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Cody giggles his way through the worksheet as he tries to guess how fast things will fall. He amazes me with his understanding of how things work. His assumptions about why each item did better or worse than the others are usually spot on. It doesn’t seem to matter what he’s learning; he picks up on the concepts with ease.
The rest of the class goes by in a flash, as it always does. Spending this time with Cody has been everything to me. We’ve bonded in ways I didn’t think were possible. When I first started dating Katie, I figured I’d have a good relationship with Cody. I knew he was a great kid, and it wouldn’t be any hardship to spend time with him. What I wasn’t prepared for was loving him as if he were my own kid. He means the world to me now, and I don’t know what I would do without him in my life.
“I can’t wait to tell Noah about next week’s lesson. He’s going to be so excited.” Cody bounces as we walk to the front door of the library. “You know he looooooves dinosaurs. Do you think we’ll get to excavate real bones?”
I laugh at his enthusiasm. “I doubt they’ll be real, but it sounds like you’ll get to try your hand at something similar.”
“How will we do that? I don’t even know how Dr. Pulaski comes up with this stuff.”
I glance around the parking lot to make sure no cars are coming while we walk to my truck. The lights flash when I unlock it, and I open the door to help Cody into the back seat.
“What the fuck are you doing with my son?” a voice growls from behind me. Cody whips around, one foot on the step, the other on the ground. I turn, putting my body between Cody’s and Bryce’s. The anger I saw in his eyes in the courtroom has only grown stronger. He looks strung out. His hair is a mess, there are dark circles under his eyes, and his clothes look like he’s been wearing them for days.
“We’re going home, Bryce. What are you doing here?” I do my best to keep my voice calm. Rage is a burning inferno inside my chest. The fucking audacity this guy has to show up where he isn’t wanted.
“He’s my son. Not yours,” he spits. “He should be by my side. She’s not allowed to win this. I win. I’m the winner.”
This guy is fucking delusional. Is he on something? What is his problem? “The only thing that matters right now is Cody. Doing what’s best for him,” I placate. “We’re going to get into my truck and leave before this gets out of hand.” I turn, keeping my eyes on Bryce while reaching for Cody to try and get him into the truck.
The blood drains from my face when Bryce pulls out a silver revolver and points it at me. “You’re not going anywhere. I’m his father. Not you. If he’s leaving, it’ll be with me.”
Cody’s hand grips the back of my shirt. My heart is hammering in my chest. I hold my hands out in a slow-down gesture. “Bryce, you need to put the gun down. We don’t want anyone to get hurt. If you do this, things won’t look good for you.”
The manic laugh coming out of his mouth is almost scarier than the gun. “I’m rich. I can do whatever the fuck I want. Just like I’m going to take the little brat from his bitch of a mother because she doesn’t deserve to have him. She never did, but my parents didn’t want to take care of him, so they paid her off instead.”
If I wasn’t terrified out of my mind, that might’ve made sense to me. Instead, I try to reason with him. “You don’t want to hurt your son. Please, just let us go.”
“No. Hand over the kid.” He levels the gun at me.
Cody’s body is vibrating against my back. I want to hold him, but I’m too scared to move.“I can’t do that, Bryce.”
“If you don’t, I will shoot you.”
“I won’t let you take him,” I repeat. I barely get the words out before there’s an explosion of sound and then pain. The last thing I hear is Cody screaming my name. Then everything goes dark.
CHAPTER 39
Katie
Ireach into the fridge to grab what I need for dinner. The boys aren’t back yet, but that’s not all that unusual. There have been many nights when Cody wants to find as many books as possible on the subject they learned about in class. Nolan normally texts me, if that’s the case, but I haven’t heard from him.
There isn’t much I need to do to prep for spaghetti night. I’m just bored and ready for my guys to be home. I got a call from Dani that has changed everything for our custody case. The court granted her subpoena for Bryce’s phone records, including his texts. I couldn’t believe it. We all knew it was a long shot for the phone records alone.
Dani’s team went through them and found his nail in the coffin. The idiot texted his PI, clearly stating how important it was that the PI find dirt on me for the sake of his campaign. There were bucketloads of other messages that didn’t help, either. It’s the proof we need to show the court that Bryce only wants Cody to make himself look better for his campaign. I’ve been dying to talk to Nolan about it. There wasn’t enough time when he picked up Cody from school, and this was not something I was going to send in a text message.
I scroll through my phone for a while to keep myself occupied. I’m pretending like I’m not worried about them, but my nerves are starting to get the best of me. I’ve sent Nolan a couple of texts that have gone unanswered. It’s been an hour and a half since their class ended. The drive is only fifteen minutes at max. They should’ve been home by now, even if Cody checked out a couple of books.
Pressing on Nolan’s contact, I lift the phone to my ear. With every second he doesn’t answer, my stomach knots further. I end the call after his voicemail picks up. Rationally, I know there are many reasons he wouldn’t be able to answer. Unfortunately for me, my brain has blown past rational and moved on to freaked out.
What am I supposed to do? Do I call Adam to see if he’s seen Nolan? Maybe I call the library instead? My stomach is roiling at this point. I start pacing because my body feels like it’s vibrating.
My phone buzzes in my hand, my shoulders slumping when I see Ellie’s name instead of Nolan’s.
“Hey,” I answer.
“Katie…”
I know immediately something awful has happened. “Where are they? Are they okay?”
