Chapter 26
WILY
I’m sitting there grinning at Portia while she tries and fails to make us guess whatever clue Logan whispered to her. It’s a movie, but the way her arms are flailing about, it’s really hard to know which one.
Dom and the twins are fighting laughter while Charlotte shouts, “Frozen!”
Because that’s pretty much the only movie she ever watches.
“It’s not Frozen.” Olly laughs, tickling her.
She squeals and writhes about on my knee, nearly catching my ball sack.
I quickly flinch away, then notice Zander move from his perch against the wall with a concerned frown.
My eyes quickly track left, and I spot Zoey standing in the doorway with my sweet Jane. She’s holding her hand and… looking really worried.
Plucking Charlotte off my lap, I deposit her next to Olly and stand up, heading straight for my daughter.
“What’s up, blossom?”
Blake rushes in behind her, all flushed and flustered as her eyes dart around the room.
They land on Grady, who’s sitting on the floor with Nichelle.
His eyebrows dip, and he gets to his feet as well. “What’s the—
“We need your help,” Blake cuts him off, then looks about ready to throw up as she mutters, “We can’t find Harley and Kendall.”
“What?” Grady’s eyebrows pop high.
And then Jane starts to cry. “I looked everywhere, and I’ve been looking for ages.”
Quickly closing the distance between us, I sweep her into my arms. “It’s okay, baby. I’m sure you did a great job. You’re awesome at finding people.”
“But I looked in all the best hiding places, Daddy!” she blubbers. “Where are they? What if something bad’s happened? Will they be okay?”
“Of course.” I splay my hand on her back, giving her a reassuring squeeze. “They’re gonna be fine.” I glance at Grady, who’s now standing by Blake, quietly asking for more details.
“I don’t know.” She shakes her head. “We’ve checked every room upstairs. And I’ve looked downstairs twice. I don’t know what I’m missing.” Her voice pitches just as Carson strolls into the room.
“Daddy!” Portia grins, running toward him with her arms outstretched.
He bends down to scoop her up, and she wraps her little legs as far around his waist as they can reach, resting her cheek on his shoulder with a contented smile.
“What’s going on?” Carson glances between us, obviously sensing the mounting tension.
Blake swallows and looks to the floor, and I wonder why she’s looking guilty when Zoey lets out a sigh and says, “Harley and Kendall are missing.”
“What?” he snaps, his angular face getting even sharper.
Nylah appears in the doorway, walking into the room with her waddling limp. “Did I just hear that right?” She looks at Blake. “I thought you were going to find her?”
“I’ve been looking, and I… I…” She whimpers and glances at the floor. “I got distracted by a phone call, and then… I… I have been looking, though.”
“Shit.” Nylah closes her eyes, looking sick.
“Aunt Nylah just said shit!” Olly yells, pointing at her. “Swear jar!”
“Not now, buddy.” Zander gives him a look that’s stern enough to make him shrink back into the couch. Charlotte nestles closer to him, taking his hand.
Zoey catches Cole’s eye, and he quickly stands. Logan, of course, follows him, and Dom jumps up as well, joining the adult circle.
“Do you have any idea the most likely places they’d go?” I ask.
“But I’ve looked everywhere!” Jane wails, sitting up to glance around the group. “We’ve been searching for forever.”
Nylah closes her eyes, leaning into Carson when he wraps his free arm around her.
“Harley runs when she’s upset,” he explains in a gruff voice. “She’ll find a hiding place and stay there until she’s ready to come out. But our place is small, you know? So it’s easy to find her. This mansion is—”
“The back door.” Sienna runs into the room, her cheeks pale, her eyes bright with worry. “I just found the back door open.”
The air in the room suddenly turns icy, our mild concern amping up to crisis level.
“They wouldn’t,” I whisper. “I mean, would they?”
“Oh my gosh,” Blake whimpers while Grady hangs his head and mutters a soft curse.
“Kendall would. That kid’s fearless. If Harley told her she wanted someplace good to hide, Kendall wouldn’t stay within the boundaries of this house. Shit!” He runs a hand over the top of his head before bolting away from the group. “I’m going out to look for them.”
“We’ll help too!” Cole goes to follow him, but I quickly snatch his arm before he takes off.
“Just a sec, kid. We need to think this through.”
Grady pauses, spinning back to face us while Zoey turns to her dad.
“What’s the plan of attack?” she asks him. “This place is freaking huge.”
Zander nods, then shares a silent conversation with Grady before clearing his throat and laying it out for us.
“Okay, any adult who’s capable of searching the property and surrounding area, suit up.
Nylah and Wily, we’ll get you guys to stay here and watch the kids.
And… Blake, you’re awesome at distracting this lot. Can you stay here too?”
She nods, crossing her arms with a sickly frown. She’s so pale I’m worried she might keel over. Seriously, she’s not responsible for this problem, although she’s acting like she is.
Zander points to the boys. “I’ll get you guys to search the house again.”
Cole tuts in disappointment, but I squeeze his arm. “We need you, buddy. You three can look in all the places we didn’t think to look before, okay?”
“Okay, Dad.” Dom nods, always up for a challenge.
I’m gutted that my knee’s not good enough to hike through the surrounding forest right now, but watching the kids is an important job too.
Shit. I hope those girls are okay. They couldn’t have gotten that far, right?
There’ll be footprints in the snow. Ways to track them. Won’t there?
Thank God Grady’s going out. He’ll know exactly what to do.
“Okay.” Zander claps his hands. “Everyone going outside, suit up and meet us at the back door in two minutes. Grady, you can give us a rundown of what we should be looking for out there.”
“Got it.” Grady turns and takes off upstairs while Carson pops Portia onto the floor.
“No. Daddy!” Her voice is urgent and she rushes after him, but he keeps moving, not responding to her cries as Nylah grabs their wailing daughter and pulls her back.
“I want Daddy!” Portia cries.
“You need to stay here with me.” Nylah tries to wrap her in a hug, but Portia wrestles against her hold.
“Daddy! I want Daddy!”
“He needs to go and find Harley right now. You can hug him when he gets back with your sister.”
I swallow and cringe as Portia’s cries pitch to a high, aggravated howl.
Oh fuck. She really doesn’t get it. All her little four-year-old eyes can see is her daddy walking away from her.
But we know.
We know how harrowing this situation really is, and when Nylah looks at me with bright, glassy eyes, I feel it like a punch to the gut.
If we don’t find those girls soon, this will be the worst weekend of our lives.