“Appreciate it, Brant.”
After Brant walked out the front door, Nick stood in the entryway, wishing he could do something useful, such as go out and help to look for Ethan rather than having to stay safe inside the gilded cage of presidential protection.
It occurred to him that he needed to call Scotty before he saw news about the cops issuing an alert for Ethan. He hated to make that call, but he couldn’t let his son hear about his missing cousin online.
“Hey, Dad, how’s it going? Are you and Mom still at Ninth?”
“Buddy, I have to tell you something that’s upsetting. While we were at Ninth, we got a call from Tracy that Ethan is missing.”
“What? No… How can he be missing?”
“He was out with a friend to play video games at an arcade. His phone seems to be off, which he knows is a deal-breaker for his parents, so Tracy called Mom. We’re with them now.”
“Can I do anything?”
“You can help Nana with the twins. I’m not sure how long we’ll be here.”
“Yeah, I can do that. Is Mom scared?”
“We all are. I hate to have to call you with this news, but I didn’t want you to see it online. They’ve issued an alert about him.”
“God, Tracy and Mike must be losing it.”
“They are. I’ll keep you posted, okay?”
“Yeah, okay. Tell Mom and Tracy… Tell them all I love them.”
“I will, buddy.”
“Thanks for calling.”
“Love you.”
“Love you, too.”
As he ended the call, Nick’s heart broke for Scotty and everyone who loved Ethan, but especially Tracy and Mike. After what they’d endured when Brooke was drugged and sexually assaulted at a party where other kids were murdered, they’d already been through every parent’s worst nightmare. They didn’t deserve more.
Thankfully, Brooke had managed to put her life back together, was excelling in college and enjoying her first serious relationship with Nate. Nick loved that the two of them were a couple.
He could only hope and pray that Ethan would be found safe quickly and that his disappearance had nothing to do with his uncle, the president.
Chapter Three
“I don’t know what I should do,” Brooke said to Nate two hours after the initial frantic call from her mother about Ethan being missing. Her baby brother… Although, at eleven, Ethan wasn’t a baby anymore. However, he’d always be one of her babies, one of the original loves of her life, along with her sister, Abby, who was nine.
The thought of something bad happening to either of them was so unbearable that Brooke could hardly keep it together while she waited to hear something from home.
“What do you want to do?” Nate asked as he massaged her shoulders.
He’d driven down from Princeton the night before for a three-day visit they’d been counting down to for weeks. This was to have been their last time hanging out together in Charlottesville, before she—and Elijah—went home for summer vacation, putting all of them in DC for a few months before she transferred to Princeton in the fall.
“My mom told me not to come running home, but how can I think about anything else as long as my brother is missing?”
Nate turned her so he could see her face. “It could turn out to be a simple case of miscommunication or something.”
Brooke shook her head. “That’s not it. I’m sure of it. Ethan knew if he messed up, they’d lock him up at home. He’d never have done anything to endanger his newfound freedom.”
“I’m kind of surprised to hear he’s allowed to run around in DC at eleven.”
