32. Terra #3
Terra pressed the heel of her hand to her eyes, trying to hold back the tears that prickled behind her closed lids. Why had she done it? Why had she let fear and her past bad experiences with men blind her to who Taurex really was? To what—
Her cell phone trilled, cutting off her train of thought. The sound was so sudden in the silent penthouse that she jumped.
Terra looked at the screen and saw it was her mom. Quickly, she wiped her face and answered.
“Hey, Mom. What’s up?” she asked, trying to sound nonchalant.
“Terra?”
Something in Lucy’s voice made her straighten.
“What’s wrong?” she asked at once.
“The kids aren’t home yet.”
Terra frowned.
“What do you mean? Did their busses not come?”
“No, the buses came through already. Cody’s bus and Lisa’s bus both came, but neither one stopped.”
A cold prickling sensation ran along Terra’s arms.
“Maybe there was a route change,” she suggested. But if there had been something like that, the school would have notified her.
“That’s what I thought, so I called the schools,” her mom said.
“And?”
Lucy’s breathing sounded fast—almost panicked.
“They said the children were picked up.”
Terra gripped the phone harder.
“Picked up by who?”
“Their father.”
For one instant, the tension eased.
“Oh, for God’s sake.” Terra closed her eyes. “Jackson…that idiot.”
This wasn’t the first time her ex had done something like this.
Twice before, Jackson had gotten some last-minute idea that he was going to be Super Dad for the afternoon and simply appeared at school to collect the children without bothering to tell anyone. Once he had taken them to Busch Gardens. The other time it had been miniature golf and pizza.
Both times Terra had nearly killed him for taking the kids without telling her.
“I’m going to call him,” she told Lucy. “He’s done this before.”
“I know, honey, but something feels wrong.”
“It’s probably just Jackson being an inconsiderate asshole. What else is new?”
“I hope you’re right.” Her voice still sounded frightened.
“I’ll call you back,” Terra promised. She hung up and immediately dialed her ex.
He answered after four rings with a cranky sounding,
“What?”
Same charming Jackson. Sometimes she wondered what had ever possessed her to date him in the first place, let alone marry the man.
“Where are the kids?” she demanded.
There was a pause, then Jackson said,
“What kids?”
Terra was running out of patience.
“Your children, asshole. Cody and Lisa. Where did you take them?”
“Hey, don’t get mouthy with me, woman! I didn’t take them anywhere.”
Terra frowned.
“Jackson, I don’t have time for this.”
“Neither do I,” he snapped. “I’m at work.”
“The school says you picked them up,” Terra told him.
“Well, the school is fucking wrong.”
Terra’s stomach began to tighten.
“Are you telling me you didn’t go to their school and get them today?”
“That’s exactly what I’m telling you. I haven’t seen Cody or Lisa in, what, two months?”
“Seven weeks,” Terra corrected automatically.
“Whatever.” It was the verbal equivalent of a shrug.
The casual dismissal made her furious, but the anger was beginning to drown beneath something colder.
“Jackson, this isn’t funny.”
“I’m not laughing,” he said dryly.
“Did you authorize anyone else to pick them up?” Terra asked.
“No.”
“Shannon?” she probed.
“She’s not even in town,” her ex said dismissively.
Terra’s fingers went numb, and she realized she was gripping the phone so hard it was hurting her.
“Okay,” she whispered.
“What the hell is going on?” Jackson asked, sounding slightly more alert.
“I don’t know,” Terra told him. Then she ended the call before he could ask anything else.
It spoke volumes about what kind of father he was that he didn’t even try to call back.
For several seconds, Terra stood motionless in the middle of Taurex’s office.
The school said Jackson picked them up…but Jackson said he didn’t.
Someone had lied. Someone had taken Cody and Lisa, and she had no idea who it was.
Fear closed around Terra’s heart like an icy fist.
“No,” she whispered. “Oh God, please…no, no, no, no, no…”
Her phone pinged and when she looked hopefully at it, Terra saw she had a text from an unknown number. Quickly, she opened it, and a photograph filled her screen.
Lisa and Cody were sitting in the back seat of a car Terra didn’t recognize. Cody had one arm around his little sister and was glaring toward the camera with tears streaking his face, while Lisa was openly sobbing. Both children looked terrified.
Terra stopped breathing.
For one terrible second, the whole world seemed to tilt, and she felt like she might faint. Then her fingers began moving.
WHO IS THIS? she typed. DON’T YOU DARE TOUCH MY KIDS!
The reply came almost immediately, and Terra stared at the words.
You know who this is, my Bunny. And you know how to get your children back. All you have to do is submit to me.
Her blood turned to ice.
“My Bunny.” Only one man called her that. Only one man had taken photographs of her children without her knowledge. Only one man had looked at Terra as though wanting her gave him the right to own her.
Viktor Orlov had her children.