Chapter 2
Mia
I SHOVED THE LOCK as hard as I could right as Archer closed the floorboards over us. The clicking of metal seemed so secure and final, but the sound of guns firing didn’t leave me with much reassurance.
Hurrying over, I sat down by Franny, who was already deep into a show. She glanced up at me as I folded my hands in my lap. They were shaking uncontrollably, and I didn’t want her to see.
Still, she leaned in and grabbed one before she spoke loudly over her headphones. “Don’t worry, Ms. Darling. Daddy will find us. Right? He doesn’t like games, but he’s great at hide-and-seek.”
I nodded while she kept rambling on like any seven-year-old would, wanting to share all the information.
“Did you know my daddy’s a doctor? He always saves good guys. The bad guys are the only ones that should be worried.”
“Of course, of course,” I agreed while I patted her little hand. I wasn’t going to disagree with a second grader right then, but there was no way her dad was a doctor. Unless it was for the cartel or something.
Jesus. What if he was in the cartel?
I took a deep breath and pointed to her tablet, trying to get her to focus on that. She was the child, I was the adult. I had to shield her from whatever this was. Her gaze shifted, and I was able to look behind her at the security camera feeds.
I’ll admit, for the past few years, I was voluntarily sheltered.
Maybe even abnormally so. My parents were still married, living their best life in the small town I grew up in.
Not that I wanted to go back there or that I would talk to them if I did.
My older sister knew why I left and why I couldn’t come back.
Her and my parents. But my parents had stopped listening a long time ago, and even still, I tried to make them proud by Bubble Wrapping my life and living out my days watering my plants with not even a pet to commit to and a career that was a safe and noble profession.
At least that was what my advisor told me.
Kids couldn’t be monsters, right? Yet, I forgot that parents could be and would be. It was really the only reason I took this job. The public schools weren’t going to have me back any time soon after what had happened.
This job may have been a little different with the abundance of background checks done before I started. Yet, the summer salary was good, good enough that maybe I’d have enough to tide me over for a year and even help my sister out if she ever chose to leave her mess of a husband.
It was supposed to be an easy summer job.
Instead, I was committing to a heart-in-pinkie promise, locked away in a panic room while I watched security feeds, hoping no bad guys would come for us.
One camera showed the horizon we’d been looking at out front. The driveway now had more SUVs flying down it. I squinted and hoped they were Jameson’s. Even if they were, I didn’t know if they’d be fast enough for the yelling I heard above us.
There was thumping of footsteps before I saw one man fly into view, weapon raised as if he were ready to shoot at anything. His boots sounded heavy and large, like he could crush our little panic room below.
Then, Franny giggled at her show. I swung my gaze to a small air vent and then the screen.
My breath caught as I winced at him stopping suddenly.
And my heart jumped into my throat when his boot thumped one step toward us.
As quietly as I could, I tapped her shoulder and put my finger to her mouth, signaling to be quiet.
She shrugged and looked back at the cartoon while I stared at the monitor, stared at that large man with a mask on. I was still staring when I heard a small, almost soft thwack, then his whole body crumpled to the ground.
I frowned at the screen and saw that behind a couch, Archer had hidden. He now looked like a man trained to kill rather than talk sweetly to a child. He didn’t move an inch as he waited for the second and third men to enter the room.
None of them he had to touch. He dropped them with the same precise aim. The blood splattering onto the camera lens only looked a dark gray, the black-and-white screen shielding me from the brutal scene.
Archer didn’t drop the fourth man as quickly.
He waited, like he didn’t want to kill him immediately.
The popping of bullets sounded in the distance, but Archer wasn’t using his gun now.
He waited and waited until the fourth masked man walked near his couch, and then he lunged for his weapon.
They both fell to the floor, grappling right above our heads.
I glanced at Franny, but those headphones must have been the best soundproof, noise-cancelling kind since she was still smiling.
And just as that masked man was disarmed, Jameson Knight walked into the camera’s view.
I heard his muffled voice talking to Archer and the man as he unbuttoned his navy suit jacket.
He placed his jacket on the couch before he took his time folding up each cuff of his white collared shirt, one fold perfectly bending into place before he started on the next.
“Who do you work for?” he asked the man.
The man shook his head even with Archer holding a gun to him. Jameson motioned for Archer to lower his weapon, and as he did, Jameson pulled a knife from his pocket at the same time.
“This is my daughter’s school. The only person I care about. You get that?” He stepped close to the man and pulled the mask from his face. “Did you come for her?” he asked.
The man’s eyes widened, but he didn’t admit to anything.
Jameson was professional and cold, but I knew how he was genuinely kind to his daughter. There was no way he would hurt this man, I told myself.
Yet, he murmured one more sentence I couldn’t make out before he shoved the knife into the man’s stomach and then wrenched it up toward his throat so hard there was no time for the man to reply. He dropped to the floor with another loud thud.
Then, Jameson’s cold gaze turned directly toward a security camera like he was peering into my soul as he unrolled his sleeves and put his navy suit jacket back on.
He was covering up the speckles of blood on that white shirt and was careful as he stepped over the bodies.
He walked over to the rug and pulled it up.
“Unlock the door, Ms. Darling,” I heard from above.
I shouldn’t have hesitated, although my body froze for a second. I was either opening the door to killers or I was staying locked inside.
“Ms. Darling?” I heard again.
All it took was a flick of my wrist to move that metal and for Jameson to lift the floorboards.
Light shone in as he opened the hatch, and Franny peered up, her blue eyes filled with happiness as she said, “Daddy! You found us. Told you he would, Ms. Darling.”
He walked down the steps and knelt at her side, his arms open wide and that smile just for his daughter back on his face. When he looked at me over her shoulder, though, his gaze was cold. “I’m taking Franny outside to her grandma. Archer will escort you out.”
With that, he scooped up Franny and told her to keep watching her tablet. I heard her laugh fading away while I stared at Archer. “I don’t think I should go up there.”
“Just keep your eyes forward, and we’ll get you out of here, okay?”
“No thank you.” I shook my head, but I didn’t have much of a choice as he reached in and grabbed my elbow to yank me up the stairs. I hated that my first instinct was to squeeze my eyes shut, that I didn’t want to see in full color what I’d only seen in black-and-white on a screen.
“Hey, it’s okay. Just …” Archer had that sweet voice again, like he was talking to one of the students. “Focus on what’s outside the window, okay?”
He turned my body toward it and told me I could open my eyes.
When I did, I saw a car toppled over in the distance but, more importantly, I saw Franny standing stoically beside an older woman.
She wore a black dress, pearls, and sunglasses.
Her dark hair was done up in a smooth bun, and she smiled wide at Franny like this was a beautiful day filled with rainbows and sunshine.
“She’s safe and happy, Ms. Darling. You did great. Do you have any belongings upstairs?”
Safe. Happy. Great. Words that couldn’t describe the day at all.
“Belongings?” I said as I frowned, not comprehending exactly what he meant.
“I mean I have my clothes and a dresser full of things. I have my plants. Ms. Prim needs to be watered daily, and my bonsai finally has decided it likes me.” I stopped myself from going into detail about my plant care routine.
“Do you need to take them all with you?”
“Take with? I’m … no.” I stepped back, glancing around the room. “No. I’m not going anywhere. I need to clean—”
“What’s going on?” Jameson cut me off as he walked back in and frowned.
“She needs a minute.”
Jameson’s jaw popped before he nodded at me. “Do you have important belongings you need upstairs? You don’t have time to dillydally, Ms. Darling. Unless you intend for Franny to witness something she can’t come back from.”
“Can’t come back from?” I said in a high-pitched tone as my eyes jumped around the room, taking in the destruction. “Mr. Knight, I would never intentionally harm Franny.” I breathed out, feeling dizzy all of a sudden.
“I know.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Just … We can discuss everything later, okay? We have about eight minutes until four more SUVs come flying up the road. So, I’m trying to be understanding, but we don’t have time for you to go into shock right now. We need to get you out of here.”
I glanced at Archer, and my question sounded shaky even to me. “What if I don’t want to go with you?” He rubbed at that strong jawline of his in irritation. “I have a car. I’ll just go my own way.”