“Kat,” he said, his voice sharper now. “Where. Is. Frankie?”
Sam stepped forward. “Derek—”
“Where’s Frankie?” he interrupted. His eyes darted from me to Sam to Maggie. “Where is she?”
“She’s gone,” I managed to choke out. “She ran away. Last night. We don’t know where she is.”
The change in him was instantaneous.
His entire body went rigid, every muscle coiling with tension. His hands curled into fists at his sides, and his jaw clenched so hard I could see the muscle jumping beneath his skin.
“What do you mean, she’s gone?” His voice was dangerously quiet now. “How long has she been missing?”
“We don’t know exactly,” Maggie said from the doorway. “She went to bed last night in Cami’s room, but when she woke up this morning, Frankie was gone.”
Derek’s eyes snapped past me, locking onto Cami where she stood behind Maggie in the doorway. His gaze was sharp, penetrating, the kind of look that stripped away every defense.
“Cami,” he said, his voice low and commanding. “What happened?”
Cami’s face went pale. She took a step back, her hands twisting together nervously. “I... I don’t know. She was just—”
“Don’t lie to me.” Derek’s voice cut through her stammering like a blade. He took another step toward the porch, his entire focus on the thirteen-year-old girl. “You know something. Tell me what happened.”
Tank appeared from somewhere behind Derek, his presence suddenly solid and grounding. He placed a steadying hand on Derek’s chest, not pushing him back, but anchoring him. A silent reminder to keep control.
“Derek,” Maggie said, moving protectively in front of her sister. “She already told us everything she knows—”
“No, she hasn’t.” His eyes never left Cami’s face. “Look at her. She’s terrified, and it’s not because Frankie’s missing. It’s because she knows something she doesn’t want to say.”
Cami’s eyes filled with tears. Her lip trembled, and she looked at Maggie, then at me, then back at Derek. The conflictwas written all over her face, loyalty to her friend warring with the weight of what she was carrying.
“Cami,” Derek said again, softer this time but no less intense. “I need you to tell me the truth. Where did Frankie go?”
“I don’t know where she went,” Cami whispered, her voice breaking. “She wouldn’t tell me. She said it was better if I didn’t know.”
Derek’s jaw tightened. “But you know why she left.”
It wasn’t a question.
Cami’s face crumpled. A sob escaped her throat, and she pressed her hands to her face. “I tried to talk her out of it. I told her it was stupid and dangerous, but she wouldn’t listen. She said—” Her voice broke. “She said it was the only way.”
“The only way to what?” Derek demanded.
“To make you and her mom work together.” The words came out in a rush, like Cami couldn’t hold them back anymore. “She said if she disappeared, you’d have to find her together. That you’d have to talk to each other. That maybe if you were both looking for her, you’d figure things out.”
The silence that followed was deafening.
I stared at Cami, my mind struggling to process what she’d just said. Frankie had planned this. She’d deliberately run away. Not because she was scared or hurt or in danger, but because she wanted to manipulate us into...
“She left the bunny on purpose,” Derek said, his voice hollow. He looked down at the worn stuffed animal in my hands, and something shifted in his expression. Understanding. Recognition. “She wanted you to find it. Wanted you to panic. Wanted you to call me.”
He turned to Jack, and a bitter, humorless laugh escaped his throat.
“We’ve been parent-trapped, again.”
Jack’s eyebrows shot up. “What?”
“Frankie.” Derek dragged a hand through his hair, his jaw tight with a mixture of frustration and something that looked almost like admiration. “She orchestrated this whole thing. Just like at the diner.”
