Chapter Twenty

CHAPTER TWENTY

Sabrina

I should have known not to trust that things were all different and my kid was never going to step out of line again.

I think I'd just been operating under the assumption that she was scared enough from her near-death encounter to calm her down for a while.

I mean, I guess kids always thought they were invincible. I sure as hell did at her age. Going seedy places with sketchy guys. Doing shit that would turn a decent mother's hair white.

But, damnit, this wasn't kids being kids shit.

This was ‘there's guys with guns after you' shit.

"Okay, let's focus," Callow said as I rushed out of my room, frantically calling Daphne even though it kept going right to voicemail.

"I can't believe she did this," I said, raking a hand through my hair. "I mean, I can. But damnit ."

"How about you call Britney?" Callow suggested, still the voice of reason. "Ask her if Allie has any idea what Daph is up to."

"Okay. Yeah. Right," I said, shaking my head at myself for not thinking of that first.

It was the crack of dawn, so the phone rang for a while before Sam's voice answered, still half asleep.

"Sabrina, everything okay?"

"Daphne snuck out," I said, cutting right to the chase. "And it's… morning. I'm worried. Can you ask Allie if she has any idea what Daph is up to?"

"Yeah, of course. Give me two minutes to get her up and I'll call you right back."

Allie slept like the dead. It would likely take five just to get her conscious and another few to get her even halfway awake enough to think straight.

"Thank you," I said, hanging up and turning to Callow. "She's calling back. I don't like this," I said, glancing out the balcony doors, seeing the sun getting higher and higher, gold and yellow streaking across the sky. "She's never stayed out all night. And we have plans today," I added. "She was excited about the bookstore."

"I know. I know," Callow said, reaching to put a hand at the small of my back, offering more, but not forcing contact.

I curled into him.

"We're gonna find her," Callow assured me, his lips touching my hair as his hand slid comfortingly up and down my spine.

"I know," I agreed, thankful down to my bones that I hadn't woken up alone to deal with this with no support. I would be driving the streets screaming Daphne's name by now.

"It has to be that Tammy girl," Callow said. "I'm gonna put some feelers out to see if any of the club kids or anyone know anything about her. Barring that, I also know a hacker who can get her information off of her… adult site. Do you happen to know her name on there?"

"Unfortunately, yes," I said. "Tease Me Tammy is the name I saw, if it hasn't changed," I told him as I pulled away so his hands were free to text.

"Okay. I'm on it. And I'm gonna have the guys file out and look around town," he told me.

"Thank you," I said, blinking back the tears that formed as I realized I wasn't alone, that I had this huge organization that was going to help me figure this out and find my daughter.

It was going to be okay.

It had to be.

"Sam?" I answered on the first ring, hearing the frantic spike to my voice.

"Allie has no idea," Sam said, breaking the news swiftly. "The last she talked to her, Daphne was still talking about the book she just finished and how she was excited to go get the next in the series. I'm so sorry. Do you need us to come over?"

"Not yet," I said. "I have, ah, Callow here and he's… reaching out to his friends to start going around looking for her. And tracking down that Tammy girl. She has to have left with her."

"Okay. Good. I'm glad you have someone there. But please let us know if we can do anything."

"I will. I promise. Thanks. And thank Allie for me," I said before hanging up.

"Yeah. Thanks, Junior," Callow was saying as I hung up my phone and tried to call Daphne again.

"Junior?" I asked when he looked at me.

"The hacker. He should at least have an address for Tammy in just a couple minutes. He's the best around. And the club guys are mobilizing. Within twenty minutes, there should be thirty-plus men and all their wives and adult children on the roads looking for her. For those who haven't met her, can you send me a picture?" he asked.

"Of course," I agreed, hands shaky as I scrolled through my pictures to send him two—one head-on, the other profile—and watching him blast that out to everyone.

"And in their travels, they will run into all our allies around here. Within an hour, there will be like a hundred eyes on the roads around here."

"Should we call the police?" I asked.

"That's completely up to you."

"What do you think, though?"

"I think she's a sixteen-year-old who should have been home hours ago. They could issue an alert that would have every eye in this town looking for her."

"But what about the… club thing?"

"That doesn't have to be a factor. You can mention she was attacked in your home recently. But you don't have to say it's connected to the club. It's up to you."

"Do you know someone at the police station I can talk to?"

"Of course," Callow agreed.

"But… what if she comes home?" I asked, looking back to the ladder.

"I can have someone come wait here," he said, already reaching for his phone. "Sully? Since Daph knows him?"

"Okay," I agreed. "I'm just going to go get shoes," I said, walking on numb legs back to the bedroom.

My whole system felt foreign right then. Like I wasn't quite inside of my body, just watching myself go through the process of leaving my apartment… to go report my child missing.

I was pretty sure my voice was robotic the whole time I was talking to the police, giving them as much information as I had.

"She has a pink cast on her arm," Callow was present enough to remind me.

"Right. Yeah. The cast," I said, nodding at the detective taking down my information.

I couldn't say how long we were at the police station, but I was thankful to be back in my car afterward, even if we seemed no closer to getting any information about the whereabouts of my kid.

"We could—it's Junior," he cut himself off when his phone started ringing. "Give me some good news, Junior," Callow demanded as he answered. "Okay. Alright. Yeah, thanks," he said. "Keep me updated if you come across anything," he said even as he reversed out of the parking spot fast enough for my hands to shoot out, despite having my seatbelt on.

"Did he find her?"

"He found Tammy's address," Callow clarified. "Let's hope Daph just went to hang out and the two of them passed out and lost track of time," he said, but he had a lead foot the whole ride out of Navesink Bank to the apartment building that Tammy called home.

It was a decent enough place that didn't immediately set me on edge as we drove through the never-ending parking lot, trying to find the right number amongst all the identical buildings.

By the time we made it to Tammy's door, it was a reasonable enough hour in the morning. But the way I slammed my fist into her door wasn't reasonable for any hour of the day. I half expected her neighbors to call the cops before, finally, the door slid open.

And there was Tammy.

A sleep mask was pushed up on her head, making her hair puff up at the top. She stared at us with bloodshot eyes for a long second before she seemed to place us.

"Hey, handsome," she said, laying it on thick as her gaze slid over Callow.

I wasn't sure what pissed me off more. That she had my underage daughter out all night, or that she was eye-banging my man.

"Where is Daphne?" I demanded as I stepped in front of Callow.

"Daphne?"

"Yeah. Black hair, hazel eyes, pink cast on her arm. Where the fuck is my daughter? Daphne?" I yelled, shouldering past Tammy and rushing into her apartment.

I ignored all of the many video cameras set up just about everywhere—facing the living room couch, in the kitchen, facing the bed in Tammy's surprisingly neat bedroom, and, yes, even in the bathroom—as I stormed through the space trying to find my daughter.

"She's not here," Tammy said, following me into her spare bedroom that was, essentially, a big closet for all of her clothes.

"Don't fucking lie to me," I snarled, turning on her so fast that she went back a step.

"She was ," Tammy said, holding up her hands. "But she's not now."

"When was she here?"

"Last night for a few hours. She helped me dye my hair," she said, gesturing toward it.

"Where is she now then?"

"Home? I dropped her off outside the building at, like, I don't know… four, four-thirty?"

My gaze shot in Callow's direction, panic gripping me.

"You're sure?" Callow asked.

"Yes. She got out. Said she had to get some sleep because you guys were taking her to a bookstore today," she said with an eye roll that said she didn't get it, but was clearly fond of my kid. Which earned her points. But still. She was the adult in this situation. She should not have been the reason my underaged child snuck out all night.

"Did you see her go into the building?"

"No. She said she was gonna go around and go up the ladder. Because you guys have an alarm on the door or something. Dunno how she was gonna get up a ladder with a cast, but that's where she went. Around the back of my car, then disappeared into the dark."

Somewhere between the lot where Tammy had parked and our back balcony, Daphne had disappeared.

My mind raced with a million horrible scenarios that had me letting out this strange, choked sob.

"Hey, we're going to find her," Callow said, coming toward me.

"She's, like, really missing?"

"Yeah, she's really missing," Callow said, wrapping an arm around me and leading me toward the door. "So if you see her, or you know anywhere she might be, you call me," he said, grabbing one of her eyeliners and writing his number. On the wall. Before half-carrying me out of the building.

"She was almost home, Callow," I said, sniffling hard.

"I know," he said, but his voice had gotten tight.

With one hand, he was frantically texting something out to his biker brothers as he led me back to the car.

We drove back toward my apartment building. But Callow said nothing to me as he moved out of the car to go talk to several of the bikers who were waiting.

I didn't even try to roll down the window to hear what they were saying. But the second I saw one of the bikers hold out something to Callow, I knew my worst fears were confirmed.

Because that was Daphne's phone.

Someone had found her phone.

She was gone.

Taken.

I might never see her again.

But then, suddenly, someone was putting a phone to their ear. And everyone was scattering. Including Callow, who was running toward me.

"What is it?" I asked as soon as he had the driver's door opened.

"Someone has a lead on the fucks who broke into your place," he said, jumping in and throwing the car into reverse and pulling out behind his biker brothers.

"Where are we going?"

"The clubhouse," he told me, reaching over to quickly give my thigh a squeeze. "This is good, babe," he assured me.

"Who has new information?" I asked, watching his profile when he ran a yellow as it turned red to a chorus of horns.

I hated reckless driving. I always thought of how Daphne was going to be behind a wheel alone soon with those lunatics and without the years of experience that would make her reaction time faster.

But just this once, I really appreciated Callow's haste. Knowing it was because he was just as worried about Daphne as I was.

"Ha," he said, jaw clicking. "You know Fallon?"

"Yeah."

"His wife used to run a rival club in town before the two of them hooked up."

"Okay."

"But when shit went down, her old man ousted her from the club she was in control of. And put someone else in charge. Her brother. Rider," he said as we flew into the Henchmen parking lot.

Callow barely remembered to turn off the engine before rushing out.

I was right at his heels.

"Rider is here," he said, rushing through the door someone was holding open for us.

I only recognized two faces in the club right then aside from Callow.

Fallon, the president.

And Brooks, the next guy in charge.

Beside Fallon was a gorgeous blonde with her blue eyes pinning someone standing several feet away.

I followed her gaze, finding an attractive man standing there who looked similar enough to the woman, Danny, that I figured they were related only by one parent. Their father, I guessed, given the biker club thing.

They had the same blue eyes, but where Danny's hair was lighter blonde, the man, Rider, had hair that flirted that line between blonde and brown.

He was dressed casually in jeans and a leather jacket that had a big vulture on the back. On his chest was the same little patch that Callow and his brothers wore. A one-percenter badge.

"What's going on?" Callow asked, making everyone's gaze slide to him. "You know these fucks?" he asked, pinning Rider with an intense gaze.

"I do. Somewhat," Rider said, reaching into his jacket to produce a small, worn paperback book, opening it, and producing a folded piece of paper that he passed toward Callow.

Callow took it, unfolded it, and revealed what seemed to be a screenshot from a security camera. It was a little grainy and a bad angle, but there was no mistaking the resemblance to the guy with the bad symmetry and strong nose as well as the one with the dragon tattoo on his neck.

A growling sound moved through Callow, and it was my turn to reach out, placing a hand on his before he crinkled the paper to oblivion.

His hands relaxed as he passed the paper over to Fallon.

"Who is it?" Danny asked, looking at her half-brother.

"Two fucking idiots," Rider said. "They came to the club a few weeks ago wanting to prospect."

"And?" Fallon asked, passing the paper to Brooks.

"And they were, as I said, fucking idiots. But more than that, I had one of my men run their names. The one with the jacked up dragon tattoo? He had three separate sexual assault charges. None of ‘em made it to trial. But I don't want that shit in my club. Sent the two of them away."

"Why would they be coming for my club?" Fallon asked.

"Fuck if I know. Best guess? They think they might get in my good graces by taking you fucks out," Rider said, but there was a small smile tugging at his lips as he said ‘you fucks.'

"Do you have more information on them? Address? Anything?"

Rider, jerked his head toward someone else I'd missed before.

He was a big guy with dark hair and a matching, full, kind of scruffy beard and almost off-putting light blue eyes.

"Dutch?" Rider asked.

"Overheard ‘em talking before Rider sat down to boot their asses," Dutch said. "Was talking about that old billiards place over by the amusement park," he said, making some of the men nod. "Said their uncle owned it. But, way I hear it, that place has been closed for a few months now."

"Empty large space like that on a street with not much else going on? Good place to take someone," Rider said.

Before I could even fully process what he was saying, that he thought those bastards took my little girl to an empty billiards place to… do God-knew-what with her, Callow was turning and storming out of the building.

When I saw several of the other men rushing out behind him, I ran too.

Only to find my wrist snagged in a tight hold.

"Let go," I snarled at who turned out to be Danny. "I have to go get my baby."

"I know," she said, giving me a look that I think only a fellow mother could. A look that said she knew exactly what I was feeling and thinking. "But we have to give the men a couple minute head start," she said, tone heavy with meaning.

It took a second to understand what she meant.

That this situation was, more than likely, going to be violent. And they wouldn't want me in the crossfire.

"Come on," she said, her hand still holding my wrist, but more loosely, as she led me out of the front door. "Thanks, Rider," she called over her shoulder to her brother before leading me over toward the only remaining SUV in the lot. Mine was long gone. With Callow. Who went to get my baby back.

"Trust me," Danny said as she pulled out of the lot and turned onto the main drag, "if some shit is going down with someone's woman or kids, these are the men you want handling it."

Having no choice, I had to believe her.

It wasn't until we were pulling down the street that I realized Danny had taken me the longest way possible to get to this area of town.

The street was lined in bikes and a few SUVs.

There were several of the men standing around.

I didn't stop to think.

I threw open my door before the car even stopped.

Then I was running.

"Wait," someone called, arms going up.

I felt another set of hands trying to grab me from behind.

But then the door at the side of the building was opening.

And Callow was walking out.

With Daphne.

Her eyes were wild.

Until she spotted me.

"Mom!" she cried, a little girl sound that had my heart shattering as she ran to me, knocking me back into who was behind me with the force of her hug.

I glanced past her, seeing Callow watching us.

Thank you, I mouthed, seeing the blood on his hands, knowing what he'd had to do to get me my baby back.

And falling even more in love with him than I'd already been.

Callow made his way toward us, wrapping an arm around my shoulders, pulling both me and Daphne closer.

"Turns out your girl just barely needed rescuing," he said, making Daphne pull back. Tears were streaming down her face, but she shot him a watery smile. "I think I owe you some extra books for that, yeah?"