Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 69155 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 346(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69155 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 346(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
This girl looked loved.
She has a family that want her home.
Whoever took her, they did it for personal reasons. There is no way she was just taken and sold—no way. The whole idea of what they do is to take girls with no family, no friends, and no life so that nobody tracks them down. Was Sophia a mistake? Was she someone they thought didn’t have a family? Why did they take her? Why was she different? I don’t understand.
My mind is absolutely spinning.
I dial Alarick.
It’s late, but I don’t care.
“Zariah,” he answers, his voice groggy.
“I need to see you. Right now.”
“What happened?”
“I just need to see you. I’ll meet you at the club in ten minutes.”
I hang up the phone, get out of bed, and change from my pajamas. I go into Jayden’s room, saddened that I have to wake him up, but I need to go see Alarick now. Luckily for me, when I walk in, he’s awake and sitting in his bed. Jayden is a night owl and often plays for a good few hours before falling asleep. He never cries, or screams, he just sits happily.
He’s quite an incredible child.
“Hey, buddy,” I say, walking in and lifting him out of his bed. “Want to go for a ride in the car?”
“Car!” he cries happily, leaning down for his toy truck.
I carry him to the car and put him in, then I make my way to the club. I arrive about fifteen minutes later and see the lights are on and there are quite a few people still up. I don’t love the idea of taking Jayden in here, but I have no choice. I get out of the car, hold Jayden’s hand, and walk into the clubhouse. We get stopped quite a lot walking through the living area, and Jayden loves the attention he receives.
We reach Alarick’s office, and I open the door, stepping inside to see he is already here with Briella, Samson, Cohen, Bohdi and, of course, Kendric. I didn’t ask him to invite half the club, but I also don’t have time to worry about it. Briella looks at Jayden and her eyes light up. “Aww, you brought him. Hey, little man.”
He goes over to her, his little face lighting up. He likes Briella, and she adores him. She picks him up and tells me she’ll take him for a walk so I can talk to Alarick. When she’s gone, I turn to the group and exhale slowly, then I take in a deep breath and tell them what I found tonight. “You were all right. Steven is involved. I found something on his wall in the basement tonight.”
I pull out my phone, going to the picture, and I hand it to Alarick. Everyone gathers around him and, as he zooms in, his eyes widen. He shows the other guys and then looks up at me. “This was in his house?”
“Yes,” I say softly. “In his basement, scratched onto a wall. It was hidden behind some old boxes. I wouldn’t have found it if I wasn’t looking. But ... I found a note in his car today and I just needed to check to make sure he wasn’t involved. I truly didn’t think he was and ...”
Alarick glances at the phone again, and then looks to Cohen. “I fuckin’ knew it.”
“What do we do now?” Cohen asks, all of our eyes on Alarick.
“Fuck. Fuck. This is huge. We have our in, he trusts Zariah. The only problem is gettin’ the info we need. If we fuck this up again ...”
“I go to fuckin’ prison,” Kendric murmurs.
I nod. “We’re not going to stuff this up, we’re going to figure it out, but we can’t do it right now. I just had to show you.”
“Write down his address, we might be able to find somethin’ now we know where he lives,” Alarick suggests.
I nod and walk over to the desk, taking a piece of paper and a pen. As I’m scribbling the address, I notice some handwritten notes scattered on Alarick’s desk. Notes with a very familiar style. I pick one up and glance at it. It’s written in the same handwriting as the note I found in Steven’s car earlier. I spin around, holding the paper up. “You left the note in his car?”
Alarick, who is talking to Samson, turns to me and his eyes fall on mine. He looks to the note, and then back to me again.
“You’re in on this,” I whisper. “All along, it has been you ...”
My heart is racing as I toss the note down, backing up, glancing at them all. Do I know any of these men? Why else would that note be in Steven’s car, in Alarick’s handwriting, if they didn’t have something to do with this? Is it all a set up?