Chapter 3
Apple’s phone rang as he was pulling into the lot of a hotel. He’d thought about going to the campgrounds, but he didn’t want to miss a call from Thario.
“Hello,” he answered on the first ring.
“Hey, I found her. It wasn’t hard. She’s in Albuquerque, New Mexico.”
His breath caught. “Oh, that’s not far from where I am.”
“Here’s the thing.”
Apple’s stomach sank. “What’s going on?”
“The club where she works had some violence last night, and she was taken.”
He didn’t understand. “Taken?”
“Yeah. It seems like a gang who is pissed at the owner of the club decided to get revenge, and in doing so, they took Amelia hostage.”
“What the fuck?”
“Yeah. And here’s the thing. She has a daughter who is four years old.”
“Oh.” Heat zipped through Apple, and his ears began to buzz. Could the girl be his?
“Apple, are you still there?”
“Yeah. I, um…what is the daughter’s name?”
“Lainey. Amelia doesn’t post photos online, but I’ve tracked down a few. She’s cute and…”
Thario trailed off, and Apple knew he wanted to say more. “She’s mine, isn’t she?”
“Um, she looks a lot like you did when you were a kid.”
“You compared photos?”
“Hell, yes. I saw a child who looked a lot like you, and I wanted to make sure.”
“Fuck. Give me an address. I’ll drive down there.”
Thario was silent for a moment. “I take it you didn’t know about the kid?”
Apple grunted. “No, not until I talked to Tara.”
“Shit, you actually went to talk to her?”
“Yeah. I had to know what she wanted. Apparently, Amelia had come over to tell me she was pregnant. Tara said she would give me the message.”
“And she never did?”
“Nope, she never did.”
“Damn, that’s rough. I’ll text you the address. Maybe by the time you get down there, they will have found her.”
“I hope so.” He didn’t want to think about Amelia being lost forever. He needed more information about the people who had taken her. What type of organization did they have? Could he take them down on his own, or would he have to rely on the police to go in and rescue her?
“There, the information has been sent to you.”
“Thank you, man. I’ll send you information as I get it.”
“Same. I’ll talk to you later.”
The call ended and Apple clicked over to his messages for the address. He would have to stop somewhere and get some sleep, but right now, he needed to get on the road and eat up some of the distance between them.
Was Amelia safe? Was she even still alive or in the USA? She could have already been driven across the border. If that was the case, she might be lost to him for good. And what about his daughter? Where was she?
He sucked in a breath, his head pounding with the information he’d just received. He had a kid, and he wasn’t there for them. He felt like shit. Somehow, he had to make it up to his daughter. But first, he had to find Amelia.