I bang on the door, pounding with the base of my fist for several minutes before I pull out my phone to call Marley.
She picks up right away.
“Did you find them?” she asks, hope in her voice.
“His car is not here and he’s not answering the door.”
Her breath hitches. “Asher, I’m freaking the hell out here. I’m so scared. I’ve been calling hospitals since you left and they have no records of either of them. Now his phone is disconnected. What if something bad has happened or what if—what if he took her? Oh God, Asher. I don’t think I can take this.”
My fingers clench into a fist as rage pours over me. When I do find this piece of shit, it’ll take every ounce of control I possess not to kill him on the spot for making her worry like this.
A sob tumbles over the line and my heart cracks a little in my chest.
“Marley, listen to me, baby, I promise I’m going to find her but I need you stay calm. We’ll give them another hour and if we haven’t heard anything by then, we’ll take the next step.”
She sniffles, her soft cries echoing in my ear. “Okay.”
“Heading your way now,” I assure her and end the call, slipping the phone back into my pocket as I climb inside of my truck and haul ass back across town.
Chapter 22
Marley
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I’m a basket case.I’m pretty sure I have walked a hole in the floor and my mind is spinning in a million different directions. Every possible scenario worse than the last. I’ve never felt so helpless before. Not even when my parents died. But right now, I feel like I could fall apart at any second.
Thankfully, Peter arrived not long after Asher left. When I called to let him know what was going on, he came right over. He knows something is wrong too, he knows Steven is never late. He’s too OCD for that.
“I hope Asher finds him and beats the shit out of him for making you worry like this,” Peter says from the couch.
I make another pass across the floor, stopping to look out the window. “All I care about right now is getting Lyla back safely.”
Then I’m taking him back to court. If he can’t comply with the order we have in place already then there’s no way in hell I’m letting him take Lyla again. Not without supervision.
Between Peter’s presence and knowing Asher will do everything he can to find her, I am just able to remain calm and collected.
