Reluctantly, I release Lyla’s hand and follow Zayne into the kitchen. He reaches for Lyla’s Hello Kitty backpack on the counter then turns to face me, unzipping the bag. I see all of her tiny little Shopkins there at the bottom but that’s not what has my attention. It’s the small device attached to the side of the bag.
I look at him in question. “A little extra insurance to make sure you don’t run away. If you remove the backpack for any reason, I’ll detonate the bomb.”
A renewed sense of doom settles over me. “What do you want me to do?”
A grin tugs at the corners of his lips as he pulls a cell phone from his pocket and pulls up another video. A woman pushes her infant in a shopping cart, stopping to look at merchandise on the shelf. A few moments later, Lyla walks into view and begins talking to her. At first I don’t understand, but then a man comes into view, a man whose large build and frame look eerily similar to Zayne, and he snatches the baby, carrier and all, from the buggy. I can’t see his face, but I know it’s him. He’s long gone before the woman realizes that her baby is missing and that’s when Steven comes into view to retrieve Lyla from the frantic woman.
“Oh my God,” I cover my mouth, feeling like I might get sick.
“You getting it now?” he asks, putting his phone away.
I nod, unable to speak, wondering how many times my daughter has been forced to do this. If Steven wasn’t already dead, I would kill him myself.
Zayne holds up a small remote. “You try to run away or make one wrong move, it’s all over. Understand?”
Swallowing the lump in my throat, I nod. A sense of helplessness envelops me as dread sinks in my stomach.
Then he hands me a bag filled with wigs and makeup. “Go get ready.”
Chapter 27
Asher
It’s been twelve hours since Marley was taken and in that time I’ve reasoned with God in ways I never have before. Begged for mercy even though I probably don’t deserve it, but I bargained with my own life nonetheless.
That’s how much I care about this woman.
We called the murder in to the local sheriff and officers have been combing the house and property for hours, searching for any evidence or leads on where Marley and Lyla could be. We’ve discovered bank statements for numerous offshore bank accounts that show Steven had an obscene amount of money being transferred each month. We also discovered passports for Steven, Marley, and Lyla as well as plane tickets to Italy, but it doesn’t look like Steven will be going anywhere but the morgue.
“He made numerous cash withdrawals and kept them documented on a spreadsheet labeled ‘payments to Z’ but the payments stopped three months ago,” Danny says as he clicks through the files on Steven’s laptop.
“Maybe Z got pissed and decided it was time for Steven to pay up in other ways.”
“I guarantee that’s who has Marley and Lyla,” I say.
“It’s possible,” Danny replies.
