38. Emma
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
emma
I called him forty-five times.
He didn’t answer.
I was losing my mind.
Hunter wasn’t picking up the phone.
I’d already called the police, Cam, and Sammy. They were gathering people, but everyone was a little lost without Hunter being the one to take charge in an emergency.
Bud had been notified and the entire town of Citrus Cove was turning over every inch looking for him.
They were doing their part, and I felt helpless.
I paced back and forth on my front porch, barely able to breathe. Haley’s corvette was the first one to pull up. Her wheels screeched to a halt, and she jumped out, running up to me.
“He’s not picking up,” I said quickly. The panic was setting in, the fear taking over me. “He’s not answering. He’s not?—”
“Listen to me,” she said firmly. She grabbed my face, her eyes wide. “I need you to take a deep breath, Emma.”
“What do you know?” I whispered, searching her gaze.
I could tell there was something. I’d known her for so long, it was clear something had happened.
“Hunter’s truck was found on the side of the road right by the vet’s office, but he wasn’t in it, okay? Hunter is strong. He knows how to fight. If someone took him, he's going to be okay.”
My entire world was shattering. A sob loosened in my chest and I shook my head, but Haley pulled me into a firm hug. “We’re gonna find him. This is Hunter we’re talking about, okay?”
“I love him. Haley, I love him so goddamn much. I can’t lose another person I love. I can’t. I just got him. I just got him in my life, I can’t lose him.”
“You’re not going to,” she whispered, squeezing me harder. “It’s going to be okay. I’m here with you. Alice should be here any moment. We’re all going into safety mode, okay?”
I could barely breathe. Tears stung my eyes, my throat closing up as I fought the urge to cry. I needed to find him. I needed to do something .
“I can’t just stay here,” I said.
“Tell me what the lawyer said,” Haley demanded.
I nodded and repeated everything I’d told Cam. Haley listened and then shook her head.
“That son of a bitch,” she whispered. “Okay. We’re gonna make it through this. We’ve been through things like this, Emma.”
“I can’t,” I rasped. “If I lose him, I just…”
“Emma,” Haley growled. “Snap the fuck out of it. I need you to pull it together. We can fall apart once he’s home.”
I drew in a steady breath. She was right. I’d needed someone to tell me that, and now a steadiness settled over me.
I glanced up when I heard tires on gravel.
Alice’s car pulled up behind Haley’s and she got out. “Have you heard anything?” she yelled as she ran up to us.
I shook my head and wiped my eyes as she joined us on the porch. She pulled me into a hug and kept her arm around my shoulders. “Everyone is jumping into action. Sarah said Sammy is on the phone with everyone they know, and Colt is already out looking.”
“Cam is working with Bud,” Haley said. “We’re gonna find him.”
My worry was that we’d find him and it’d be too late.
“This is a nightmare,” I whispered. “This is all my fault.”
“It’s not your fault,” Alice insisted.
“No, it is. I should have told the police about the letters. About?—”
“What letters?” Alice asked.
Haley and I winced. “There’s been a lot happening,” Haley said. “Emma and Hunter kept a few secrets.”
“Ones we shouldn’t have,” I said. “And we did it because of me.”
I drew in a deep breath, trying to keep my nausea at bay. My heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest.
I gave her the most condensed version possible of everything that had happened.
“Oh my god, Emma,” Alice said. She was clearly horrified. “What the fuck? Why didn’t you tell us?”
“I didn’t know Josh was a suspected murderer,” I said. “And my lawyer is worried my stepmom is involved too. This is way worse than anything I could have imagined.”
Alice pressed her lips. “I’m gonna yell at you later.”
“Understandably,” I said.
I swallowed hard and then frowned when a red car screeched to a halt.
“Who is that?” Haley asked.
We watched as a woman got out, and I realized I recognized her. She was the woman I’d seen glaring at me before. She wrung her hands together as she approached.
“Emma? I… Can we talk?”
“Now is not a good time,” I snapped. “Who are you?”
“I’ve been sending letters…”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I seethed.
“What the fuck?” Haley whispered.
Anger lurched through me and I marched down the front steps. “You’re who’s been sending those? The pictures? You’ve been stalking me?”
“Yes, but—but I can explain?—”
Her eyes widened as I lunged for her. In one smooth motion, I knocked her to the ground and smashed the butt of my palm against her nose. It broke, blood gushing as she cried out.
“Wait! I know?—”
Alice yelled at me, trying to pull me off her, but it wasn’t gonna happen. I pinned the fucking stalker beneath me and she gasped out, trying to push me off.
“ I know where they went! ”
Haley and Alice managed to yank me back, all of our butts hitting the ground with a heavy thump.
The woman let out a sob and slowly sat up, clutching her face. “I saw who took him. It was a man and a woman. They took him to the motel outside of Citrus Cove. I just…”
“You were stalking him,” I growled. “You were stalking Hunter?!”
“I know it sounds bad, but I wanted to try to convince him to leave you?—”
“He’s not going to leave me!” I yelled. “Why in the hell would you do all of this?!”
“Emma,” Alice said calmly. “She said she knows where they went. We can focus on the other shit later.”
She had a point. I forced myself to take a breath, trying to rein in my temper. Everything was happening so quickly, my emotions were going haywire.
“What did the woman look like?” I asked.
“She had dark hair and looked young?—”
“Did the man look like a Ken doll?” I bit out.
“Yes.”
Motherfucker.
Josh and my stepmom. It couldn’t be anyone else.
“Are you telling the truth?” I asked, getting to my feet.
“Yes,” she gasped. She held up her hands, blood gushing down her face. “I’m sorry. I should have never sent those letters or photos. I was being?—”
“Shut the fuck up,” I snarled. “You’re lucky Haley and Alice are here. Which motel?”
“It’s the Southern Inn.”
I knew where it was.
And I wasn’t going to wait another moment to get to Hunter.
“I’ll call Bud,” Haley said immediately. “We’re gonna get him. We’re going to find him.”
“I’ll call Sarah,” Alice said, already pulling her phone out. “It’s going to be okay.”
That wasn’t good enough for me.
I turned around and beelined for the house. I ignored Haley’s call as I went inside, grabbed the baseball bat I kept in the corner in case there was a home intruder, and went back out. Haley’s keys gleamed in the grass. I snatched them up and then ran to her corvette.
“Emma!” Haley shouted.
“I’m taking your car,” I yelled back. “I’m going after him!”
“Goddammit, Emma!” Alice shouted.
I couldn’t wait. I knew Josh and my stepmom didn’t know self defense, but if they got the jump on Hunter, he was in real danger.
And if they’d killed my dad, then they could kill again.
I couldn’t lose him.
I tossed the bat into the passenger seat, slid into the front, cranked the engine on, and backed out before either one of them could stop me. The tires screeched as it lurched forward and I gunned it down the road.
Living in a small town meant that the roads were easy to speed down, and I took full advantage. I rolled down Main Street going sixty, darting around other cars who honked at me and running red lights as safely as I could. I hit the highway and sped faster, straight for the motel.
Please be okay. Please be okay.
It was the mantra that kept me going. I just needed him to be okay.
The sign for the motel gleamed in the distance. I pulled into the parking lot and slowed.
The Lexus.
“Fuck me,” I whispered.
I parked next to it, my heart hammering. I reached over and grabbed my bat then got out, surveying the rooms. The parking lot was mostly empty, aside from the Lexus.
A muffled shout echoed from behind one of the doors. Sirens reverberated in the distance, but they wouldn’t get here fast enough.
My phone rang in my pocket, but I ignored it. It was probably Haley or Alice or someone else, but I needed to focus. I stepped onto the sidewalk, slowly approaching the door. I leaned in, pressing my ear to it.
I’d know my stepmother's voice anywhere.
Angela Madden.
Josh’s voice followed her shrill yell, their words incomprehensible.
I took a step back. The last few years of all my martial arts training were here to help me now more than ever.
If my man was in danger, there wasn’t a damn thing that was going to keep me from him.