Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 29741 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 149(@200wpm)___ 119(@250wpm)___ 99(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 29741 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 149(@200wpm)___ 119(@250wpm)___ 99(@300wpm)
Betsy: I appreciate it. But there’s nothing that can be done here. Stay there and rest.
She put her phone down and started to pace. Where had Zippy gone?
A phone call made her jump. She grasped for her phone, dropping it on the floor. When she picked it up, she saw the name on the screen.
Baron.
“Ma! Have they found her?” Baron asked as she answered.
Had Ink called them? He must have.
“No. Not yet,” she said. “Ink called you?”
“No, Zippy did.”
“What?” she said. “She called you guys?”
“She used her tablet to send us a message. It must have been before she left. We just saw it twenty minutes ago so we called Ink and he told us what was happening. We’re on our way.”
“What did she say?” Had she told them why she’d left?
“All it said was that she had to leave. She really wished she didn’t have to, but that we needed to take care of you for her.”
“Take care of me? Why would she say that?”
“Because she loves you, Ma,” Royal said, his voice quieter. He was likely driving. Of the two of them, he was the control freak.
Loved her?
She didn’t know about that. If Zippy loved her, why would she have run away?
“You guys shouldn’t be driving in the middle of the night,” she told them.
“Like we could stay at college while Zippy is out there on her own,” Baron told her.
“No sign of that asshole, Leon?” Royal asked.
“No, so far nothing,” she said. “Ink’s got everyone he can out looking. The Iron Shadows are looking as well as his guys. They’ll find her.”
“No, we’re going to find her,” Royal said.
“You just stay in the house and keep calm, Ma,” Baron added. “We have this.”
Right.
Sit at home. Do nothing. It should be easy, right?
But it really, really wasn’t.
What could she do? She felt like she needed to do something to help but had no idea what.
You could pray.
Moving out of the office, she walked downstairs to where the Christmas tree was. She thought she might hedge her bets.
If God couldn’t hear her prayers, then maybe Santa would.
If she could make only one Christmas wish, this would be it.
Please let Zippy come home safely.
11
Where the hell was she?
Ink had been in a lot of intense, high-stress situations. But nothing compared to being out in the deep of night, searching for his kid.
Why hadn’t he put a fucking tracker on her?
He’d been out here three hours now. He was going to have to call the police. They weren’t going to be happy that he’d taken so long to call them. But he knew as soon as he called the police that Child Protection Services would be called.
And they’d take Zippy away from them.
Of course, maybe that was what Zippy wanted. Perhaps she didn’t like living with them.
It was freezing cold, dark, and somewhere out there was a seven-year-old girl that he should have protected better.
As he drove down the street something caught his gaze. Was that her backpack by that bush? Pulling over, he jumped out of his truck and rushed over.
Shit!
That was her backpack. But where was she?
“Zippy!” he yelled out. “Zippy!”
There was a small, answering cry. He moved through the trees. “Zippy!”
“I’m here. I hurt myself.”
He followed her voice further through the trees until he saw her sitting under a tree and looking miserable.
“Zippy! What happened, sweetheart?”
“There was a kitten. Look?” She opened her jacket and, sure enough, there was a small, gray kitten sleeping against her chest.
Shit.
Bandit wasn’t going to be happy if they brought a cat home.
“You found a kitten, huh?” he asked.
“Yes, I could hear her meowing. She’s really thin and cold. She was shaking. I followed her in here and picked her up, but when I tried to walk back out, I hurt my foot.”
“And you left your backpack by the road?”
“It got caught on some branches. Am I . . . am I in trouble?”
“In trouble? Hmm. No, honey. You’re not in trouble. But I am worried about why you thought you had to leave. Do you not like it at our house?”
“What? No! I like it! I do!”
“All right. That’s good.” He sighed. “There’s no use talking about all of this out here, sweetheart. We should head home where it’s warm and tell Betsy and everyone else that we found you, yeah?”
“All right,” she said quietly. “Is Betsy worried?”
“Very. She’s concerned that there’s a reason you don’t want to live with us.”
“There is. But it’s not that I don’t like you guys.”
He reached down and picked her and the kitten up. The little cat didn’t even stir. Hmm, seemed he knew he’d hit the jackpot on the good life.
“I’m glad to hear it.” Ink carried her back to the truck, scooping up her backpack along the way. He put her into her car seat and did up the belt, careful of the kitten.