"Molly scheduled an Uber at the end of the school day but never made it outside the building. The Uber driver thought nothing of it and left. It wasn't until Elle got back to the house with Savannah that she noticed Molly never made it home."
That wasn't what I wanted to hear. After I got the call from Caden that Molly was missing, I’d hoped to hear she was found, and it was all a mistake. "What about Jacob Bronson?"
"Still in police custody. He's refusing to talk even to the public defender. My friend says the kid has a giant chip on his shoulder."
"If he's still in custody, then that means he has a partner. Did the school give us access to their footage?"
"They are sending it over as we speak. I should have it by the time we get back to the office."
That wasn't good enough. "Molly has been missing for six hours already. How do we not have the footage yet?"
"Because Elle only contacted me a little over an hour ago. The doctor’s office took forever to get Savannah in to be seen, and then Elle had to go to the pharmacy to get her medicine. Elle's already kicking herself for not noticing sooner."
I scrubbed my hands up and down my face. It wasn't Elle's fault. Her first priority was her daughter. It was just an unfortunate accident that someone used the opportunity to snatch my wife.
"We need to see that footage. I want to know what the hell happened."
"I'll go through it as soon as I get it. Finding Molly is our top priority. I promise you."
It better be.
I didn't say that out loud though. Caden wouldn't slack off. He wasn't an asshole like that.
Thankfully the footage was in Caden's email by the time we made it back to the office. The rest of the team––besides Rhett who went home to check on his wife and daughter––filed around Caden as the footage played.
"Fuck!" I smashed my fist down on the desk and rattled the computer and everything else close enough. "I knew Ben was a piece of shit."
On the screen, we watched as Ben hit Molly over the head with a three-hole punch before dragging her into what I assumed was a classroom or teachers’ lounge.
"We need to figure out where the hell he took her," I snapped to no one in particular.
"I'm going to tap into CCTV footage around his house, first, to see if he took her there. Maybe we will get lucky."
I didn't want to rely on luck, but it was as good of a place to start as any. Maybe the man would be stupid enough to do such a thing.
As it turned out, he was stupid enough. We watched as Ben pulled into his driveway in a small truck and carried a still unconscious Molly into his house.
"He's had her for an hour. We need to get over there now." Matthew was already pulling out his phone. Likely to call Rhett and tell him what we have.
I didn't wait for further orders. I went to our gear room and started arming myself. I had no idea what we were walking into, but I would be prepared for anything.
"We'll get her, man," Graham said as he walked up to his locker.
I hoped he was right. I couldn't lose Molly. We’d barely gotten to start our life together. I wanted forever not a small blip in time.
Hang on, baby. I'm coming for you.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
MOLLY
Somewhere on the back of my head, a pain like I've never experienced before made me want to throw up. The last time I felt this bad was when I woke up after my drunken Vegas night.
Something told me this wasn't the same thing. There would be no new wedding band on my finger or a naked man sleeping next to me.
I hoped not at least. Parker was the only man I wanted to drunkenly marry and spend the rest of my life with.
I did know one thing though. The headache I was feeling wasn't the same as what I got when I was hungover. This was entirely something new. It made the panic that I was starting to feel intensify. I wanted to know what the hell was going on.
