Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 128083 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 640(@200wpm)___ 512(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128083 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 640(@200wpm)___ 512(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
“Yes. And then the campaign. Hollis was charming at first. He wooed me. And more than that, he made me feel safe. I was alone, Cami. Alone and still afraid. He has so much security around him, and all this money. It allowed me to be as insulated as I wanted as long as I was with him. And I felt this connection to you.” She gave Cami a smile that chilled her slightly. “I can’t even explain it, but at first, I liked it. I liked the idea that I was taking up where you’d left off. I don’t expect you to understand that part. Maybe I don’t even understand it myself. In any case, then that email came in.”
That email. From Cyrus. “You read it first?”
“Yes. I’d had no idea that the baby you had after . . . well . . .”
“The rape. You can say it.”
“Yes, after the rape. The media made it sound like the pregnancy was the result of the crime and so you gave it up for adoption. It never even said if it was a boy or a girl.”
“I kept it quiet.”
“Well, your son obviously figured it out.”
So many puzzle pieces were dropping into place. God, Cyrus had stirred a hornet’s nest when he’d reached out to Hollis—the never-ending fallout that Cami was only beginning to understand, from a crime that happened so long ago. “Were you responsible for my son’s kidnapping?”
“No. I had no idea that happened until I overheard you telling Hollis about it. I didn’t have anything to do with that little boy being kidnapped, and neither did Hollis. There’s only one person it could have been. Once I realized how quickly this might unravel, I knew I had to stop you from getting any more involved. So much had already gone wrong, right from the start. And I knew it was time for me to step in.”
Chapter Fifty-One
Rex had gone by Cami’s apartment, but her car wasn’t there, and no lights appeared from inside. He hadn’t really expected her to be home, especially since she wasn’t answering his calls, but he’d needed to check anyway.
Then he’d called her business, but the shop’s voicemail informed him it had closed at five. It was still possible she was there, outside on the grounds somewhere, involved in a butterfly emergency—if such a type of emergency existed—and had set her phone down while she attended to it. But the fact that he still hadn’t heard back from her bothered him, and he had this increasing feeling that something was off.
He got to the restaurant where they had arranged to meet fifteen minutes early, and for a moment, when he turned the corner onto the block, he thought he saw her standing out front, and the burst of hope almost made him miss a step. But his heart dropped when the woman turned, and it wasn’t her. And he should have known because there was no little boy anywhere in sight.
He paced the street, the seconds ticking by until she was officially five minutes late. And dammit, it was only five minutes, but Cami wouldn’t leave him waiting like this unless something was wrong.
Rex walked toward his truck as people strolled by on the sidewalk, some laughing, most caught up in conversation, oblivious to the alarm bells that were ringing inside him. He tried Cami’s number for the twentieth time and swore when her voicemail picked up again.
She was with Cyrus now . . . and Cyrus had a phone too. He’d almost forgotten.
He scrolled through his phone for Cyrus’s number, holding his breath as it rang. And then swearing when that number went to voicemail too. The sound of his innocent, childish voice made his heart nearly beat out of his chest.
Rex wasn’t used to feeling helpless, not like this, and he realized now why it was discouraged for men in the field to have families, personal involvements that affected decisions and gave choices emotional weight. Made a man wonder if he was overreacting because his heart was involved. But picturing Cami’s and Cyrus’s faces now also made him understand why so many disregarded that discouragement.
Where are you, Cami? And Cyrus?
He considered something, scrolling quickly back through his text messages with Cami and soon finding what he was looking for. She’d sent him her father’s and Gigi’s cell numbers just in case when she’d left Cyrus with them to go and visit Hollis. And if they weren’t together right now, that was the only other place Cyrus would be.
He felt a little awkward calling, especially since he hadn’t met her father or stepmother in person, but he set that aside and dialed Mr. Cortlandt’s number.
The man picked up on the second ring with a casual hello.
“Hello, sir, my name is Rex Lowe. We haven’t met but—”