Her heart ached.She fought the overwhelming anguish and watched the trees and houses whiz by her window.Bray was being hidden somewhere.Maybe in one of these very houses.
Oh, god.He could’ve been taken out of the city.Panic flooded her, and she gripped the door handle for support.
“You okay?”Brick’s cautious question rubbed her like sandpaper.
“No,” she said, her voice strangled.“I-I can’t do this.I can’t act like things are normal.I can’t eat.I can’t be away from him.I’veneverbeen away from him.”
Brick pulled into a driveway, and she immediately recognized the home with light-blue siding and a large cedar porch from the picture of the listing.
“Hey.”His gaze ensnared hers.“I get you’re scared.I get you don’t want to be here.But we’re doing everything we can.”
She shook her head, and a tear leaked out of the corner of her eye.“It doesn’t feel that way.I hate that he stole so many options from me.I never went to the police before because of the audio Keetan has of me.But now...it doesn’t matter.I don’t care anymore if I go to jail.”She closed her eyes for a beat, not really believing her own words.She did care if she went to jail, but not because of how it would impact her.She cared if it meant Bray would be taken away.
But right now Bray was in danger, and she wasn’t willing to risk her son’s life to avoid prison anymore.
The idea of finding him only to have him taken away and raised by someone else ripped her heart out.The only thing worse was leaving him vulnerable and in danger.“I think we need to go to the police,” she said, hating each word.
He nodded.“That’s fair.But if we find him, you won’t be reunited.Walking into the police station will surely get you put behind bars.You’ll get a lawyer, but that will take time.Time they aren’t going to use wisely to find Bray.Sure, they’ll put out an alert, but with Keetan being there, well, it’s hard to say what will happen.”
She pulled her arms close to her belly.
“All I know is I could take you to the police station right now and we wouldn’t be any further ahead with finding Bray.There’ll be statements, questioning, all that shit.My team will be here in a few hours.I don’t think the cops will look for Bray any sooner than that.”
“So you’re saying I should wait?”
“I’m saying I support whatever decision you make.But if you want my opinion, I don’t want to see you in jail.”
“This isn’t about me.”
“It is, because Bray is about you.When we get inside, I’m going to call my buddy, Ghost.He’s the one who tracked you down.”
She widened her eyes.He’d mentioned that earlier but she hadn’t been in the right state to understand the logistics.“How’d he do that?”
“Facial recognition.”
If her eyebrows climbed any higher, they wouldn’t come down.“And he’s going to use that to find Bray?”She couldn’t keep the skepticism from her tone.
Brick’s mouth twitched.“Let’s go inside and I’ll wow you with my expertise.I’m going to need your last address.”
She couldn’t help but smile.“All right.This I’ve gotta hear.”
***
“Oh my god,that’s wild.I can’t believe she was taken by human traffickers.That’s one of my worst fears.”Natalie’s eyes were round as she bit into her wrap.
He might have talked her ear off explaining how Rami had found his now-fiancée, Ivy, but he’d succeeded in distracting her enough to eat half her meal.Once they were settled at the kitchen table, he’d pulled up his facial recognition software and showed her how they found people using street cameras and other surveillance devices.He then explained how Ghost had located her at the bus terminal the night she and Bray escaped two weeks ago.Her path had left breadcrumbs—enough for them to eventually find her at the motel this morning.
“That’s not even the wildest part.”He pushed away his plate.He’d finished his large chicken-and-bacon wrap with fries.“Rami tried to refuse the job when Gigi, Ivy’s twin sister, asked for his help.”
She shook her head in wonderment.“Such an intense story.What made him decide to take the job?”
He smirked.“Well, August, one of the other guys on the team, had a history with Gigi.And Rami and August are best friends.”
She made a giant O with her lips.
“He pretty much twisted Rami’s arm.But it didn’t take long for Rami to go in balls to the wall.”
She scrunched her nose at his choice of words, creating a cute wrinkle.The movement also revealed one of her dimples.God, it’d been over three years since he’d seen those little clefts.She hadn’t smiled much, if at all, since he found her in the motel parking lot.He hoped he’d make her smile again.
