Page 19

Nineteen

Roman

“R osie!” I called, checking the shrubs between Sandra’s house and the neighbors. We had been looking for her for over thirty minutes, and no one had any idea where she had gone.

Sandra had woken up shortly after six and went to check on Rosie. When she found that she wasn’t in her bed, she went to the living room and expected to find her with Mike, but she wasn’t there either. Mike hadn’t heard anything, and all of the doors and windows were still locked.

Their sister, Sonia had rushed over to help Sandra look for her while Mike went to my apartment to see if Rosie had gone there looking for Quinn.

When she wasn’t there, we all went back to Sandra’s to continue the search while Sandra called the police to report a missing child.

We all knew that they wouldn’t do anything this early on, so I had reached out to Trevor and Max and asked for their help as well.

Quinn was walking the neighborhood with me while Mike checked the front and backyard of the house. Sonia and Sandra were searching inside the house, looking into every place that she might be able to hide.

I saw Max and Trevor heading our way and gave them a quick nod before walking up to knock on another neighbor’s door.

So far, I had been met with a few disgruntled growls for waking people up this early on a Saturday morning, but I couldn’t care less.

Rosie was missing, and I would stop at nothing to find her.

Quinn finished up at the house she was at, then met me on the street. Trevor and Max joined us a few minutes later.

“Any updates?” Max asked.

I shook my head and glanced at Quinn. Tears filled her eyes, and I could see that she was trying to keep it together and not fall apart.

“We’re going to find her, I promise,” Max assured her and gently squeezed her shoulder.

She sucked in a shaky deep breath and tried to let it out slowly.

“When was the last time anyone saw her?” Trevor asked, looking between Quinn and me.

“My mom said they went to bed around ten and that she was still in bed when my mom checked on her around midnight when she got up to use the restroom. Mike was up around four and confirmed that she was still in bed. So I guess a little over three hours ago.”

Max’s jaw clenched, and I knew what he was thinking. If someone took her, they were already long gone by now. Three hours was plenty of time for them to be in a different state, and we had absolutely no idea what direction they went.

“What do we do now?” she asked Max, a look of desperation on her face.

“We need to call this in, but if I know Mike, he already has. I’ll check with him, and then we’ll go from there. We’ll get all hands on deck and move as quickly as possible.”

Quinn turned and covered her face as the tears started to fall. I reached out to hug her, noticing the way Trevor was looking at me. I didn’t care if he could see how I felt about her, I needed to be there for her and make sure she was okay.

I wrapped her in my arms and pulled her into my chest, allowing her a safe place to cry without everyone seeing. She wrapped my shirt in her hands and trembled as she cried.

I held her for what felt like forever, knowing that every second mattered but not being able to pull away. Max had already found Mike, and they were discussing who had already been contacted when I looked up and saw Rosie running down the street toward us with a woman walking behind her.

“Quinn, she’s here,” I said, turning her around.

“Rosie!” She took off running and grabbed her, holding her to her chest as tight as possible.

“We found her,” I yelled to Max and Mike, who were standing on the porch. In a matter of seconds, everyone was out of the house and rushing out to see her.

“I’m so glad you’re safe,” Quinn cooed, still holding Rosie against her.

The woman approached us, smiling at the mother and daughter that had been reunited.

Quinn suddenly spotted the woman and set Rosie down, pushing her behind her. I stepped forward and picked Rosie up, ensuring she wasn’t going anywhere.

“What the hell are you doing with my daughter?” Quinn spat out through gritted teeth. Her fists were clenched at her sides.

“Woah, woah, woah,” Mike said, quickly stepping in and putting some space between Quinn and the woman before she could punch her.

“Move out of the way,” Quinn demanded, trying to push past him.

“I’m not here to cause any trouble,” the woman said with her hands in the air. “I was simply trying to bring her home.”

“Bullshit.” Quinn’s nostrils flared, and I wondered if I should take Rosie inside so she didn’t have to see any of this.

“I know that we’ve had our issues Quinn, but I really was just trying to help.”

“Why don’t you tell us what happened and why you had my niece,” Mike said, one arm still extended to hold Quinn back.

“I was waiting for the train and spotted her. But, I didn’t see Quinn with her and started to worry.”

“Who was she with?” I asked.

“I don’t know. It looked like a woman, but they had a hoodie covering their face, so I couldn’t get a good look.” She looked at Rosie and smiled sadly. “I knew that she didn’t know them and that I needed to step in and make sure she got home okay.”

“Thank you,” Mike said softly.

“It’s the least I could do given everything that happened.” She lowered her head and walked away.

“That’s it? You’re just going to let her go?” I asked Mike, trying to keep the anger in my voice from startling Rosie.

“Don’t worry, I know who she is and where to find her. Let’s get Rosie inside and see if we can figure out what happened,” he said, reaching for his niece. She wrapped her arms around his neck and let him carry her into the house.

I waited outside with Quinn for a few minutes while she did whatever she needed to do to calm herself down.

“Okay, so who was that woman?” I asked as we headed inside.

“She worked with Justin and was the one driving the car when he was killed.”