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“Maci. Maci.” My hands ran down the back of her head.
Searching.
Soothing.
“What happened? Where is your auntie?” I was barely able to force it out.
“We were supposed to bepwayin’hide and seek from Uncle Otto, but a really mean man got my auntie. She told me to run really fast, but Ifewldown,” she hiccupped.
Oh fuck.
Oh fuck.
“What’s going on?” Cash demanded as he burst through the shrubs.
I climbed to my feet and jogged his direction, holding Maci tight against me. “Someone has Emery. He’s here. Take her,” I grunted as I shuffled Maci toward him.
Cash didn’t hesitate.
“No, Daddy!” she cried.
Frenzied, I ran my fingers through her matted hair. “It’s okay, baby. It’s okay. I just have to go get your auntie, then I’ll be right back.”
Sniffling, she turned those sweet, trusting eyes on me. Her precious face smudged with blood and dirt. “Okay, but hurry really fast.”
Cash cradled her softly, so much care in his muscled arms, while he slanted me a vicious look.
Get that motherfucker.
I absolutely intended to.
FIFTY-FIVE
EMERY
Terror thudded and throbbed.
My heart hammering through the short and ragged breaths I exhaled as the monster forced me deeper into the forest.
One of his hands was locked in my hair and the other held a gun under my jaw as he jostled me through the cragged terrain and underbrush.
“Keep moving, bitch.”
Another shiver ripped through me at the vitriol he wheezed into my ear, and my head spun as I tried to find a way out of this. How to get loose of the ruthless clutch he had on me.
The only thing I could be thankful for was Maci got away. He’d tried to hold onto both of us, but when she tripped over a branch and stalled our speed, he’d swung the gun in her direction.
I knew the wickedness he intended.
He’d been distracted enough in that second that I was able to flail around and ram my knee into his stomach, while I’d screamed at Maci to run.
When he realized what I’d done, he’d whipped the gun across my face, though he hadn’t gone after her.
It was the only thing that mattered.
Her safety.
Her freedom.