8 years ago
"Everything is still there." My dad's voice was panicked as he paced back and forth in the kitchen. "The Porters said she picked Adam up about eight o'clock last night, but they never came home. I checked the alarm system. No one was in or out of the house after about 7:30."

I pressed my ear to the kitchen door, not supposed to be listening to my parents' conversation. It was in the early hours of the morning, and as far as they knew, I was sound asleep upstairs. Usually I would've been, but I hadn't been able to sleep a single second after Sadie walked out. I kept replaying our conversation, and the hurt and despair in her eyes when she told me she was leaving. I wasn't sure I would ever get that image out of my head. Heavy tears in her eyes and the canyon wide distance between us. I had years of practice reading Sadie, most of the time knowing what was going through her mind before she could even find the words to voice it, but in the moment I needed to most, I couldn't read a damn thing. We were both desperate to understand each other, but neither one of us could grasp what the other was going through.

I missed the first part of the conversation, so I wasn't exactly sure what it tipped my dad off and made him go check on Sadie and Adam. Something had though, and when he got over there and discovered two empty beds, he knew something was wrong.

"You think that cop came after them?" My mom's voice was hushed, fearful tears welling in her eyes.

The cop? What the hell was she talking about? What cop?

My father clenched his jaw. "I honestly don't know. The car isn't there, and there are just a few things missing. Some clothes and pictures off the walls. John's gun safe was open but there was only a small pistol missing. It doesn't seem like there was any struggle, like they left on their own will."

"What about the GPS on their phones?" My mom bit her lip.

Dad shook his head. "It's not reading. Either their phones are dead or someone turned it off. Someone who knew how to work it." My dad rubbed his temples.

I winced. Sadie knew very well how to turn the location off on her phone. She had done it multiple times to try to evade her parents' watchful eye. We all knew that, and the realization set in for both of my parents as I shook my head. I'd promised her I wouldn't tell my parents, but at this point, the point was kind of mute.

"Do you want me to get Brandon? Maybe he knows something." My mom offered.

I took a step backwards so I could get upstairs before they caught me eavesdropping. Instead, I stepped on a squeaky board, alerting them both to my presence.

"Sounds like he's already here." My dad hissed, throwing the door open. "Care to join us?"

I stared at the floor, too ashamed to meet his eyes. He'd be livid when he found out that I had known for the last several hours and not told him.

My mom eyed me both in frustration and sympathy. She could already tell what I had done.

"Do you know where Sadie and Adam are, Brandon?" My dad's eyes burned send to me like daggers.

"She's gone." I said quietly, still refusing to meet his eyes.

"I know that much, Brandon." He snarled. "Where the fuck has she gone?"

"I don't know." I gulped.

My dad rolled his eyes. It had been a long time since I've seen him this angry with me. "You knew she was running, didn't you?"

I didn't answer.

"I swear to God, Brandon. You better tell me where she is right now."

"Steven, calm down." My mom glared at him, before turning to me. "Honey, it's incredibly dangerous for Sadie and Adam out there right now. If you know where she is, you need to tell your father."

"I honestly don't know." I shook my head. "All I know is that she was going to pick Adam up and they were going to go somewhere far away. That was the plan anyways."

My dad let out a heavy sigh, collecting himself. "The plan?"

I nodded. "I swear dad, I didn't know she was leaving until last night."

"And why the hell didn't you tell me right then?"

"She made swear not to." My voice broke with emotion. "She doesn't feel like anyone cares about finding who killed her parents, and when you told her yesterday that you guys were banking off, she took it hard."

He shoved his fingers through his hair. "We're not backing off, Brandon. What I told her was that I needed to let things settle. It's not as simple as she thinks. The person who killed them was a cop and I have to tread lightly. I'm working around the clock to prove it was him but that can't get out. Obviously, I couldn't explain all of that detail to her though."

My eyes widened. A cop had done this? That had to be what my mom was talking about earlier. Part of me was frustrated that he felt like he couldn't tell her. It would've alleviated all of this if he had just been honest, but he was adamant about keeping her out of this. John had always tried to keep her away from it also, and I knew he was only trying to honor that. It wasn't like this was the only thing that had driven her away, but it certainly pushed her over the edge.

"I have to go." He grabbed his keys off the counter. "I have to find them and bring them back."

I hesitated. "Dad, I think you should let them go."

"You think what?" His face twisted in horror.

"She's in a bad place right now, and forcing her to come home would be a big mistake." I used every ounce of courage I could muster to stand up to him. "She needs some time away to find herself."

"To find herself." My dad scoffed. "Brandon, this isn't some kind of fairytale. She doesn't have that kind of luxury when she's in the kind of danger she is."

"Then send someone to watch over her, or do whatever you have to do. But I'm serious, Dad. If you bring her back, she'll never stop trying to run. Just give her some time."

"And what if she's gunned down and murdered while I'm giving her time?" He mocked. "Brandon, I thought you understood things better than this."

"I do understand, dad. And so does Sadie. She knows the danger she's putting herself in by leaving, and I know she'll come to her senses eventually. But for now, I think we just need to let her work this out. John tried to control her and look how well that turned out."

He rubbed his forehead roughly. "I can't believe I'm actually considering this."

My dad was angry but he wasn't beyond reason. He knew I was right.

"You realize if I don't go after her, there is a chance she won't be back?" He said cautiously. "A chance she'll start a whole new life and you won't see her again?"

I swallowed the lump growing in my throat. "I know. But I don't want to be the reason she stays. It's been eating at her for so long, and as long as she's safe, I want it to be her choice to come back."

My dad hesitated, protests floating through his mind. "Okay. If you're sure, I'll send some guys to track her down and just keep an eye on her."

A hint of sympathy tugged at his lips. "I need to get to the office and do some damage control. When I get home, you and I will have a long conversation about you keeping this from me."

———-

"Brandon." I felt someone shaking my shoulder. "Hey Brandon."

I jolted awake, blinking several times at Alex standing in front of me. I hadn't meant to fall asleep, but the last few days were wearing on me. I hadn't slept since Sadie was taken, and even though she was here now, just down the hall in recovery, I wasn't any more relaxed.

She's made it out of surgery but they couldn't give me a definitive answer about whether or not she was stable. It was touch and go, they said, both for Sadie and the baby. I couldn't see her until she was moved out of recovery.

"Sorry I didn't realize I fell asleep." I said, straightening up in the waiting room chair.

"You should go home. It'll be a few hours before you can see her and you look exhausted. Maybe get a shower and an hour or two of sleep?"

I shook my head staunchly. "I'm not going anywhere."

"You know you're going to be no use to her if you run yourself raged. She'd want you to take care of yourself." Alex preached, his hand on my shoulder. He was trying his best to help, he just didn't know how.

I ignored him, not even entertaining the thought of leaving this place. As long as it was home to Sadie, it would be home to me.

My dream had shaken me a little bit, the same feelings I had the first time I thought I lost her were resurfacing.

I can still so vividly hear my dad making sure I realized what I was asking. At nineteen, I could convince myself that I was okay with the chance of her not coming back, but having lived the last eight years without her, I knew I wanted no part of that.

"Did you get Herrera and Dante back to the house?" I asked, blocking out my fear and uncertainty with the one thing I could control— work. They had caught Herrera trying to escape out the back, and thank God I had been occupied.

Alex gave me a patronizing look. "Do you think you could focus on your wife and child for a few days and leave the business shit to me?"

I didn't answer. If I didn't have something to focus on, I'd go crazy playing this fucking waiting game.

He sighed, slinking down into the chair next to me. "They've been locked up at the estate, and everyone is on strict orders not to touch either of them until you get back."

"Good." I nodded, rubbing at my eyes. They were burning with exhaustion.

"I'm serious man." Alex tried again. "You need rest."

"I need to see Sadie." I gritted my teeth. "I'm not leaving and I don't want to talk about it anymore."

"Understood, but if you're going to be so damn stubborn, I'm staying too."

"Fine by me." I shrugged.

We sat in the waiting room for several more hours, and I was growing more irritable and antsy by the second. Every time a doctor would come out, I'd jump up and barrage them with a million questions about Sadie. No one could tell me anything because none of them were her doctor. Alex would try to take my mind off of it every little while but I rebuked him with short answers and silence.

Finally, Dr. Bennett emerged and his face fell when he saw us.

I stood up abruptly. "Dr. Bennett."

"Brandon." He gave me a tight smile. "Let's go talk."

His demeanor was worrying me, but I followed him around the corner.

"Sadie has been moved to an ICU room." He started speaking as soon as we sat down. "She's still unresponsive but we're in a waiting game right now. I need to see how she responds to the procedure we did today before doing anything else. I want to give her body some time to naturally recover and try to heal itself."

I nodded, biting on my lip. Was that good news or bad news? "So she'll be okay?"

Dr. Bennett caused. "I can't say that for sure right now. She had quite a bit of internal damage and we're just going to take it hour by hour at this point. But when we are done here, I can have a nurse show you up to her room and you can at least sit with her."

"Okay." I said. "And the baby."

Dr. Bennett refused to meet my eyes. "Brandon, I'm going to be honest with you here. The chances of a fetus surviving this kind of thing are very slim."

I felt like I had been punched in the gut. "But still possible, right?"

"It's possible. And right now, the baby is fighting. But even if Sadie makes a full recovery, the next few months are going to be extremely tough on her. The trauma and stress alone could cause her to miscarry."

I heard his warning, but the only thing I could focus on was that right now both Sadie and our baby were alive. It was all that mattered to me. Like he said, we could take this hour by hour, but right now, things were okay.

"I just want you to be aware of all of the possibilities. I'll know more tomorrow once I see how Sadie responded to the surgery, but we're fighting an uphill battle here."

"I understand Dr. Bennett. I appreciate everything you're doing." I nodded, eager to get up to see Sadie.

"There is one more thing." He fidgeted with the end of his coat. "If something were to happen, and we needed to perform life-saving measures on Sadie, the baby wouldn't make it. I need you to sign this giving your consent that we can work on Sadie, knowing the harm it can cause to the baby." Dr. Bennett picked up on my discomfort. " this is never an easy thing to have to ask someone to do, but especially considering she's so early in pregnancy, her life has to be our priority."

I nodded, taking the pen from him and shaking hands. The very idea of this made me sick, but I knew he was right. I wanted them to do everything in their power to save my wife.

I signed my name on the dotted line of his paper and Dr. Bennett nodded. "You're welcome to go sit with her now, but only one person can be back there at a time. And visiting hours are over at eight tonight."

"There's no way in hell I'm leaving." I glared, appalled he would even suggest that.

He let out a heavy sigh. "Brandon, this is a state hospital. You don't run things here. Don't cause problems with my staff or I will have to call security."

"Security?" I scoffed. "With all due respect Dr. Bennett, the last time I left my wife at your hospital she was kidnapped and is on her deathbed. I will be staying in the room with her, and if anybody has a problem with that, they can direct that to my lawyer who would be more than happy to slap a lawsuit on this place."

Dr. Bennett set his jaw. "When you get upstairs, talk to the charge nurse. She'll get you some blankets for the couch in Sadie's room. I'll be by tomorrow, but you have my cell if anything changes."

"Thank you." I shook his hand and headed upstairs.