Chapter 5
Apple drove all night and arrived at Amelia’s apartment before the sun rose. Exhaustion tugged at him, but he pushed it away. He had to figure out what was going on with Amelia and find out what he could do to help her daughter.
He moved to the door, about to knock, when the door was yanked open. The woman’s hand flew to her chest, and she took a step back, almost knocking over the little girl behind her. His gaze zeroed in on the girl, and Thario had been right. She did look like him.
“Who are you?” the woman asked.
He looked up, shock still coursing through him as he stared at the woman. “Um, I’m Apple—Amelia knows me as Avery. I know, well, knew Amelia. I was wondering if she came back.”
The woman’s lips thinned, and she shook her head. “No. She didn’t.” The woman’s eyes narrowed. “How do you know Amelia?”
“We used to date a long time ago.”
The woman glanced at the kid, then her eyes slid back to him. One eyebrow cocked up. No question, the woman was putting two and two together. She crossed her arms over her chest, doubt filling her expression.
“Why are you here?” she asked.
He glanced down at the kid, then back up at the woman. “I want to help find her.”
“Well, I have a business trip I have to go on, and seeing how you look, I think you need to step up and take some responsibility.”
His muscles clenched like he was about to be punched. Her words had hit hard, digging right to the bottom of the issue. No question, she saw the resemblances and Amelia may have told her something about him. But taking care of a kid wasn’t his thing.
“I-I don’t—”
She leaned forward. “Yes, you do. Ain't no other reason for you to have been keeping up with Amelia enough to know she's missing.”
“Who is he?” the child asked in a small voice that was barely above a whisper.
The woman turned to the child and then knelt. “Well, baby, he's going to stay here with you while I'm on my trip. This way, you don't have to stay with a stranger.”
The girl narrowed her eyes. “He is a stranger.”
“No, Lainey, he’s not.” The woman angled her gaze up to him, daring him to say something.
“But I don’t know him.”
The woman’s gaze drilled into him. “Avery, introduce yourself.”
He nodded, unsure how to get out of this.
He had nothing. There was no way he would leave this child on her own, even if she wasn’t his.
But based on her nose and eyes, the way her lips went up higher on the left side than the right when she grimaced, she was his.
Also, there was that birth mark below her right ear. Exactly the same as his.
“Hello, Lainey, I’m Avery. I’m Amelia’s friend.”
“You mean Mommy’s friend?”
He nodded. “Yes. I’m someone your mother knows.”
“Why will you be staying with me? I’ve never seen you before.”
“Well—”
“I think he’s going to be around a lot more now,” the woman said, interrupting him.
He nodded. “I just need to get my bag out of the back of my car.”
“Good. My plane doesn’t leave until tomorrow morning, but I think it would be good for you to sleep on the couch tonight. You know, get to know Lainey while I’m still here.”
He turned to walk out to his vehicle but then turned back around. “What’s your name?”
“Dena. I’m Dena, Amelia’s best friend. I know almost everything about her. Everything.”
He drew in a slow breath. “Okay, I'm going to get my bag, and I'll be back.”
This was a hitch in his plans. He'd just wanted information, and then he was going to go looking for Amelia, but now, he had to play babysitter. How would this work? He couldn't go chasing down bad guys to get Amelia back. He would have to rely on the police to find her.
He sent a text to Thario on his way out to his car, telling him he was going to play babysitter for a few days. He didn’t know much about kids, just that you had to keep them alive, and that was harder than it looked.
He was back at the front door, which Dena had left cracked open.
He didn't like that she'd left it open, but she knew the neighborhood, and he'd been right outside.
Now, he just had to figure out how to keep this kid alive until they got Amelia back.
They had to get her back. There was no other way for this to work.
He couldn't have Lainey come live with him.
Not without having someone else there to take care of her when he was away on a mission.
This wouldn't work. Something had to give, and that meant they had to get Amelia home.