Creed
I'm in the first squad car on the way to the docks. Willis is riding shotgun. I hear the sirens all around us, and my teeth clench at Sin's utter stupidity. She should have called me.
"You tapped her phone without her knowing?" I hate the judgment in his voice. I would not have done it if I trusted that she had faith in the system. But after the conversation with Cohen, I knew that she would do anything to get her daughter back, even if it meant going rogue.
"I didn't have a choice," I tell him, not meeting his gaze.
“Creed, Sinclair is a smart woman. She wouldn’t go off with Chelsea on her own if it wasn’t absolutely necessary. She’s threatened to disappear with her kid if we get involved.”
“So, what do we do, stay here, wait? Let her get herself into something she is hardly equipped to deal with?”
Chelsea Morgan is unhinged. If she feels like she's being cornered, she'll attack, and you don't want Willow and Sin in the middle of that. I know he's right, but that doesn't make me feel any better.
We pull up at the docks and scour the area, but there is no sign of Sin or Chelsea. A vagrant lies on a bench near an old abandoned warehouse. I approach him, and he shuffles up. "I haven't done anything." He holds his hands up.
“Have you seen two women come here a couple of hours ago? One’s a redhead.”
"Don't think so," he lies, and I sigh.
“I won’t arrest you for loitering if you co-operate.”
He narrows his eyes at me.
“The taller one, she had a chopper. Tied the redhead and shoved her in it. I don’t know where they were headed.”
I radio that information to the control room. This is just great.
"There were two of them, you know."
“Yeah, I get that.” I turn to leave.
"Redheads, I mean." I stop and spin around. "Could easily be mistaken for the same person."
“What do you mean?”
“The first one, she hung around here for a while, watching the tall one. She climbed into that helicopter before the other two got in.”
I frown. He has to be mistaken.
"Don't believe me, huh? She left her duffle at the back."
I walk to where he directs me, and sure enough, there is a duffle bag. I open it to find some keys, and a wallet. The id displays a picture of a redhead who looks so much like Sin, they could be sisters, stares back at me.
“Willis, can you run a check on an Anna Carter, and can you make it a priority?”
Chapter 35
Sinclair
The choices we make define the course of our lives. The person I trusted the most in the world made a choice years ago that came back to haunt us. He says he did it to protect me, to protect us, but the truth is that Cohen did it because he is a selfish bastard. He brought this into our lives. I never believed in the law of Karma until now, and she is a bitch. He thought he was making right a wrong, but deception offers only temporary gratification. I've learned the hard way, that it'll come back to fuck you over eventually. At the most inopportune of times. Too bad he isn't going to be around for the encore.
My heart pounds in my chest. Everything I do from here on, will determine whether I live or die. Whether Willow does. I keep my breathing as even as I possibly can. Sweat drips down my temples, sending shivers down my spine. Chelsea is stressed. I can tell. And panicked people make hasty decisions.
My daughter is handcuffed to a table in the middle of the room. My eyes blur from the tears. I'm not allowed to get any closer than this. Chelsea stands with a gun to my head, promising that she'll pull the trigger in front of Willow if I don't do as she says. How do I look this beautiful, perfect girl in the eye and say words I don't even believe myself? But it's Chelsea's terms. This is her game, and the rule is that I tell Willow that I am not her biological mother.
"Mom." Willows voice cracks. She strains against the cuffs.
"I missed you, baby." I choke out the words. She looks so small. Like the first time, she tried out for basketball. She was so sure she'd fail, that everyone would make fun of her. I told her that I would be right there in the stands cheering her on and that she'd never fail because greatness was inside her. She was amazing, scoring fourteen baskets of fifteen. There will always be greatness inside her, whether I was in her life or not.
