Blankets pulled from the bed, mattress shoved to the side, the small safe hidden under the bed gone.
“Bitch,” I seethed.
I should have known.
I should have known better than to let her back into my damn house. Into our lives so she could just turn around and make another mess of it. But honestly, the only thing that mattered right then was the fact she was gone. I’d gladly accept the loss of the bit of cash in that safe if it meant Janel was eradicated from our lives.
A plague eliminated.
Extinguished.
“Rex!” Rynna’s scream flooded my ears. I pushed back out of my room and into the hall.
She was at Frankie’s door, her hand pressed to her mouth, the girl staring inside.
For a beat, I froze in terror.
Frankie.
I sprang into action. Rynna stumbled out of my way when I rounded the doorway. I jerked to a stop in my daughter’s room.
In a fleeting glance, you’d think nothing was out of order, her bed made and her stuffed animals still lined against her pillows.
But the closet—clothes were pulled from the hangers and some of her shoes were gone. Frantic, I rushed for Frankie’s dresser. The drawers...they were empty.
The worst kind of terror took hold of me.
All the fears I’d ever had of losing my child rose to the surface.
Rising above.
Pulling me under.
I couldn’t fucking breathe.
My hands were shaking when I dug into my pocket for my phone. It was already ringing before I had the chance to dial, my mom’s name lit on the screen.
I answered it, and every part of me twisted in two.
My mother...she was screaming. Screaming and screaming and screaming. “She’s gone. I don’t know where she is, Rex. She’s not here. Frankie’s gone.”
39
Rynna
Jenny Gunner’s cries poured through the phone. Begging and screaming and weeping.
And Rex? Oh God, Rex made an inhuman noise. Wailed this wail that came from his soul.
Agonized.
Devastated.
Crushed.
It reverberated from the walls and pummeled through my senses.
I wound my arm around my stomach as if it might staunch the pain that split me from the inside.
