I walk around the side of the house to see if maybe the kids are there playing…but nothing. I get a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach, and that’s when I take off running. I look everywhere and I can’t find them. I run back towards the house, trying to catch my breath. “Where are the kids?” I run into the house screaming. “I can’t find the kids anywhere! They were out back playing in the tree house. I had been watching them through the window above the kitchen sink. Then they disappeared. I thought that they had decided to play along the side of the house, but I wanted to check on them to make sure they were okay when I didn’t hear anything for a few minutes.” I know I’m rambling, but I feel sick, and I know I’m going to have a break down.

“They’re outside honey,” my mom says, and I start shaking my head, clutching at my throat, trying to rip the words out but I can’t speak.

“Breathe, baby,” Cash says, concerned. His arms are around me, but I push him away; he needs to go look for the kids.

“Th-they’re not there!” I take a huge gulp of air. “I can’t find them anywhere!” My dad is the first to move. He is up off the couch and heading out the backdoor. Cash looks me over before handing me off to my mom, and then he follows my dad.

“It’s going to be okay. They’re kids, honey. I used to lose you all the time,” Mom tells me, trying to lighten the mood. Any other time I would have laughed, but not now. I get up and head towards the bedrooms, checking each one, but they are nowhere to be found. A few minutes later, I hear police sirens and my stomach drops. My worst nightmare is becoming a reality. When I get outside, Cash and my dad are talking to James. A few minutes pass and the whole yard is full of people. My mom holds me next to her as we listen to the guys plan out a search party. No one knows where they are, so they all split up.

*~*~*

Jax

I always wanted a little brother, but got stuck with a little sister. We are playing hide-and-seek, and when I’m getting ready to find her like I always do, I see someone pulling her into a truck. I’m scared, but my dad always says that it’s my job to keep her safe because I’m her big brother. So I climb into the back of it and lay down, hiding under a tarp.

*~*~*

Cash

This cannot be f**king happening. Someone is going to die. I’m not saying that as a threat—I mean it all the way to my soul. As soon as I find out who has done this, I’m going to kill them.

“All right, man, I want you to hear me out, okay?” Nico says. I lift my chin in response. I’m too angry to answer him right now. We have searched everywhere for the kids, and come up with nothing. They wouldn’t have wondered off. Someone has to have taken them, I just don’t know who.

“Who do you think would do this?” he asks.

“I don’t know.” I rack my brain, trying to come up with someone who would do this. I can’t think over the pain in my chest. My kids are missing; someone has them and I have no idea who it is.

“I want you to think for a second. Who would do this?” I pause, coming up with nothing, then for some reason a name comes out of my mouth without thinking.

“Jules.”

“Jules,” he nods, “you know she has been missing. Kenton is running her cards to see if he can latch onto her.”

“She’s not that crazy,” I say, knowing it’s a lie.

“She is that crazy.” He pauses, looking like he is weighing his words. “Look, I know you feel bad for her, and I understand that she is Jax’s mother, but the bitch is f**king crazy and needs some major help—and not the kind that she can receive from a therapist.”

“You’re right.”

“All right, now I need you to tell me anything you know about her and her family,” he says, and for the next thirty minutes, I tell him everything that I know. When I’m done, I realize how very little there was. “We’re gonna find the kids; don’t worry.” He pats my back, walking away and putting the phone to his ear. My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I answer right away.

“Yo?”

“We’re still looking,” Trevor says; he and Asher took off not long after my dad did. “Any idea of which way we should head?”

“Look for Jules,” I tell him.

“What?”

“I talked to Nico and I think he may be right; we need to be looking for Jules.”

“You’re f**king shitting me.”

“Dude, I don’t know what the f**k to think right now, but something in my gut is saying Nico is right and that Jules is behind this.”

“All right, we will look for her. Keep us up-to-date if you find out anything,” Trevor says, and I can hear the anger in his words.

“Will do,” I say and then hang up. I head back into the house. Lilly and her mom are inside waiting to see if the kids will show back up. As soon as I walk inside, Lilly is in my arms, her eyes red from crying.

“Did they find them?”

“No, baby.” She starts to cry again, and my heart is breaking. “I will find them and bring them home. You stay here with your mom in case they show back up.”

“Okay, but maybe I should be out looking too.”

“No, I want you to stay here in case they come back.”

“But—”

“No buts. Stay here with your mom. Keep your phone on you and I will call you.”

“Okay, just bring them home.” I can hear the strain in her words as she wraps her arms around my waist, burying her face in my chest. I want to comfort her, but I need to be out looking. I pull her away from me, kissing her once before turning and heading out the door. I see Nico still on his phone, so I motion him towards the truck and climb inside. Once he’s in, I take off. I have no destination in mind, but I do know Jules had been sleeping with a guy in town, so that’s my first stop. When we arrive at his place, there is an old truck in the driveway. The yard is littered with garbage. We get out and head up to the front porch; the dogs behind the door go crazy when I knock. I hear rustling, then the door opens and a guy my age is standing there rubbing his face, the smell of alcohol wafting off him.

“What do you want?”

“Have you seen Jules?” I ask, and his eyes narrow. He looks between Nico and me then smirks.

“I know you,” he says when his eyes come back to me.

“Yeah?” I ask him, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Yeah, you’re Jules’s ex. She’s always talking about you.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah,” he slurs, and until that point, I didn’t even notice that he is drunk. “She was always carrying on about you and how she was never important to you, and that you only wanted her because of the kid.”

“She told you that?”

“She told me everything. The bitch never shut the f**k up.” He runs a hand through his hair. “You know, she is hot as fuck, and not bad in bed, but she is nuts—and I mean really f**king nuts.”

“Why do you say that?” Nico asks, leaning on the side of the house. His stance is casual, but I can tell that he is up to something.

“The last time she was here I thought I was going to get some, but she carried on about your daughter and wife—who, by the way, is a hot piece.” I want to punch him in the face, but don’t let it show.

“She is hot, right?” Nico asks, and I swing my head to him. What the fuck?

“Fuck yeah, she is. I mean, Jules is good looking, but that bitch is smoking.”

“I agree,” Nico says, and the guy smiles at him. “So what else did Jules want?”

“I don’t know. I wasn’t really listening; I was trying to get laid, you know?” Nico nods and he shifts, his head going back like he’s thinking. “All I remember is her saying that the girl was a mistake on her part, and that she should have been smarter—whatever the f**k that means.” He digs his hand into his front pocket, pulling out a pack of smokes, offering one to Nico, then to me. We both shake our heads no. He puts one in his mouth, lighting it and taking a drag. “I really don’t remember anything else.” He shrugs, taking another drag before tossing the still-lit cigarette into the yard. My brain is in overdrive; she told him Ashlyn was a mistake on her part. I know deep down she is the reason Lilly got pregnant, but there is no way to prove it. I know that if confronted, she would deny it.

“Do you know where she might be?” Nico asks him.

“Jules?” he asks, and Nico nods. “I don’t know, at her house? Or with her f**ked up aunt maybe?”

“Why are you here?” he finally asks the question he should have asked a long time ago.

“My son and daughter are missing,” I tell him honestly. He looks between Nico and me, then backs up.

“Hey, I have nothing to do with that.”

“We didn’t say you did, but we need to know if you have any idea where Jules might be,” Nico says, and the guy looks nervous.

“You think that Jules has something to do with it?” he asks.

“We’re not sure right now; the only thing we know for sure is that Jules has disappeared, and so have my kids.”

“Dude, that’s f**ked up.” He shakes his head. My phone rings and I pull it out of my pocket, looking at the caller ID. I have no clue who it is.

“Hello?”

“Hello, sir,” an older woman says.

“Can I help you?” I ask impatiently. I don’t have time for this shit right now.

“Yes, I’m calling you because a little boy showed up on my property about five minutes ago. He says that his sister was taken by his mom, and that I needed to call his dad.” My hand that’s not holding the phone goes to my chest where my necklace lays. I put pressure on it, the metal against my skin reminding me that my family will be back together soon.

“Where are you?” I ask, jumping off the porch and heading to my truck. I get in and slam my door at the same time as Nico. She quickly rattles off her address. “Let me talk to my son, please.”

“Dad!” Jax cries. “Mom took Ashlyn. I had to go with her to keep her safe, but she took her into a house, and there was a lot of shouting, Dad. So I ran as fast as I could until I found somewhere to call you.”

“You did good, dude. I’m so proud of you. But I need you to be brave for a little while longer, okay?”

“Okay, Dad.” I hear him sniffle, and I fight not to crack my phone.

“I love you, Jax, and I will be there soon,” I tell him, clenching my teeth. A drive that would normally take forty-five minutes takes twenty. My dad gets ahead of us on the highway in his squad car, leading a long line of cars and trucks. The old lady Jax is with explains that he had ran through a cornfield that is on the back of her property, and that no one else lives close enough to her that would know we are on their trail. When we arrive at the location where Jax is, we all get out of our vehicles just as Jax comes flying out of the house, right into my arms.

“I got you,” I tell him, picking him up. He wraps himself around me, his body shaking. “You’re safe, bud, but I need you to tell me where your sister is.” He nods into my shoulder then starts talking, his body shaking so hard that I have to sit down with him. He tells me that he and Ashlyn were playing hide-and-seek and that he knew where she was hiding because she always hides in the same place. He says he went around the side of the house, seeing someone dressed in black carrying Ashlyn away. He was going to go into the house to get me, but they were almost to the truck by the time he thought about it. Then he says when the person placed Ashlyn in the truck, he climbed into the back and laid down to hide. When the truck finally stopped, he peeked over the edge, seeing his mom carrying Ashlyn into a house. He didn’t know what to do when he heard yelling coming from the house, so he ran to try to find someone to call me. I hold him close, rocking him back-and-forth the same way I used to when he was a baby. My dad, brothers, and a couple other officers listen. It only takes him a couple of minutes to tell us what had happened, but I know that it’s a couple minutes too long. “Listen, little dude, you’re going to stay here and I’m going to go with Grandpa so that I can get your sister and we can go home,” I tell him. I stand and carry him over to my truck. Asher takes him from me, talking gently to him as I head over to my dad.

“Look, I shouldn’t even let you come with us, but I know that I won’t be able to stop you, and Ashlyn is going to need you when we get her out of there.” My jaw clenches, but I hold my tongue. Right now, he isn’t my dad, he is a cop, and I know the difference. “We’re going to head across the field the same way Jax came. When we get there, I need you to stay out of sight with Nico until I give you the go-ahead.”

“Got it,” I tell him. All of us head across the cornfield. Once we reach the other side, there is an old, rundown, two-story white house; the place looks like it’s ready to fall apart, but parked outside is Jules’s old car, along with a small pickup. My dad waves me back and tells me to stay put as he and three other officers head towards the house. I fight myself, wanting to go in and get my girl, but I know my dad will handle it. Two of the officers head around each side of the house. My dad and the other policeman walk up the front porch. My dad knocks with his gun trained on the door. He yells out it’s the police, and when the door is opened, a man with a gun holstered on his shoulder answers the door. The guy nods to my dad, they talk for a second, and the guy pulls a shiny badge out from under his shirt. They talk a second more, and my dad waves Nico and me in. When I get to the porch, the guy looks me over, introduces himself as Jim, then heads inside. The house is a mess, the living room right off the front entrance has the ceiling falling in. We walk down a narrow hall into what used to be a kitchen. That’s where I see Jules handcuffed and sitting in a chair, along with another man. “Where the f**k is my daughter?” I ask, and her eyes widen in surprise.