20. Whitney
WHITNEY
After finding Stella, and the search at the carnival is called off, the first thing I notice is how completely my world fractures.
Not with chaos or screaming, but with the terrible realization that while my life has stopped, everything around me continues as if nothing has changed.
The carnival returned to his former status: music, children laughing, people playing games and riding rides.
Life keeps moving when all I want to do is demand it stop.
My gaze remains fixed on the note. Quake handed it to me when he deposited me under one of the food tents at a table so he could handle a few things. The paper is so small, yet its message is devastating.
If you want to see Melissa again, stop looking for me. - Carrie
A sob lodges in my throat. The name alone makes my stomach twist. For weeks, I’ve worried about what she would do.
I worried about predators hiding in plain sight and girls being trafficked.
But never once did I imagine Carrie would show up at a community event where hundreds of people were around as witnesses and take Melissa.
When Quake calls my name, I can barely respond. Panic grips my throat every time I try to speak. Melissa's smile, her butterfly face paint, and the sound of her laughter replay endlessly in my mind. One moment she was here, and the next she was gone.
Quake kneels in front of me, his hands settling firmly on my shoulders. Beneath his anger, I see the same fear, guilt, and helplessness tearing through me.
"Look at me," he says commands. When I finally do, he promises, "We're going to find her."
His certainty should comfort me, but instead it makes the truth impossible to deny.
This isn't a misunderstanding or a child who wandered away.
Someone planned this. Someone waited until Sacred Haven's biggest day and stole a little girl from the middle of a crowd.
The realization crushes me, and when Quake pulls me into his arms, I stop trying to be strong and focus only on breathing.
“Look,” he commands again, nodding toward the crowd.
The fundraiser has begun to die down, and the police have arrived. True to his word, Quake called them as soon as we found the note. We’re doing this by the book… for the most part. I’m not stupid, I know the club is doing their own thing on the side.
And I’m damn grateful they are because I want Melissa home, with us, where she belongs, no matter how that happens.
“Have they found anything?” I ask numbly as Quake stays by my side.
Romeo joins us with his laptop and turns the screen to face me. I know he’s trying to keep me in the loop, but it’s not helping.
“Not yet.”
“What about Carrie’s car?”
“The blue sedan?” Romeo asks.
I shake my head. “No, um…” I rub my temples. “She was in a black SUV the last few times she came to see Melissa.”
Romeo immediately begins digging into registration records.
As I continue thinking, another memory emerges. “Carrie was always talking about wanting a fresh start. She constantly complained about paperwork, supervisors, and regulations. She joked about getting away from it all, though at the time it sounded like harmless venting.”
"Did she ever say where?" Romeo asks.
I sag against Quake. “No.”
The hours drag by. The sun disappears, darkness settles over Sacred Haven, and still there's no sign of Melissa. Eventually, the police advise us to go home to the clubhouse since that’s the last place Carrie is aware of Melissa residing and that’s where she’d likely reach out to if she does at all.
The ride is quiet, somber. Stella buries herself into my side, only lifting her head when we part next to the main entrance. When we step out of the truck, she bounds toward the door as if she expects Melissa to greet her.
Inside, I go through the motions. I change clothes, wash my face, brush my teeth. Every single thing I do is exactly what I do when I’m getting ready for bed. But tonight, it’s more that I’m getting ready for war.
Quake leaves me in the suite to go to church. I want to argue for several reasons, not the least of which is that this isn’t just ‘club business’, but I’m too empty to even try. Instead, I settle on the couch and cry the moment he steps out of the room
By the time he returns, it’s after midnight. One look at his face tells me the news isn't good.
"We found Carrie's SUV," he says.
Hope surges through me. "Where?"
"Abandoned twenty miles away."
The hope dies almost instantly. Carrie wasn't there.
Exhaustion and guilt cling to Quake as he sits beside me.
“You blame yourself,” I say.
"I was supposed to protect her," he says quietly, not bothering to deny it. "I promised."
My heart aches for him so I reach for his hand. “This isn’t your fault. No more than it is mine. This is on Carrie. Carrie and Tom and Keith, God fuck their dead souls,” I snarl.
For a long moment, neither of us speaks. Then his fingers tighten around mine, and the gesture feels less like comfort and more like survival. We're both holding on to the same fragile hope.
Suddenly, the door to the suite slides open, and Romeo bursts across the threshold.
"I found something." Quake and I jump to our feet, and Romeo grins. "I found one of Carrie's burner phones."
Hope crashes through me so hard it hurts. For the first time since Melissa disappeared, we're no longer chasing shadows. We finally have a lead, and somewhere out there, whether she knows it or not, Melissa isn't facing this alone anymore.