Page 299 of Second Sets Omnibus

I swallow hard, remembering Lyric’s words from this morning.

“Mommy, I can’t wait to ride the unicorn ride. The one that spins in circles and has pretty music.” I grin as she twirls in her dress, going round and round with a squeal of pure joy.

It was one of the first rides she begged to go on when we stepped foot in the park.

I heave a breath when we all separate. Echoes of Lyric’s name being shouted through the park rattles my nerves. This isn’t like her. She doesn’t wander off. She…

“She’s going to be okay,” Asher says, clinging to my hand as we walk around the carousel, sitting hauntingly still in the middle of the day.

The sun blares down on us without a cloud in the sky. It’s the perfect day to celebrate a birthday. If the birthday girl wasn’t missing. How could this happen in such a short period of time? How could she just wander away without anyone noticing? Doesn’t this place have cameras? My heart drops more. Desperation claws at me. I need her in my arms.

As we make our way around the ride, the operator casually lounging back in a chair catches my eye.

“Maybe,” I mutter, pulling out my phone and bringing up the picture of Lyric from this morning. “Excuse me, Sir. Have you seen this little girl?” I ask the operator as he lounges back in his chair.

A toothpick hangs from his mouth, jolting around when his tongue rolls. He pushes his sunglasses down to the tip of his nose, staring at the picture of Ly in her pink, purple, and sparkly unicorn dress, smiling at the camera.

His brows raise as he checks it over and gives me a sharp nod. My heart leaps out of my chest with hope latching on.

“Yeah. I saw her about five minutes ago. She was walking with some guy in a red zip-up hoodie.” He shrugs nonchalantly, pointing in the direction of the rollercoasters.

My heart drops. Red hoodie? Who the fuck was wearing a red hoodie? Everyone I saw was in T-shirts or dresses. It’s seventy fucking degrees right now.

So, who the hell has my baby?

“What? What did he look like?” I stumble over my words, begging my heavy tongue to cooperate.

“About this tall,” he says, holding his arm up. So not fucking helpful. “Brown hair. That’s about it.”

My eyes dart around when we take a few steps away from the operator. Someone has her. She could be anywhere. Fuck. With trembling hands, I let Olivia know what I just found out so she can keep an eye out in case anyone wants to leave.

Thoughts scramble in my head. Ly has never taken the hand of a stranger she…

“Up there,” Asher rumbles, turning paler than a fucking ghost. His entire body vibrates, pointing toward a giant roller coaster in the distance as he squints against the sun. “She’s up there with someone on the boarding platform.”

With someone. It repeats in my fucking head. Someone. Not anyone we know. A stranger. I follow his line of sight, gazing at the tall roller coaster in the sky. My daughter sits at the entrance of the tallest ride in the park at the boarding platform. With a stranger holding her hand. High in the sky, barely visible from where we are. The only colors streaking in the wind are the multiple colors of Lyric’s unicorn dress. And the dark red hoodie the person wears to conceal themselves from us.

It’s her. But who the fuck is he? Who has Ly? It’s not anyone in the family. They’d have sent a message.

“Who the fuck is it?” I growl, taking off in the direction of the rollercoaster. Fuck common sense. Fuck it all. My soul calls out to the little being I created, needing her to be with me.

Not him.

“I don’t know!” Asher shouts frantically, chasing after me at a quick pace. “I just called Olivia about where we’re headed and that we saw her.”

“Good!” I shout, running toward the coaster and up the paved slopes carrying me up, up, and into the fucking clouds.

My heart pounds in my ears, drowning out everything as I run behind Asher at full speed. At some point, probably becausehe’s athletic, he passed me, giving me his back and leaving me in the dust with my heaving lungs.

When we finally get to the top of the entrance, I stop dead, slamming into the back of Asher with a quiet umph.

“Shh,” he murmurs, looking at me over his shoulder with furrowed brows. I nod shakily, swallowing hard when Lyric’s little voice filters through. It takes everything inside me not to jump into action and scoop her up.

“I want my mommy,” her little voice sniffles quietly.

“You’ll see her again,” the unfamiliar man’s voice says, carrying through the rock-like surroundings encasing the entrance to the roller coaster currently not running.

It’s deep. Gruff, even. No one I recognize from my life. Has some crazed person followed us here? The boy’s fan? My brother’s fan? Fuck! Another stalker? It can’t be mine. He’s fucking dead. All the possibilities run through my mind in overdrive.