“Love you too,” I tell him before watching as he drops down into his car and takes off.
The paramedic leads me inside and I drop down on the couch where he instantly begins looking over my head and hip. He’s only just getting started when Tully, Violet, and Eddison come tearing through my front door, taking in all the cops in horror.
After explaining everything to them, Tully and Eddison take off in different directions, leaving Violet hurrying into the kitchen to find a packet of frozen peas for my hip, promising she won’t leave my side for even one second.
Chapter 2
Dad barges through the front door looking bigger than I’ve ever seen him. His eyes seek out mine instantly. “Henley,” he cries, racing forward and dropping to his knees before me on the couch.
His big arms wrap around me for no longer than two seconds before he’s grabbing me by the shoulders and hauling me back to see straight into my eyes. Dad holds me a little too tight and his nails dig into my flesh. “What happened?” he demands, shaking me in his need to get answers, though I don’t think he even realizes he’s doing it. “Fuck. Henley, where’s my baby girl? Tell me you got her back?”
I shake my head as the tears stream down my face for what feels like the hundredth time in less than six hours. “Not yet,” I say in a broken voice as the sobs overtake me. “I couldn’t stop them. I…I’m sorry…I tried but I couldn’t…”
I watch as dad’s eyes rake over me and his expression softens at finally taking in the bandages and icepack at my hip. “Oh, Squish,” he says, absolutely shattered while hating more than anyone seeing me like this. “I don’t doubt you did everything that you could.”
I shake my head. “No. I could have done more. I should have protected her better just like you would have. You never would have allowed them to get that far. Daddy, I couldn’t stop them.”
Dad pulls me in hard against his chest as Violet runs her hand over my back, instantly taking the ‘protective mother’ role. “It’s alright, Squish,” he says between clenched teeth. “We’ll get her back. If it’s the last thing I do, I promise you kid, I will get your sister back.”
I look down at the coffee table, feeling unworthy of looking up into my father’s eyes. He must hate me for letting this happen. “The whole town is out looking for her. Every cop in Haven Falls, everyone I go to school with, all the parents of her school friends.”
“Good,” Dad grumbles. “So will I. I just stopped to park the truck. I’ll be able to get around better in the pickup truck.” I nod my head. The truck is fucking huge and getting around bends quickly while trying to look out for a five year old girl is not going to be easy. “Did you talk to the cops? What did they say?”
“Officer Dunham and Detective Schultz just left about half an hour ago. The cops have spread out wide and are scouring every inch of Haven Falls and the surrounding suburbs to find her, but when it comes to what they’re going to do about it…they’re not sure. They said something about it possibly not being a kidnapping case due to it being a domestic matter. It’s her word against ours. She could say that Ari was just with us while she went to rehab. After all, she didn’t specify if she was coming back or not. We just assumed.”
“That’s bullshit and you know it. Kelly abandoned her here. She gave her a shitty life and then left her without even looking back. As far as I’m concerned, she gave up her rights, and that child is now one hundred percent ours.”
“I know,” I tell him as he crosses the room and searches out the keys for his old pick up. “They just don’t know if they can make those charges stick, you know, that’s if they can ever find her.”
“They better make them fucking stick,” dad warns, “or I’ll be taking matters into my own hands. Besides, if it comes down to court, any judge could see where she needs to be. No one in their right mind would award Aria to that woman. We’ll get her back one way or another and I can assure you; Kelly won’t get away with this.”
Dad finds his keys and fishes them out of the bowl before disappearing into the kitchen. He comes back out a moment later with a huge can of energy drink and throws back half the can in the time it takes him to walk across to the front door.
It’s nearing two in the morning and my patience is wearing thin. I keep getting updates from Noah, Tully, Aiden, and Spencer. Each one of them telling me which streets they’ve hit and that they’ve come up with nothing.