He glances into the rearview mirror for the briefest second before looking back to the road.
“Boss, Miles is missing.”
The words hit me like a punch to the chest. Missing? Why is he calling someone else? Why isn't he calling Julius?
He listens for another moment before giving a short nod. “Yeah. If I hear anything, you'll be the first to know.”
The call ends just as quickly as it started. Before I can ask who was on the other end, Nate's eyes widen.
“Oh, shit.” His panicked voice immediately pulls my attention away from the call.
I look up, and my heart stops.
There are ambulances parked ahead. Police cars line the road, their lights flashing against the pavement. The closer we get, the more my body starts to understand what my mind refuses to accept.
No, this can’t be happening.
Everything around me begins to slow down. The sounds become distant, the movement around me feels unreal, and it’s like I’m watching everything happen from outside my own body.
Before Nate even fully stops the car, I’m opening the door.
I run. I don’t think, I don’t even breathe. I justrun.
“Ma’am! Ma’am, you can’t go over there!”
A police officer grabs me before I can get any closer, but I fight against his hold.
“Let me go!”
“Ma’am, you need to step back.”
“Hey! Get off of her!” Nate shouts as he runs up behind me. “Just let her through!”
But it doesn’t matter. Because I already see it. I see the stretcher, I see the white sheet, and then I see enough. The top half of Julius’ body lying there before someone covers him completely.
My brain stops working. No, no, no, this isn’t real. It can’t be.Not Julius.
Not the man who stayed when everyone else left. Not the person who raised Miles when he had no one else. Not the person who became family when he didn’t have anyone left.
I stop fighting. My body goes completely numb as Nate pulls me away from the officer. And then suddenly, everything inside me breaks.
Before I can stop it, my stomach turns violently, and I drop forward as I empty everything I ate onto the pavement.
I barely even notice. I barely feel anything. Until my phone vibrates and my head snaps up.
Miles. It has to be him. He’s okay. He’s telling me he’s okay.
With shaking hands, I pull my phone from my pocket and unlock it, but it isn’t Miles. It’s an unknown number.
My entire body goes cold as I open the message.
Unknown: Hello again, Madelyn. If you want your boyfriend to live, my suggestion is that you do everything I tell you to do. Do you understand?
31.Miles
“I texted our girl,”Austin says, his voice casual as his thumb moves mindlessly across the screen of his phone. He doesn’t even look at me while he does it, like this is just another normal conversation between two people who somehow ended up in the same room. After a few seconds, he slips his phone back into the pocket of his jeans and finally turns his attention back toward me.
The way he saysour girlmakes every muscle in my body tense.
