“Are you sure?” he asks, already pulling out his phone.
“I am.”
I pull out my phone and call Mason.
Straight to voicemail.
I call him several times but he never picks up.
My grip tightens around the phone until my knuckles ache.
That’s not a coincidence. Not tonight. Not with everything lining up the way it is.
I move over to where Cas is questioning the vendor while Ethan talks to deputies about the security cameras, my eyes scanning everything, everyone, like I might somehow catch something we missed.
“She got her cotton candy,” the vendor says, “then some men blocked my view. When they moved… those were on the ground.”
He points.
My gaze follows.
Two abandoned cotton candies.
Small. Pink. Out of place.
My stomach drops.
That’s it.
That’s all the confirmation I need.
They have her.
Cas turns to me, his expression tight. “This is not right.”
I open and close my hands, the need to use my fists crawling under my skin in a way I haven’t felt in years. Not like this. Not this fast.
“Got something.”
A deputy calls out, and we all move at once as he pulls up security footage on a tablet.
“See? There she is.”
We watch.
Lexy stands in line, looking like she always does. Like everything is normal. Like nothing’s about to go wrong.
She orders. Pays. Turns.
Three men move in behind her. Too close. Too coordinated.
And then, out of the shadows, a hand clamps over her mouth.
Fast. Clean. Practiced.
She’s gone before anyone even realizes what happened.
Something inside me goes still.
