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My words do the trick regardless. Several people scatter toward the front door. I take mental note of each, a possible culprit among them. It was lazy of the agents and officers to allow people inside our home. They were all briefed on the threats. But by all means…come on in. Matt and Keir would know better, but it all happened before they returned from finding Eden.

We need to make our circle smaller.

Much smaller.

Trust. No. One.

Camera footage from overnight into the morning hours only showed Harrison, Bristow, our neighbor cutting down trees at the northeast corner of the property, four passing cars, and various wildlife. No suspect to hunt for. I’ve managed to get plate numbers from the vehicles in case they stopped off camera range and someone returned on foot. “These need to be followed up on.” I hand the list to Matt.

He pockets the paper with a nod. “Does the property west of the vet clinic have any security cameras? The …What’s their name again? The Paulsons?”

“Harrison was checking on it.”

I hear Blaine bitching at Bristow, and I fully support his efforts. We don’t always agree, but I understand the frustration right now.

When I see Eden coming out of the bathroom, we make eye contact from across the room. Moving towards each other with haste, I pick her up in a hug. “I’m going to find every person responsible and make them pay…every one of them.”

They have the worst enemy imaginable.

One who has blood on his hands already.

“Find Weston. Find him first,” she says in a scratchy voice through her tears.

“I will.” In the meantime, I need to ensure they can’t get to her or the other kids. “You need to go into hiding. I know you’re g-”

She cuts me off. “No. We stick together. We stay together here. If they know where we are, they can bring Wes back,” she continues her eyes wide. In a plaintive appeal, she says, “They found us before, they will again. We stay. All of us together.”

She thinks they’ll return Weston?

I don’t. I expect they will use him to torment us, make demands…but if we don’t get to Weston soon, we’ll lose him.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Oh, I don’t like that verbiage

Blaine

“Wewerejustgivingout some information to the volunteers. Don’t hate the people trying to help,” Bristow says with his hands on his hips.

“Huh, well I don’t give a fuck.” He flinches away from me while I circle the room.That’s right, you bureaucratic piece of shit.“Take a seat. You’re not important enough to hate. I said, sit your motherfucking ass down.” In fact, besides our family, nothing else matters.

A rising panic is making me act out. Old habits are starting to itch at the back of my mind. I realize this, but right now I don’t give a damn about my lapse in manners.

“Now, get on your fucking phone and find out who you’ve let inside our home. While you’re at it, find out where those agents you’ve sent to the elementary school are. They better take their jobs more seriously than you and Inspector Gadget over there.” I nod my head toward Harrison.

I hadn’t expected my arrival back home to grab my forgotten wallet to turn into the worst day of my damn life. But it has. Initially, I thought we’d come across Weston coming back from the vet clinic. since he hadn’t been anywhere Caleb or Eden had checked.

Hutton’s fury over the camera footage missing during the chunk of time he must’ve been grabbed would’ve freaked me out more if I weren’t already spiraling. Our son would never willingly get in a stranger’s vehicle, and he’d never wander far from home. He was kidnapped.

My beautiful ball of energy, my Weston.

The same kid who stuns me daily with his observations and antics. The same kid I predicted would be a leader of men, a changer of lives one day. The same kid that never misses an opportunity to give me a hug and say,“I love you, Daddy.”

With each passing minute, my anguish pounds away at my hope. It hits me…We’ve lost our Weston. Once the crying starts, silent at first, angry growls working out of me as the waterworks won’t stop. I can’t rein it in.

Someone is going to pay.

If Hutton wants to rip them apart, I’ll be standing at his side to help.