Page 56 of Bittersweet Redemption

“Don’t you think they’ll figure out it was you if we both go missing?”

He presses the silver tape onto my lips. “Doesn’t really matter, does it? Where we’re going, they’ll never find us. It’ll be just you and me.”

My worst fucking nightmare.

Chapter 28

Kai

“Who is Jake, and how do we find him?” Riley asks after Roman identifies the car from the video.

“It’s your dad’s brother, right?” I direct my question to Roman, who nods. “Do you have your dad’s phone number?”

“No. I don’t have a phone to call him on.” Right. Fair point.

I look at River for what to do. “Let me see what I can find.”

Roman tells us his dad’s last name, and River heads back to his laptop.

“Are your mom and Jake friends?”

Roman looks confused at my question, and he’s probably really stressed. He doesn’t give me an answer other than a small shrug of his shoulders.

“Hey, do you wanna watch one of your shows?” He nods, but his face doesn’t light up like it normally does. I know exactly what he’s feeling. I miss Willa. I’m confused, I’m sad, and I’m fucking pissed. So, I get it. Usually when I’m feeling like this, I want to be away from people. But I can’t do that in this situation because I have work. But Roman doesn’t. He doesn’t need to be wrapped up in this. He already gave us our only lead.

Riley follows him into the living room without being asked.

Shortly after, River walks up to me with a number written on a piece of paper. “Do you wanna call, or should I?”

“I’ll do it.” I grab the paper and walk to the back deck so Roman can’t hear. River follows me out. I dial the number and put it on speakerphone.

“Hello?” A voice comes through the speaker, surprising me. I’d convinced myself he wouldn’t answer an unknown number, but he did.

“Is this Nick?”

“Who wants to know?” I roll my eyes. I guess we’re going to play it this way.

“This is Kai. I’m Willa and Roman’s neighbor.” I hear some shuffling through the phone, and his voice comes through a little clearer.

“Is Roman ok?”

“Yeah, Roman’s fine. It’s Willa. . .” I trail off, not finishing the sentence but knowing I have to.

“What the fuck happened to Willa?”

“She’s missing.”

“What do you mean she’s fucking missing? People don’t just go missing. Especially Willa. She’d never leave Ro.”

I explain how she was taken off her front porch before Roman got home from school. The security camera was hacked to override the footage of the time she was taken. Then I describe the car we saw and that Roman said it looked like Jake’s car.

“Jake? My brother Jake?”

“Yes. Does he have a black car with a white bumper sticker on the back?”

His silence is answer enough for me. “Yeah, but. . . Jake would never do that. Willa was—Willa is family. He wouldn’t hurt her.”

“Where is he now?” I ask. I don’t really care if Nick thinks Jake wouldn’t hurt her. I need to know for myself.