the restroom and now they’re gone. And before you ask, we didn’t have a fight. She didn’t just leave, Luke. The stroller is sitting on the sidewalk out front where I was standing. There are fresh tire marks on the concrete behind the back exit.”

 

“I’m on my way. Where are you?”

 

“Corner Café.”

 

“Go out there and shut the place down. No one leaves or gets inside. I’m calling it in right now.”

 

“I’m on it,” I tell my little brother.

 

“Blake,” he starts and pauses. “We’ll get them back.”

 

“I can’t do this without them, Luke. I need them.”

 

“And we’ll get them back before night sets in. I’ll be there in seven minutes,” Luke says before signing off.

 

I take a few seconds to collect myself and will my rapidly beating heart to slow down. After a few deep breaths, I walk out into the café and make the announcement that I am FBI. I produce my identification that I never leave home without, and ask to see the manager. A young, petite girl comes out, fear and apprehension written all over her face.

 

“We have a situation, and no one is able to leave this café. I need you to man the door, right now. No one leaves or enters this establishment unless they have a badge, do you understand?” I tell her. She nods a shaky little acknowledgement, her blue eyes wide with uncertainty.

 

Agency issued vehicles start arriving moments later. The café fills up with suits and badges of all kinds as I recount the details that led to Carly and Natalia’s disappearance. Luke rushes inside the building, his matching green eyes filled with worry.

 

“Find them,” I order my brother.

 

“We’re on it, Blake. We have reports of an unmarked white van sitting behind the café for a few minutes before you called me. We’re securing streetlight camera footage as we speak, as well as security camera footage from the restaurant behind the café. We’ll get them.”

 

“Anything on who’s done this?” I ask Luke, already knowing deep down in my bones who the man is behind their disappearance.

 

Luke flips a few pages on the small notebook in his hand before saying, “We have an eyewitness report from a waiter that a man wearing a white t-shirt and jeans was seen speaking with a woman holding a baby in the hallway just before you called me. He said it caught his attention because the woman appeared tense. When he looked back over there a few moments later, they were gone.”

 

“Does he have a better description of the male speaking to her?” I ask, placing my slightly trembling hands on my hips.

 

“Yeah.” His look is direct and says everything I need it to say.

 

“Are you sure?” I ask.

 

“He described him right down to the tattoos.”

 

Fucking hell. Styx.

 

I close my eyes and picture my baby girl and her mother. When I received the text message yesterday from Carly, I was ecstatic at the prospect of spending the afternoon with both of my girls, even if I wasn’t exactly sure I could call them both mine anymore. I also took that phone call as a sign of hope that Carly wouldn’t stay mad at me forever and was maybe ready to talk. I was entirely prepared to spend today groveling and begging on my hands and knees if necessary to get through to her. That phone call felt like an olive branch signifying that whatever had come between us could be worked through.

 

Now, what if I never get the chance to make it right? What if I never get to apologize for my deception, even if it was necessary to protect us all? What if I never get to tell her how much I really do love her? That I’ve loved her since the moment I met her that night in the bar? That I can’t live without her or Natalia?