Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 103918 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 520(@200wpm)___ 416(@250wpm)___ 346(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103918 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 520(@200wpm)___ 416(@250wpm)___ 346(@300wpm)
But, of course, I was so very wrong.
"He found Serena's parents, Gideon."
I stared at him in disbelief. Hope flared to life in my chest as my sluggish brain processed what he was telling me. "You found them? You found Emma?"
The relief was instantaneous and swept through my entire body. Although I'd known Emma was safe with her grandparents, not knowing where she was had still taken its toll. After hearing about the god-awful things that Lex's nephew had been through, I'd started to imagine something like that happening to my daughter and I’d been oddly grateful to Serena's parents. Thankfully, I'd only had to spend one night imagining Emma enduring what young Gio had. I couldn't even fathom how Gio's father had survived it.
"Thank you!" I breathed as I wrapped my arms around Lex. I'd intended to ask him if he could use his computer skills to help me try and find Emma, but I'd wanted to wait till the thing with Gio had settled down a bit more.
Lex returned my embrace, but his silence began triggering alarm bells. Why wasn't he celebrating with me?
"Gideon—"
"No," I instantly said as I began shaking my head. "No!" I repeated as the worst kinds of thoughts began assaulting my brain one by one.
"Gideon!" Lex shouted and then he was grabbing my hands and squeezing them hard. "She's alive! Emma is alive and she's okay!"
I was afraid to believe him and I was afraid not to. I felt like I was on the worst kind of roller coaster ride imaginable. One that went up and down but had no end in sight and no way to get off. "Lex," I choked out because I just couldn't take it anymore.
"She's alive, Gideon. But she's not with her grandparents anymore."
"What are you talking about?" I asked.
"From what King can tell, Serena's parents took her to South America for a while. Apparently, Serena's mother was from Argentina."
"Yes, she was. I had PIs searching for them down there, but they never found anything."
"They didn't stay down there long. They moved back to the US about a year ago. King had a guy go down there—they're in Louisiana. King's guy sat on them for several days, but he never saw Emma with them. King gave him the go-ahead to break into the house when Serena's parents were gone for the day. There was no sign of Emma except for some boxes in the basement with her name on them. There was no room set up for her."
"Where is she, Lex?" I whispered. He’d said she was okay and I believed him, but I was back on that fucking roller coaster when all I wanted to do was get off and see my kid.
"She’s still in Argentina, baby. I swear to you, she's okay. It seems that, for whatever reason, Serena's parents kicked Emma out or she left on her own. She's staying with a friend whose parents seem to have taken Emma in. King's already got a guy who lives down there keeping an eye on her."
"They left her there?" I said in disbelief as I rose on shaky legs.
"We won't know why they left her until you talk to her, but King said it looks like Emma is in a relationship with another girl. Not the friend she’s staying with, but another classmate."
There was a certain level of hesitation in Lex's voice, like he was unsure of what my reaction would be to that particular piece of information. Admittedly, I was on sensory overload as one truth after another hit me, but that one didn't bother me in the least.
"I need to go get her," I said. "Will you come with me?"
The smile that drifted across Lex's face was small and soft. "Try and stop me," he said. He pulled me down for a quick kiss and then he said, "Let's go bring your little girl home."
And just like that, I knew that no matter what happened, no matter what obstacles stood in our way, that was exactly what we'd do.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Lex
"I don't see her," Gideon said nervously as he clung to my hand. "What if I don't recognize her?"
"You will," I said as I gave his hand a squeeze.
I could feel Gideon fidgeting next to me, but there was little I could do other than give him something to hold on to as he waited to see how this moment in his life would play out. In actuality, it was a moment in our lives. Because from here on out, everything that happened to one of us happened to both of us. It'd taken meeting Gideon to realize that’s what I'd been looking for from the moment I'd learned I hadn't come with the instant family that so many other kids did. I'd been fortunate enough to have brothers who’d taught me what it meant to love and be loved, but it was Gideon who'd shown me I was worthy of having those dreams of my own husband and kids.