Page 117 of Vain

“No, sorry. You snooze, you lose.” He flips me off.

“I saved you some,” Tilly tells me.

“Suck up,” Kellen mutters under his breath, which earns him a slice of cucumber to the face.

“Now, now, children. Play nicely,” Marley complains as Tilly’s phone chimes.

She grabs it from the table with a grin, expecting Zoe’s call. But when she looks at the screen, she frowns.

“Who is it?”

“No idea. Hold on.”

She fiddles with the phone before she gasps and drops her sandwich to the floor.

“Oh god.” I hurry over to her, Kellen not far behind me.

“What’s wrong? Holy shit. Is that your mom?” Kellen asks as we stare down at a photo of Hattie tied to a chair with tears running down her face. She has a split lip, a bloody nose, and the beginnings of a black eye. There is a text underneath the image.

If you want to see your mother alive again, you’ll ditch the boyfriend and come to me. You have thirty minutes. Drive toward the highway and head east. I will message with furtherinstructions. Every minute over thirty that it takes you to arrive, I take it out on her. I won’t hurt you, never you, but I’ll make her pay. Oh and Matilda, if you bring the police with you, I’ll kill her.

I take the phone and toss it to Kellen. “Call Banner. See if he can trace who sent the message.”

I turn to Tilly just as Greyson walks in.

“What on earth is wrong?”

“Hattie’s in some kind of trouble,” Marley tells him. I half expect him to snap back with “good,” but he refrains. None of us like her but that doesn’t mean we want to see her hurt.

“You’re not going anywhere.”

“But it’s my mom.”

“I’m not trading you, sweetheart. He would never let her go anyway, not when she might be able to identify him.”

“He’s right,” Kellen adds, looking at me. “We’re at a dead end with the phone. Banner says it’s a burner.”

“Shit. I’ll go.”

“You can’t. He wants me.”

“And he’ll think it’s you coming. I’ll take your Escalade because it has tinted windows, and I’ll borrow your cap and glasses you wear when you’re trying to hide. He said he’d message with more info, not call. He’s making a desperate bid here, Tilly. This whole thing is reckless, even for him. That means he’ll get sloppy.”

“You’re going to be walking into a trap,” she cries.

“I swear to you, I know what I’m doing. I’ll do everything I can to get your mother out. But once I have a location, we can let the cops know.”

“He said no cops.”

“He’s not going to let her go, Tilly. It’s a risk we’ll have to take if I can’t get to her.”

She runs her hands through her hair.

“I’ll leave Kellen with you?—”

“No, absolutely not. I’m not letting you go in there alone. You said you were trained for this? Well, so is he. I need him to be there to watch your back. I can’t lose you, Aiden. Please don’t ask this of me.”

Frustrated, I look at Kellen, who grits his teeth. “She’s right. You can’t go alone. I’ll hide in the back seat and bail out before we get to the destination. I’ll scope the place out. You need me there, Aiden, and you know it.”