No. No no no no no.
I dropped to my knees to grab it, my hands shaking so violently I could barely pick it up. The photo. That was Yusef.That was definitely Yusef. The hoodie he’d been wearing this morning.
Someone had been following him. Someone had been close enough to take this picture.
Someone had my nephew.
I couldn’t breathe. My chest was tight, my lungs refusing to work right. I was hyperventilating, gasping for air like a fish out of water. The baby kicked hard—once, twice, three times—responding to my panic, making everything worse.
I grabbed the edge of the couch and pulled myself up, my legs shaking so bad I almost collapsed again.
Prime. I needed Prime.
I called him. Straight to voicemail.
“No, no, no…” I called again. Voicemail. Again. Voicemail.
He was on the plane. Thirty thousand feet in the air with no service, no idea that our world was falling apart.
Quest. I’d call Quest.
Voicemail.
Justice.
Voicemail.
Mehar.
Ring. Ring. Ring. No answer. She was probably with her new boyfriend, too caught up in love to check her phone.
I was alone. Completely alone. No one could help me.
I looked at the clock. Twenty-seven minutes left.
The room was spinning. I gripped the wall to steady myself, my palm leaving a sweaty print on the paint. The baby was going crazy now, kicking and rolling, sensing my terror.
“It’s okay,” I whispered, rubbing my belly with my free hand. “It’s okay, baby girl. Mommy’s gonna fix this. Mommy’s gonna fix this.”
But how? How was I supposed to fix this?
I looked down at my ankle. The monitor. The thing that was supposed to keep me trapped in this house until my trial.
If I left, I’d trigger an alert. The police would come. My bail would be revoked. I’d go back to jail.
But if I didn’t leave…
Yusef.
Sweet, traumatized Yusef who’d finally started to heal. Who’d finally started to smile again. Who’d asked for one hour of freedom and trusted me to keep him safe.
I couldn’t let anything happen to him. I couldn’t.
The decision wasn’t even a decision. There was no choice to make.
I grabbed my purse with trembling hands, nearly dropping it twice. My fingers were shaking so bad I could barely open the Uber app. I typed the address wrong three times before finally getting it right.
Four minutes away.
