Until Arden

Chapter 14

Arden

WhenIfinishunloading all the cold stock and organizing the freezer and cooler, I head back to the front of the restaurant to sit down and take a quick break before opening the doors. The delivery driver was even later than me, so I could have easily spent some extra time with Holden.

I squint toward the front doors when I see two men in the parking lot. I make out Wes’s face and realize they must have taken over for Jax, but when Wes heads straight for the locked front doors and knocks my stomach falls.

I rush to the front, pressing down on the lever to release the locks and open the door. “Did you find—”

What faint hope I’d held that this would be good news fades as soon as I take in his grim, straight face.

“Jax just called.” Wes's voice is flat and rough. He keeps his eyes on me, his face strained. “Dash’s truck went off the road. He's pretty banged up and they're taking him to the hospital now.”

“Holden? Was he already at daycare—”

“Holden was with him. There’s no evidence he was hurt in the crash. However—”

“No.” I fall against the door frame and gasp for breath. “I need to see them.”

Wes puts his hands on my shoulders. “Dash was knocked unconscious. When he came to, Holden and his car seat were gone.”

I knock his arms away. I don’t want to hear this. If I don’t hear anything, it can’t be real. Not yet. In the struggle to get past Wes, I hear the door close behind me. I’ve already locked up the back, and realize I’m now completely locked out because all my keys and belongings are inside.

“Fuck.” I spin and punch the glass door and sink to the ground.

“Jax and the police are gathering information,” Wes says, kneeling next to me. “Dash is on his way to the hospital.”

“And my son is gone.” The panic, the fear, the grief, begins to crash over me like a tsunami. Each wave is more intense, more painful, than the previous one.

“We’ll find him.”

“You were supposed to stop this from happening.” I stand and go in swinging, but Wes moves faster than I could have imagined, blocking my hit and grabbing my wrist to hold me still.

“They can’t have gotten far. From what Jax said, an elderly woman who lives nearby got a look at the car.”

The reality that my son has been stolen from me pounds through my body. As I continue to sob, I let the weight of it all crash down on me, let it crush me under the most unbearable pain. Wes catches me as my legs give out from under me.

“We’ll find him, Arden, and that fucker will pay.”

My mind is numb. My body feels as if it’s falling from a great height with no way to stop it. There’s no reassurance in the world that could ease the cold, ebbing dread in my bones.

My heart feels as if it’s in a million pieces. I let Wes guide me back to his car. “What now?”

“We can meet Dash and the police at the hospital. They might have more information by now.” He opens the back door, squeezing my shoulder as I collapse into the seat.

As soon as we reach the hospital, Wes leads me to a quiet room so I can talk to a police officer. I have no concept of time as they fill me in on what they know. Dash sustained a fractured ankle, contusions, lacerations, and a concussion. With all of his injuries, I can’t imagine how Holden might have made it out unscathed.

And now we don’t even know where he is.

They throw out terms like Amber Alert and APB as if any of that is supposed to make me feel better.

Shane won’t hurt him, I try to convince myself. Not immediately. Unless his goal is to hurt me.

I tuck my fisted hands into the chair and under my thighs, trying to resist the urge to hit something or someone.

I need to keep it together right now for Holden.

Across the room, I hear Wes’s phone ring. He answers quickly but only stays on the line long enough to say he’s in the middle of something and will call back. I reach for my own pockets and realize my phone is back at the restaurant, locked in with the rest of my belongings. A restaurant that is supposed to be opening soon, and no longer has a server or anyone with a key. “I have to let Janelle know what’s going on. My purse, everything, it’s all in the restaurant.”

Wes unlocks his phone and hands it to me. I can barely keep my hands from shaking to dial the number.

“Hello?” Janelle answers.

“Janelle, I had to leave the restaurant. It’s an emergency. I locked all of my stuff inside. I’m at the hospital with Dash, and—”

“Ari, is everyone okay?”

I break down before I can tell her anything else, curling into a fetal position in the seat and sobbing into my knees. Wes takes the phone from my hands, and I hear the quiet murmur of his voice as he fills in the rest of the details.

Then, he sits down next to me, rubbing my back until I’m too exhausted and hoarse to cry any longer. “Janelle’s handling everything on her end, and she’s having her husband bring over your purse as soon as they can get there.”

With every second that passes, I fear the worst.

A nurse peeks around the corner. “Are you two here for Mr. Hardt?”

“Yeah,” Wes says.

“He’s in a room now, so I can take you to him.”