Without hesitation, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his keys, handing them over. “Get your girl back and watch over my boys. She needs you more than we do here.”
“Yes sir,” I told him, turning to head back to my best friends.
“And Porter?” Chief Duvall called out.
Stopping, I glanced over my shoulder at him.
“Kill that son of a bitch if you have to.” I wanted to say I was surprised to be given such an order from a man who made a vow to protect and serve his community, never doing any harm. But honestly, you could see the love he had for Sophia. If someone was hurting her, he’d do anything to make sure they paid. For her and for her father.
So I nodded in understanding, silently promising that I’d do whatever it took to save the girl I loved and prevent this asshole from ever coming near her again.
I made it back to Darren and Alden who both seemed on edge having to wait. Holding up the keys, I tossed them to Darren who caught them midair.
“Your dad gave us a ride.”
“Perfect. That’ll get us there in no time,” Darren commented, handing off my phone to me so I could continue tracking my SUV while the three of us rushed to the Chief’s new Dodge Charger that sat on the opposite end of the parking lot where mine had been parked. I slid into the passenger seat with Alden in the back and Darren in the driver’s seat.
“They pulled onto a back road. I can’t tell what’s out there on this map though.”
“What’s the road?” Alden asked, pulling his own phone out. I rattled it off to him and he typed it into his Google Map. After a bit of scrolling his eyebrows raised up a bit.
“We know this place. It’s the old warehouse off Woolworth Road. The one that burned down like a year or so ago and only one guy survived but he barely made it.”
Darren and Alden exchanged worried glances through the rearview mirror as a sinking feeling hit my stomach. What did they know?
“What?” I asked, confused.
“We worked that fire one of the weeks you were out for the flu. Found out that guy was a disgruntled employee who was fired and had possibly the cause of that fire, but the fire marshals couldn’t find the evidence to put him away for it. So, he was just sent to the hospital burn unit,” Darren explained, his mouth turning into a thin line.
“And?” I prodded, not understanding.
“And it’s possible Sophia was the one who took care of him. The guy was out of his mind. He had to go through a shit ton of therapy after he was released from the hospital,” Alden answered, swearing under his breath.
“How the fuck do you two know this?” I glanced between the brothers.
“Dad,” Darren answered. “He was friends with the fire marshal at the time and they’d exchange stories. Dad told us about it since we were there to put out the fire. It just didn’t occur to me until now that this might be the same guy.”
I settled into my seat and let out a deep breath.
“You call the detective?” I asked Alden.
“Yeah, but I’ll call him again and fill him in on the new information.”
Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.
Hold on, Sophia. We’re coming, baby.
Darren
I couldn’t breathe, speak, or even think about anything the whole drive to where the SUV had finally stopped. At least not about anything other than Sophia and her being in the hands of a psycho. This man had tormented her for months, taking away her piece of mind. He’d almost killed her once and hurt her a second time. If anything happened to her because we weren’t there, I’d never forgive myself. I couldn’t lose her. Not after I’d barely had the time to love her. I hadn’t said it yet and all I wanted to do was hold her tight and never let her go, whispering all the things I wanted to say in her ear as she slept. I wanted to see her strutting around in those silly fuzzy sleep shorts again. To hear that soft snore she makes when she sleeps. To hear her laugh when you tickle her just behind her knee.
We hadn’t had enough time.
We needed more time.
“Turn right here,” Porter told me as we came across a long dirt road that was settled between the thick forest trees. Not a single light lit the way as I turned, driving the last stretch of road until we’d finally be where Sophia was.
“You don’t think he just ditched the SUV and took her somewhere else do you?” Alden asked, worry evident in his tone.
