Total pages in book: 157
Estimated words: 155900 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 780(@200wpm)___ 624(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 155900 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 780(@200wpm)___ 624(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
And then there were three college girls who went missing from an off-campus party in Los Angeles, and I looked at my little girl and thought…what if it was her?
What if it was her?
I asked you to watch Maci for a few days while I went to LA. You thought I was meeting with designers for a new clothing line I wanted to bring into the boutique.
But I was hunting. Hunting for any clue. The scenario that had been reported by the media was so close to what we’d been through that I couldn’t help but believe it was related.
That one of the monsters we’d been saved from was back. I don’t know if it was fate or horrible bad luck. But I found him. I found the guy in the same seedy bar in LA.
I found the one guy who I remembered most distinctly.
Our tormenter for those three days. The one they called Tyke.
I immediately went to the police and told them I found the man who’d been responsible. They said they would look into it, but nothing has come of it.
Except I’m being followed. I know I am.
Desperate, I told you I needed you to watch Maci again because I had another work trip to LA, but I went back to Moonlit Ridge and watched Kane from a distance.
“She was here.” Kane’s grating voice drew me from my sister’s words. “Fuck, she was here. She came for my help.”
I couldn’t respond, could only gulp around the sorrow before I continued reading.
I saw him with a little boy. A child I found out was his nephew.
And I think I knew then that he was a good man. But I hadn’t quite discovered what that really meant.
I tried to get up the nerve to talk to him, and I went in and sat at the bar at the club he owned. There was a bartender. Her name was Mallory. She kept watching me strangely, chatting with me a little before she leaned over the bar top and asked if I was in trouble. She said I couldn’t be in a better place if I was.
There was something inside me that twisted with the way she said it, and I knew I was on to something. So, I told her I was. She was hesitant. Swearing me to secrecy. Saying the hope of so many was riding on it.
She told me about Kane’s secret group called Sovereign Sanctum. These men who would help me. It was something they did in the shadows. Behind the scenes. I don’t know all the details yet. I couldn’t find it on the internet. But I think it means that he will help us. That he has the power and the will to do it.
I tried to get up the nerve to go and talk to him right then, but I lost it at the last minute.
I have to go back. Ask him for help before it’s too late. So, I took the bracelet. You know the one. You thought I didn’t know, but I knew you kept it hidden at the bottom of your drawer for all these years.
I don’t know how you got it, but I saw him wearing it that night, and I believe he will know exactly who I am when I show it to him.
I know what it represents to you.
Those horrible three days.
Everything we lost.
Our innocence.
Our belief.
Jana.
But to me, it’s come to mean something else.
I’m sorry. I’ll give it back. I promise. But I need to do this first. I have to face him, demand to know his involvement, beg him for help.
But if something happens to me and I can’t get to him, Emery, I think maybe you can.
I left the letter for you to go to him, and I have faith that once you meet him, you will discover what’s happening and get into this folder. I couldn’t leave this out in the open for someone else to find it.
Understand now why I wrote you that first letter for you to go to him. Why I believe he’s the best thing for Maci.
He’ll take care of her.
I believe he’ll take care of all of us.
Take this folder to him and give him the information. It has Tyke’s address plus pictures of the places in LA and Seattle I believe he is using to smuggle girls. Kane will know what to do with the information.
I believe it. I trust it.
I’m so sorry I did it this way. I wanted to protect you. Make right what had gone so terribly wrong. Bring back your heart and your belief.
I hope you know through it, I would do anything for you. For you and Maci. And for Jana.
I love you forever, my sweet twin. Be strong. Be wise. Be free. Don’t be afraid of love. I can feel it waiting for you. All around you. And no matter what, know I will always, always be with you. No matter where I go.