Jesus God, please let them call Baz.
“Maybe you could go get her a burner phone,” JJ continued. “Once she talks to him, she can decide what she wants to do.”
Molly looked up at Sonny again, her expression soft. “Please, Sonny. I need to talk to him.”
“She’s playing you, Molly. She doesn’t want you to talk to him. She’s trying to stall.”
“No,” JJ shouted. “I’m not. I promise. I get it. I understand that you love him more than I do.”
She was so going to wash her mouth out with soap when she got home.
“I do,” Molly agreed. “A lot more. And he loves me, too.”
“I think he does,” JJ agreed. “I’ve wondered about that.”
That piqued Molly’s interest. She turned to face JJ fully. “You have?”
“Yes. He … um … he seems sad sometimes.”
Bar soap would work the best, she figured. And she only hoped the peanut didn’t understand a word she was saying because JJ wasn’t prone to lying. Certainly not to this degree.
Molly spun to face Sonny. “Please. Get me a burner phone, pretty please. You heard her. He’s sad. He needs me, Sonny. I told you he loved me. I’m not wrong.”
JJ could tell Sonny didn’t believe a word she was saying, but his eyes softened whenever he looked at Molly. The only chance JJ had of making it out alive was to get Sonny out of there so she could convince Molly he was going to turn on them.
“What time is it?” JJ asked when neither of them said anything.
Molly grabbed Sonny’s hand and turned it so she could look at the watch on his wrist.
“It’s almost one,” Molly announced.
“You should hurry. Sebastian said he was gonna go to work today for a little while. He might not be able to answer the phone if he does.”
Molly looked at Sonny again. “Please, Sonny.”
“Fine,” he snapped.
Molly practically danced, clapping her hands with joy like a kid who was promised a treat for being good.
“Don’t untie her.”
“I won’t. I promise.”
JJ exhaled slowly, praying that her powers of persuasion wouldn’t fail her.
***
Baz checked his phone for the millionthtime as his father pulled into his driveway.
No calls or messages from JJ.
There was a thrumming in his ears. It was the sound of his blood rushing through his veins as panic began to set in. They’d spent the past two hours checking out vacant residences in neighboring towns in the hopes that Molly and the crazy fuck—Sonny Gilmore—were holed up somewhere with JJ. He’d kept apprised of everyone else’s progress, and the lack of good news at every check-in was causing his blood pressure to rise.
According to Luca’s updates, there were dozens of people out doing the same thing, going door to door to see if anyone had seen the redhead who they were convinced had taken JJ. But what if they were wrong? What if they’d spent all this time looking for a ghost? What if this guy had nothing to do with JJ’s disappearance?
Never in his life had Baz felt as helpless as he did now. Unable to find the woman he loved, not knowing where she was or if she was safe. Not only was he worried about her, he was also worried about the baby. What if this caused JJ to go into premature labor? What if something happened to her or the baby? His guts were twisted in a knot.
Baz managed to get out of his father’s truck, putting one foot in front of the other, although his entire body was numb. Fear had him by the balls, tightening its grip with every passing second.
