Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 110360 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 552(@200wpm)___ 441(@250wpm)___ 368(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110360 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 552(@200wpm)___ 441(@250wpm)___ 368(@300wpm)
We didn’t speak.
We just endured it.
Breathing.
Waiting.
Drowning.
Then both of our phones lit up at the exact same time.
We both swiped them off the table immediately. Hoping and praying for a message from Devon or Leo saying they’d found her. That they’d gotten her back, safe and sound.
The message on the screen was either the cruelest joke imaginable, or a miracle we hadn’t known to even hope for.
EMERGENCY GPS ALERT: Marty Sowers activated the following tracker. Zoey Callahan is currently located at: 34.0055° N, 118.5050° W
My heart stopped, and my lungs seized.
There was no way.
It was impossible. Marty was gone.
My brain tried to reject it outright—glitching, scrambling for logic that didn’t exist.
But her name was there. Zoey’s name and I didn’t care if the message had been sent by a literal ghost, seeing a coordinate linked to her location was enough to send my hopes soaring sky high.
“What is this?” Brooke gasped, eyes locked on the screen.
“I don’t know.” I replied, reading the words over and over. The words never changed.
Not Marty’s name.
Not Zoey’s name.
Not the coordinates of where she was located.
“Is this Jason? Is this some kind of sick joke?” Brooke snapped.
“I don’t know,” I repeated.
But I knew one thing.
Marty had loved me. He loved Zoey. He loved Brooke.
He was our family.
If he’d left something behind—
If he’d planned something—
It wasn’t a mistake.
Hope surged so fast it felt like it might split me in half.
Wild, desperate, dangerous hope.
“Jude!” I shouted.
He was there in three strides. Lark right behind him. Every cop in the room surged toward us.
Both of them took one look at our screens—
And everything in their faces changed.
“Is this real?” Brooke demanded, her voice breaking apart.
Jude already had his phone out. “Apollo.”
He answered on the second ring. “Can’t talk. I’m trying to find the kid. That bastard didn’t show up with her and Devon and Leo are—”
“I think I know where she is,” Jude cut in. “I’m forwarding you a message now.”
Devon
My phone lit up on the dash with an incoming message just seconds before Apollo’s voice cut through the speakers.
“Okay. Both of you listen to me right now.”
Leo leaned forward. “Whatcha got?”
“Lofton and Brooke both just got a text claiming to be from an emergency GPS tracking app offering the coordinates of where Zoey is.”
“That’s gotta be from Jason,” I rushed out. “He’s got us here and distracted, but he’s still trying to lure them out.”
“Hold on. You haven’t heard the best part,” Apollo laughed as if he’d struck gold.
“Spit it out, ‘Lo,” Leo demanded.
“The text said Marty Sowers activated the tracker. Which we all know is total bullshit, obviously. But, then I went back to look at Marty’s financials. And three days before he took that money out for Jason. He made a hefty purchase from the same app. I looked it up. One tracker with lifetime monitoring comes out to the same total.”
Something shifted in the car.
Not hope.
Not yet.
But something close enough to hurt.
“It’s small,” Apollo continued. “Designed to disappear. Sewn into linings, seams—anywhere you don’t want it to be found.”
Leo looked at me.
I was already there.
“The backpack,” I whispered.
My pulse kicked hard.
“Apollo, how does it trigger?”
“Preset click pattern. Has to be intentional. Not motion. Not automatic. Which means if it was Jason, he’d not only have to know that the device was there. But also how to trigger it.”
A wave of adrenaline crashed through my veins. Every muscle I possessed roared to life.
“It’s Zoey,” I breathed.
“It has to be,” Apollo confirmed. “She’s two blocks from you. I already sent you the coordinates.”
I had the car in drive before he finished.
“Let me out,” Leo demanded, flinging open the door.
I slammed on the brakes. “What the fuck are you doing?”
He folded out of the car in one fluid movement. “Jason’s still at the warehouse.” He nodded toward the phone on the dashboard. “Someone needs to keep him there.”
“What the fuck are you talking about? He’s armed and unstable, and not with her. There’s no need to approach him. You give entire fucking sermons on not taking unnecessary risks.”
“He killed two good men. Shot one of mine.” He straightened his button-down and smoothed down the front of his pants like he was walking into an office not going rogue. “Go get the girl.”
I stared at him.
“Leo!” I called. “You’ve got a wife. Kids. Do not ask me to be the one who has to call them.”
He held my gaze. The side of his mouth twitched. “If you do, just make sure you remind Sarah that I fired you, yeah? Can’t afford an extra paycheck if I’m gone.”
And with that, Leo James shut the door and jogged around the corner toward the warehouse.
I blinked for a minute, wondering if I had time to tackle his crazy ass before going to get Zoey.
The answer was no.
This time Zoey was the primary.
Leo could handle himself.