“Just find out where she’s staying—please.”
His friend sighed.“I should have something for you in the morning.”
Brick thanked him and disconnected.Thirty minutes later he threw a duffel bag into the cab of his truck and peeled out of the driveway toward the airport.
***
Natalie took outthe burner phone from her nightstand drawer her sister had given her two weeks ago, when she left Keetan.She’d called only Ellie on the device so far.Her sister’s paranoia had made Natalie roll her eyes, but that was Ellie.Always one step ahead.She’d even helped Natalie get the apartment.But Keetan had found her.
After Keetan and his friends had left with Bray, she’d gathered her things and gotten the hell out of there.She needed to figure out how to get Bray back.Deep down, though, she knew there was only one way.
Mopping the moisture from her cheeks, she stared at the device.Her hands shook.Urgency made her want to call him immediately.To say or do whatever possible to get her son away from a madman.
But she had to be careful.Keetan didn’t just want her back home with him.He was beyond pissed she’d had the audacity to leave him.If all he’d wanted was her compliance, he would’ve dragged her from the apartment along with Bray.
No, this was a show of dominance.Intimidation.
She had to handle her cards right.She couldn’t play with fire when no one was there to protect Bray.Her heart wanted to believe Keetan wasn’t so cruel that he’d hurt an innocent two-year-old, but she also knew he resented Bray.
Had from the moment he’d seen her swollen belly.
Because he knew Bray wasn’t his.
That had been the ultimate blow to Keetan’s ego.Keetan was the only male Bray had been around, but he didn’t call him Daddy, had always called him Keetan.Even as a stepfather, her ex didn’t love Bray.
Bray’s biological father would, though.
She slammed the door on that thought.She couldn’t go there.Not now.If she dredged up the guilt she’d carried for the last three years, she’d crumble.
She entered Ellie’s number, and the line rang in her ear.It was late.She’d be sleeping—
“Hello?”her sister answered groggily.
“It’s me.I’m sorry to wake you.”Natalie leaned against the headboard and drew her knees into her chest.
The musty scent of the brown checkered comforter tickled her nostrils.Fear clung so tightly to every cell in her body that her brain couldn’t process how seedy the room was.Nothing mattered right now except formulating a plan.
“Oh my god,” her sister said, her alarm evident.“What’s wrong?”
Natalie winced and pulled the device from her ear.Fresh emotion rushed forth.“It’s bad, sis,” she said, a sob escaping.“They took him.K-Keetan.He has Bray.”
“What?No!Where are you?”
Pain exploded in her chest.Her shoulders shook as her mind replayed the events of the night.The memory of Bray’s desperate little screams tore at her soul.
“Tell me where you are.I’m coming to get you and I’m sending the police to Keetan’s place.”
“No, you can’t,” she urged.Panic welled inside her.“You haven’t seen the news.Keetan went to the cops—he gave them the evidence.Or something.He told them about me.I’m wanted under suspicion of manslaughter.”
Ellie cursed a blue streak.“That sonofabitch.I’ll k—”
“Don’t!Don’t,” she repeated softly.They had to be careful.Keetan would know Natalie would reach out to Ellie.He could have even tapped her phone.The idea might be a stretch, but she couldn’t take any chances.“I need your help.I can’t tell you where I’m staying, but I’m still in town.”
She had to get her sister on a secure line so she could give her more information.“Can you call me back at this number?”
“I’ll have to get a phone, but yeah.Give me a little bit.”
“Okay.Ellie, please be careful.I’ve never seen Keetan this angry.”Not since she attempted to leave him three years ago.
