Page 86 of Two Daddies for Little Jenna

"No." Nick's eyes widened in horror as he threw his arms around me. "Don't even think about it. She's alive. She has to be. She's meant to be our wife. We're supposed to grow old together. I couldn't save Bradley from certain death, but I won't give up until I find our babygirl. He wouldn't have kidnapped her if the punishment he planned was death. She's out there waiting for her Daddies to rescue her. We can't disappoint her. Her life depends on it."

"We Littles want to join the search, uncle Nick," Michael said as he snuggled into his Daddy's side. "We've been training hard because we wanted to prepare for the worst."

"We just can't put the pain of losing a Little upon another Daddy," I said, looking down at the floor. "You don't know how it feels until it happens to you. You should listen to your Daddies and stay safe."

"Can I please join the search?" Elijah asked his Daddies as he joined his hands. "Pretty please? She's my friend and I won't be able to forgive myself if I don't save her."

"Well," Marcus said, stepping forward and wrapping an arm around Kristen. "I think I'll make an exception just this once. We Daddies will be joining the hunt too, so as long as we keep them close by, they should be safe."

The other Daddies agreed and I couldn't help a small smile form on my lips. Jenna always wanted a loving family, but Little did she know she already had that in her friends.

"We can't report her missing for 48 hours," I said, standing up and taking the lead. "But we can't wait that long. Let's come up with a list of places he could've taken her. I want everyone to call all the nearby motels. Describe Jenna's appearance and see if they've seen anything suspicious."

Everyone spent the next two days calling around. They took leave from work and spent their time brainstorming. I could barely get any sleep. Every time I slipped into sleep, I'd be woken up by the image of a stranger cruelly inflicting pain upon our babygirl, and her shrieks calling out for us haunted me. Nick seemed just as restless, but he had hope when I had begun to lose mine. I just couldn't stomach the possibility that I'd never get to see her innocent face again, never get to hear her sweet voice call me Daddy.

As I now sat on the couch, I replayed the video on my phone for the hundredth time. It was one where Jenna was singing me a happy birthday song. We were at Clayton's pizzeria, the Italian place where we'd gone on our first date. She looked so happy and careless as she sang the song, her hair tied up in adorable little pigtails. Her hair was still green from Kristen's prank, and she was so conscious about looking ridiculous. But no, she was my same beautiful babygirl, only with green hair. She'd gifted me an expensive watch that she'd been saving all her paychecks for. Little did she know I already had the only gift I needed, her sweet self. And now she was gone and nothing would ever be better.

"How could I have let this happen twice in a row?" I asked when Nick took a seat next to me. "I'm a fraud for letting her get kidnapped again. I shouldn't even be calling myself a Daddy if I can't keep our girl safe. If only I could go back in time and save her. I'd also punch myself so hard for leaving her alone. It was for five minutes, and it was all it took for happiness to be ripped out of my life. What if our babygirl dies not knowing how much we loved her."

"You're not a fraud, uncle Clark." Michael leaned over and rubbed my back. "Jenna and I have had so many sleepovers. She would hug the stuffies you'd gifted her and go on and on about how she felt loved like never before in her life, that as long as she had the stuffies, they'd remind her how much she's loved. Don't lose hope now. You always say good thoughts lead to good outcomes. We'll find a way. You're not alone in this. None of us are going to stop until we find her. She was there for us when we needed her, and now it's our turn. When we find that asshole, we're gonna kick his ass so hard!"

Good god, she must miss her stuffies so much. She's never been without them. She couldn't sleep for a minute without having them clutched to her chest and a binky in her mouth. She carried her favorite puppy-printed blankie for sleepovers, and she needed a warm bottle of milk and a bedtime story before bed.

"No bad words, Michael," John warned. "But this bastard deserves all the bad words, so I'll let it slide. I'm so proud of you for giving strength to your uncles, my sweet boy. You haven't taken a nap in days and you look quite restless. I think you need one today, darling. You can help look for Jenna with a clear head once you wake up."

"No, Daddy," Michael said, rubbing an eye as he yawned. "Naptime will have to wait. My friend needs me. I told her I was going to be her best friend the minute I met her. I need to keep my promise. I've lost a dear friend when Clayton died. I can't let that happen again. I can't sleep knowing she's desperately praying for us to save her right this minute."

When Nick's phone chimed, worry turned into joy as he pumped a fist in the air. "I found Otis' address from the journalist who visited the house for the news channel. If this man is from the cult, he must've taken her there. The place is abandoned ever since the cult was shut down. It'll take us a day to reach if we start now."

As I breathed a sigh of relief, I had goosebumps at the thought of having Jenna in my arms again. "Our babygirl is going to be in our arms again? Alright, listen up everyone. We need to be prepared for everything that could go wrong. Here's what we'll do..."

As everyone gathered around in a circle with hope in their eyes, I smiled looking at how much she was loved.

Chapter 37: Nick

I ran through all the rooms in the house for the third time, this time checking under the bed and in the closet. Clark was calling out Jenna's name outside. The rest were busy going through the belongings to see if they could find any clue.

The past few days had been the hardest I'd ever had to go through. We had been talking about a wedding venue just an hour before she was kidnapped. It was still hard to come to terms with the possibility that I might never see her again. The worst part was not knowing the horrors she was possibly being put through, and whether or not she was alive. I'd been scared walking into Otis' home, for I feared finding my sweet girl's lifeless body. The sweet and innocent Jenna that brought joy to everyone around her was now suffering for doing the right thing. Some people were fucked up and it was our duty as Daddies to protect our girl from all that was bad about the world, and just as Clark had said, we had horribly failed in our responsibilities.

"She's not here," I said, running down the stairs and collapsing on the couch. "But I did find locks on the outside of all the doors. And there's this creepy crawling space too with a lock on it. Otis was fucked up. He probably kept his wives locked up just to torture them. Our babygirl was fated for such a cruel fate when Otis tried to kidnap her. She managed to end his madness by bringing the cult down. She's a hero who deserves all the nice things in life, but instead, what does she get?"

The crawling space also had drawings on the wall, so Otis probably locked up his children too. Being controlled at such a young age must've turned them into faithful followers, but at what cost? Just like Jenna's siblings, they would know nothing about the real world and end up letting their childhood define the rest of their lives.

"I'm beginning to lose hope," Clark said, tears rimming his eyes. "The first place I checked in here was the basement. Something told me the punishment had something to do with Jenna being locked up in the basement. It's such a dark thought, I know. Jenna has such a strong fear of basements, it'll absolutely ruin her. She called it a fate worse than death. It took such a long time for her to get over the trauma. I just can't imagine her sitting in a dark basement somewhere as the days pass, with nothing to do and desperately waiting for us to come save her. A rescue that might never happen, because we haven't the slightest clue where she is. It physically hurts knowing she might spend her last days waiting for us."

"Uncle Clark. Uncle Nick. Please!" Michael said as his lower lip wobbled. "Don't talk about Jenna's death like it's bound to happen. I was so sad when she told me how she had nothing to do in the darkness for weeks together. But she dreamt of finding a Daddy one day, and she's found two of the best ones. She called you the best Daddies in the whole world, which I argued couldn't be true because my Daddy already held that title. If anyone's gonna save her, it's the two of you. So don't lose hope. The home she grew up in was abusive and the one you made with her was full of love. Wait… Oh my god!"

Michael's eyes widened as he clapped his mouth shut. He looked up at the ceiling, suddenly lost deep in thought as he began pacing before the couch. He seemed to have had a Eureka moment.

"What is it, Michael?" I sat up on the couch. "Do you know where she might be?"

"I think I do." He stopped in his tracks and picked up his new wolf stuffie off the floor, clutching it to his chest. "I was just telling you how she told me about the home she grew up in. What if the masked man took her there?"

But why would he take her there? It wasn't like he was someone from her family.

"She told me ages ago about the ghost she'd seen back in the cult, and how you guys said it was probably a stalker obsessed with her," Michael said, sitting on the floor with crossed legs. "When she described the masked man to me, I couldn't help but notice how similar they seemed. She used the same words to describe them both. I thought they might be the same man back then, but I brushed it off as a coincidence. What if we entertain the idea to be true briefly? What if she had a stalker back then who was obsessed with her? When she brought the cult to an end and found new lovers, he must've been so mad that she took away everything from him. His infatuation and obsession must've turned to anger, hatred, and jealousy. It would also explain why he'd want to kill the two of you. He asked her to accept her punishment if she wants to save your lives."

"Genius, Michael," I said. "Don't stop now. Go on. This is the closest anyone's ever come to coming up with a motive. Where could he have taken her?"