Chapter 80
AIDEN
Connor put down the call, his face grim, without a flicker of hope even. My stomach dropped; the tension in the room was thick enough to strangle.
“The last call to Freya’s number was from a burner cell,” he said, vojce steady but heavy with implications.
“A burner cell!” I repeated, my mind racing Burner phones weren’t used for innocent reasons. They were for anonymity, secrecy, and more often than not, something sinister.
“And the car!” I asked, my voice sharp as I clung to a shred of hope.
“They are looking at the CCTV footage, Connor said, though his tone carried little assurance.
They ought to hurry up. Bloody bloody useless bastards,” I mumbled, fuming. My fists tightened in my sides, and I wanted to wriggle out of my own flesh. Each passing second, not hearing back, seemed an eternity,
Aiden Calm down” Connor commanded, his voice steady.
I turned on him, the panic and anger in me breaking through. “I can’t fucking calm down. I can’t be calm until I know where she is. My voice cracked, the vulnerability slipping through despite my efforts to contain it
I cursed under my breath and dropped onto the couch, my head falling into my hands. My mind was a storm, spiraling into the worst possibilities. Was she hurt? Was she scared? Was she..
No. 1 squeezed my eyes shut, trying to shut out the images clawing at my sanity. I couldn’t afford to go
“Aiden.” Connor called again, this time softer.
“What?” I snapped, looking up sharply.
there.
He didn’t answer. Instead, he nodded toward the staircase. My heart lurched as I followed his gaze. Gia stood there, her small frame clutching the stuffed panda she never parted with. Her wide, innocent eyes looked at me with worry, and it nearly shattered me.
“Daddy?” she said quietly, her voice like a whisper in the chaos of my mind.
intle tone.
I made myself sit up straight, taking a deep breath. “Come here, sweetie,” I croaked, forcing the gentle
She paused then padded down the stairs. Her small feet made little noise on the carpeted floor. She stopped before me, her small fingers holding the panda tight. “Where’s Mommy?
The question struck me like a fist. How could I possibly answer it when I had no clue? I gulped and swallowed hard to keep down the panic.
“She went to visit a friend, I said, attempting a weak smile.
“Mommy’s Auntie Reyna?” she asked, tilting her head.
“No, another friend,” I said swiftly, trying to keep my voice steady.
“But Mommy doesn’t have friends” she said, frowning in confusion.
I smiled softly, the sound was hollow even to my own ears. “An old friend from her school. She’s in town for the weekend, so Mommy went to see ber
come back?
“When will she come
“I don’t know, sweetheart. Soon, I guess. I stroked her hair back softly, trying to still the quiver in my hands. “Go to your room and play, okay? We have something important to discuss.”
Gia hesitated, her eyes scanning mine as if searching for some sign of what was brewing beneath my placid exterior. Then she nodded. “Okay,” she said quietly, climbing back up the stairs.
As her little feet disappeared from view, I breathed shakily, my head dropping back against the couch.
1/3
7:01 AM
Chapter 80
Her footsteps faded away as she left, leaving in her wake an unsenling silence broken only by the sound of another set of approaching steps. Reyna walked in. Her face was pale, drawn, and her confident stride was replaced with hesitation.
“Hey. You are Connor?” she asked, her eyes darting between the both of us.
“Yes,” Connor said curtly. He wasn’t in a mood for introductions.
“Reyna,” she said hastily, nodding to him before turning her attention back to me. “So, what’s the update!”
Her words hit me like a demand I couldn’t meet. I stared at her blankly, unable to muster the energy to answer. How could I explain the nothingness we were working with? How could I put my fear into words?
The call she got was from a burner cell, Connor said, repeating the information for her. His phone buzzed again, and h he glanced at it. The crease in his brow deepened. “And that car number is false.”
“That means she was kidnapped!” Reyna asked, her voice trembling as she spoke the word aloud, giving form to the fear swirling around us.
feels like it, but we don’t know for sure, Connor said with a clipped tone, but honesty nonetheless.
The air in the room seemed to thicken. I despised this–the powerlessness, the emptiness of not knowing. It clawed at me, made me feel like I was failing her.
Reyna’s eyes darted around the room, catching on the staircase for a fleeting moment. “Where’s Gia?”
“Upstairs,” I muttered. The word felt leaden on my tongue, as guilt pricked at the edge of my thoughts. She’d sent her away, she said, to save her, but what father was I to hide such things?
“Does she know anything?” Reyna pressed
“Do I know anything? What will I tell her?” The irritation in my voice came out sharper than I intended. My chest heaved as frustration welled up, threatening to boil over. The look on Reyna’s face told me she understood, but I still felt the need to bite out, “Don’t push me right now”
Reyna didn’t blink. She shook her head, and the calm expression remained in the face of my explosion. “Her mother arrived last Sunday. Can it be that…” She hesitated before continuing. I mean, she might have left because she got to know her father is ill or something!”
The proposal fell like a slap, stinging and unwelcome. It was ridiculous yet believable. If Freya had gone to see her father, why wouldn’t she tell me? And why would she switch off her phone? But her mother? That woman was capable of anything. My mind ran through all sorts of scenarios, each one more sinister than the last. 1 could almost hear Freya’s voice in my head, reassuring me not to jump to conclusions. Except I had to. What else could I do?
“We’re groping in the dark,” Connor muttered, breaking the spiral of my thoughts.
I latched onto his voice like a lifeline. “You have a better idea?” I snapped, desperate for any concrete lead.
got the call. I’ll get a
“Yes,” he said, his voice steady. “We can get the CCTV footage of the inside of Meringue and find the time when she got professional lip reader to figure out her side of the conversation. Maybe we can find something out.
My chest tightened at the thought of her, standing there in the cafe, unaware of whatever darkness had reached out to her through that call. I nodded quickly. “Let’s do it.”
Just as Connor started to move, Carlos entered the room, his expression unreadable. “There’s a delivery for you” he said, looking directly at me.
I leaped to my feet. I could feel my heart galloping in my chest as I dashed toward the door. Was this it? A ransom demand? A clue! Something. anything that might finally guide me in the right direction?
Outside, a young clivery guy stood uncomfortably with a box held awkwardly in his hand. His uniform looked to be a size too large, his face a morass of boredom and bewilderment.
“Who is this from?” I asked, my voice sharp and urgent
He looked at his phone and read off the name. “Freya Wilso
h
“What Where is she?” My question spilled out of me, nonsensical but desperate How would he know? I was losing my grip.
The delivery guy blinked at me, his confusion deepening. “I don’t know, sir. This was a scheduled delivery”
My heart twisted. A delivery by appointment? I signed for the box without looking at him as the delivery boy took off and stepped back inside,
7:01 AM c
Chapter 80
1 set the box on the table and stared at it, wondering if it might detonate. Reyna stood next to me, observing intently, Connor was scanning it, likely going over possible scenarios with a mind quicker than I could grasp them.
I opened the box with my hands shaking. There was a beautifully arranged set inside–a bottle of champagne and two champagne glasses.
“Is it your birthday or something?” Reyna asked, breaking the silence.
“No,” I said, my voice hollow. My birthday was months away.
I picked up one of the glasses, and that’s when I saw it. My breath hitched as my eyes fixed on the engraving. In golden italics, the word Daddy gleamed on the glass. My hand shook as I picked up the other one. Mommy.
A tidal wave hit me like a realization. My legs almost buckled as I stared at the glasses and the implications sunk in
She is pregnant,” I managed to get out, my voice barely above a whisper. “We’re having a baby.
The air left the room. I held onto the edge of the table for support, my mind racing with emotions: shock, joy, fear, and overwhelming grief. Freya had planned this, planned to surprise me. She’d probably imagined this moment so differently, a moment of celebration for the life we were bringing into the world. Instead, I stood there, paralyzed by the knowledge that she was out there somewhere, alone and vulnerable, carrying our child
My knees buckled, and I leaned against the wall with my head hanging down. “This was going to be.” I could not complete the sentence. The start of something happy. The beginning of a new chapter. And it turned out to be nothing more than a cruel joke.
Connor pushed forward. He gripped my shoulder tight. His face still tough, his resolve had only softened a little. “We will find her,” he said, and this time, his voice steady and unyielding
Gia. Fr the child we hadn’t even met yet. We would
I nodded, swallowing hard, pushing myself to stand taller. I had to believe him. For Freya. For O find her. There was no other option
