Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 71949 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 360(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71949 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 360(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
“I got home and wanted to see Belinda,” I begin. “I felt guilty because I haven’t spent much time with her lately, so I knocked on her door and she didn’t answer.”
“Okay.”
“I thought that was odd because she’s never asleep that early. So I knocked again and called for her. And nothing. I went in. Her bed was still made. I checked the bathroom. The closet.” My lip trembles. “I even glanced under the bed.”
“Under the bed?”
I nod. “She once told me she used to hide under the bed when she still lived with her father.” A chill runs down my spine. “He always found her though.”
“Fuck…” he says.
“I know. But she was safe here. And happy.” A tear slips down my cheek and I wipe it away before Hawk can. “At least I thought she was.”
“She was.”
“So I scoured the house and eventually had to interrupt Vinnie and Raven.”
“Interrupt them?”
“They were in their bedroom.”
He holds up his hand, his nose wrinkled. “Okay, understood. No more details necessary.”
“Yeah. I felt bad, but not that bad. I didn’t—don’t—care about anything but Belinda.”
Hawk’s hand hovers near my arm, hesitant, like he’s afraid to touch me. “Dani,” he says quietly. “I’m sorry. I should’ve been here.”
I don’t look at him. “That doesn’t help me now.”
He exhales hard. “I know.” His eyes are full of guilt, and of something softer, but I can’t bear either.
“Please don’t,” I say. “Don’t try to make this better. You can’t.”
He runs a hand through his hair. “I’m not trying to make it better. I just— God, Dani, I should’ve answered.”
I finally meet his eyes. “You think? Belinda’s gone. DHS showed up at the door. You went dark. I thought you were dead, or done with me, or both.”
He reaches toward me. “I wasn’t done. I’ll never be done.”
“Then where the hell were you?”
He clears his throat. “At the old barn.”
“You didn’t check your phone?” I bite out.
“Service is spotty there. Sometimes it’s great, and sometimes there’s nothing.”
Am I supposed to believe that?
The silence between us is thick. I can feel my heartbeat in my palms, everywhere.
He reaches out again, but I flinch back before his fingers touch me.
“I don’t need comfort,” I whisper. “I need help. Belinda didn’t write that note. She didn’t run away. Someone took her. I have to go after her.”
“I won’t let you go alone,” Hawk says.
“You don’t get to let me or not let me,” I say. “You weren’t here.”
He closes his eyes, breathes in through his nose. When he opens them again, the guilt is still there, but something colder sits behind it.
“I’m here now,” he says. “And I’m not leaving again.”
I fold my arms across my chest. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”
He looks around the room. “No,” he says quietly. “This one I can keep.”
I don’t answer. My throat’s too tight. He finds my wrist again.
This time, I don’t pull away. Not yet.
But I don’t lean in, either.
3
HAWK
Everything she just told me sits in my head, and because it’s what I do, I form a mental list.
Belinda, gone.
A note typed, not written.
Homeland Security showing up with deportation paperwork.
No answer from me.
That last one slices right into my gut.
“I didn’t know,” I finally say. “I’m sorry.”
“Sorry. You’ve said that.” She looks down. “It doesn’t change anything. It doesn’t bring Belinda home.”
The words hit harder than they should. “That’s not fair.”
“Neither is any of this,” she snaps. “None of it’s fair, Hawk. She’s a child. She trusted us. And now—” Her lips tremble.
“Dani—”
“Don’t.” She shakes her head. “I’m not ready for… Oh, I don’t even know what I mean!”
Silence once more.
I take a slow breath, making mental lists again because nothing else makes sense to me.
That’s what I’ve always done.
Only this time, the math doesn’t balance.
Too many fires in twenty-four hours.
Eagle waking up.
Reyes disappearing, taking with him the code to his safe.
Daniela’s immigration case unraveling out of nowhere.
Now Belinda.
And I can’t shake the thought that maybe I did this. I broke everything because I dared to take one night off from saving everyone else.
One night with her.
One night where I let the world burn quietly while I pretended it couldn’t reach us.
Daniela finally turns back to me. “Say something that helps,” she whispers.
I nod once. “I will.”
“Now.”
“I’m going to find her.”
“You don’t even know where to start.”
“I’ll figure it out.” I scoot closer. “I always do.”
She stares at me. “And what if it’s too late?”
“Then I’ll make whoever’s responsible wish it weren’t.”
That gets a reaction from her, a flicker of something that might be belief or might be exhaustion. Maybe both.
Her phone buzzes on the table next to the sofa. She doesn’t look. Neither do I.
“You said the note was printed?” I ask.
“Yes.”
“Where’s the printer?”
“Belinda’s desk. In her bedroom.”
I rise and head toward the hallway. Daniela follows me. Two officers are still in the room when we enter.