19
Noah
Jenny rocks in the corner, her face paler than I’ve ever seen her before, guilt crushing through her the entire time. I have tried to convince her that I don’t blame her at all but she won’t accept it. I don’t think she’ll accept it until Alex is back here. She’s going to be a mess all night long.
Luckily for me, Mia is here. She’s been my saving grace. Thank God fate intervened and made sure it was her who found me in that alleyway, not someone else. She’s taking control, she’s my calming influence.
“Okay, so you need to get the money sorted in whatever means necessary,” she tells me firmly. “Then we need to contact the police because this transaction needs to be done in front of the authorities.”
“What do you mean by that? Why do we have to get the cops involved?”
“Are you serious? You need back up, you have no guarantee that Hayley won’t betray you.”
The tight knot gets even tighter in my chest, painfully so. I almost can’t breathe. “What do you think is going to happen? Do you think that she’s lying to me about Alex? I need to get him back.”
“I know you do, which is why I think you need the police.”
I don’t know if I like the idea, but she isn’t as twisted up as me. She’s the only person in this room who has her head on straight so I need to listen to her. Hopefully, I can trust her and it doesn’t back fire.
“Okay, fine. So, shall I get the money? You talk to the police?”
“Yes, fine. I don’t mind doing that. I’ll get an officer here but I think you’ll need to do a lot of the talking because you understand this situation way better than I do. Does that make sense?”
I nod again. I’ve explained it all to her, but I am emotional so I probably didn’t make myself clear.
“Right, okay, and are there any other family members you might want to tell first? Because once we get the cops involved there’s a chance this story might end up on the news and it’ll be better to hear it from you.”
I gulp and nod, knowing that what I have to say next will open a massive can of worms. “Yeah, my mom.”
“I know it won’t be easy, but she’ll be fuming if she hears it on TV, or if Hayley gets there first.”
“Oh, fucking hell. Yeah, you’re right. She’ll go ballistic. I’ll call her too.”
Mia hands me my phone and gives me a look, indicating that it’s time to get started. I sigh deeply and head up the stairs while calling my mother. The money is much less of an issue. I have a safe full of emergency money just in case my business ever crashes or anything. Hayley knows this which is why she’s coming for me. She knows that I can do it, she’s using her fucking knowledge about me against me.
I wonder why she hasn’t ever done it before. She could have done this over and over again.
“Hello, Noah, are you okay? I’ve just been watching the marathon…”
“Mom, I have something to tell you and it isn’t going to be easy to hear.”
“Oh God, what is it?” Immediately, she sounds panicked. “You sound really freaked.”
My phone bleeps against my ear so I pull it away to see who’s messaged me.
Hayley: Time is ticking down. I hope you’re in your safe…
Lovely. A taunt, just what I need right now. I feel a prickle on the back of my neck like she’s watching me.
“Hayley has been causing trouble again, this time it’s really bad…”
“What has that woman done now?” She’s fuming, I can hear it.
“She’s…” Oh God, this is going to be horrible. “She’s taken Alex.”
“What the…” I have to take the phone away from my head as she screeches a string of expletives at me. If the situation had been any different at all, I would have prefered to tell her face to face. “Where is she?”
“She wants money, Mom, that’s all it is. It’s going to end okay because I’m going to pay her off.”