It didn’t take long for him to tire of kicking me once I silenced my agony. When he stopped he bent to pick me up and tossed me hard at the opposite wall. I remained silent, despite the agony of the impact on my left side. The Shadow, seeing my fight was gone, seemed satisfied and turned away, stomping up the steps and slamming the door as we were once again left in darkness.
“Oh thank God!” I gasped as I burst into sobs. It had worked, he had left Hailey alone. I knew his routine. Knew he wouldn’t come down again to hurt us until the same time the next day, so I would have time to try and recover enough to do the same thing again tomorrow. As long as he didn’t change his rituals again, that was.
I wasn’t a fool; I knew there were only so many times I could take the brunt of his beatings when I was goading him the way I was, but I would do it until he killed me if it kept her safe. In the meantime I would just have to work on a plan to get us out of there, and keep on hoping beyond all else that my guys would find us.
A small, trembling hand landed over mine and I forced myself to sit up, despite the blinding pain from my ribs. I pulled Hailey into my lap and found she was shaking violently.
“It’s ok sweetie. He’s gone now. We’re ok.” I whispered, then I rocked her in my arms until once again, she cried herself to exhaustion and passed out. Once I was sure she was out, I shuffled back to the wall and leant my aching body against it, with Hailey curled up on my legs.
I closed my eyes and tried to picture my guys; the way their arms felt wrapped around me, to feel the tingle of every kiss they had laid on me.
“Please guys.” I whispered as silent tears streaked down my cheeks. “Please…..just come for me.”
CHAPTER 25
MATT
Parking my truck in the lot of the small grocery store on the outer limits of Creal Springs I took a deep breath, in my hundredth attempt to calm the anger and panic that was running rampant through my frazzled brain. It was almost two days since Olivia’s hand had been torn from mine and she had disappeared. To say I was losing it with worry for her was a major understatement.
My imagination seemed to be unable to stop torturing me with scenarios of what my girl was likely suffering through during every moment we failed to find her. Images of the scars I had seen all over her body flashed between nightmarish scenes of her trapped in the dark once again, beaten and bleeding, wondering why I had let her down so terribly.
And I had let her down. I had promised again and again that we would protect her, that I would keep her safe and then I had failed her, allowing the exact same sonofabitch who had tortured her for over eight years to take her again.
I had known, deep down, that going to the precinct with that cop wasn’t right. My instincts had screamed at me to keep Livy safe at school until we knew exactly what was going on, but I had gone anyway, sure I would be able to protect her from anything that may arise.
I was a fucking idiot, and if I could kick my own ass, I would be doing it. Instead my brothers had shaken me and told me to do something useful to find her. So there I was, in Creal Springs, hunting down the store clerk who had called into the police tip line a couple of weeks before about a potential sighting of the kidnapper.
It was the lead Kade’s team had followed up on, but when they arrived to question her, she had come up with some bullshit story that she’d been mistaken all along and refused to tell them anything. Police had questioned other residents of the area, but no one seemed to have seen anything, or if they had they weren’t willing to share it for some reason.
I climbed out of my truck, not really feeling any calmer, but filled with determination that I would not be leaving the area until I was certain this witness had told me everything she knew. I didn’t believe for a second she had simply been mistaken. She had seen the fucker, I was sure of it. Why else would she go to the trouble of calling the cops? I had no idea why she changed her story, or what had scared her, but if I was honest I didn’t care. My entire focus was on finding Livy and I would do whatever I needed to, go through whoever I had to, to find her and get her back.
I walked into the small grocery store and scanned the space for staff members. The store was pretty empty. From where I stood in the entrance I could see a young couple laughing as they perused the fresh fruit, and an old lady two aisles over, shuffling behind a half filled cart. The registers were to my right and only one was open, an older, balding man sat looking bored as hell behind it. He glanced up as I studied him, and looked me over with an air of suspicion. I couldn’t blame him. I was looking pretty rough, in the same clothes I had dressed in almost two days before, my hair wild and in need of a shower
