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Smiling wide, she giggled, as if her father had said something funny as she set her hand on his forearm. “Oh really? And what is that?”
“Two weeks from Friday. Frederick will be out of town. Meet me with Levi, in your car, at the Starbucks on Tremont and Oak. Ten a.m. Whatever instruction I give you, you mustn’t hesitate. Just do what I ask you to do.”
Dread pooled in her stomach, but she kept up the smile. “I need you safe, too.”
“We’re all going to be. I promise, Sweet Pea, we’re all going to be.”
That morning, she rose with the sun. Frederick had left for a business trip the previous night.
She climbed from bed and went straight into her son’s room. Her heart nearly burst when she saw his sweet face where he sat up inhis crib, smiling at her with his two little teeth he had on his bottom gums, waving his little stuffed puppy in one hand.
She swept him up and into her arms. Love overflowed.
She pressed a kiss to his temple, breathed in the sweet scent of his blond curls as she tried to settle the nerves that ravaged her insides.
They were leaving.
They were getting out of there.
They were going to make it.
I’m going to give you a good life, she silently promised again and again.
She did her best to keep her same daily routine. Feeding Levi. Playing with him on his floor. Acting as if nothing was amiss since she was sure Frederick would be monitoring her on the video.
She didn’t make any deviances. Not until twenty to ten when she slipped on her shoes, grabbed her son, and walked out the door. It wasn’t that odd for her to leave during the day. Frederick wanted to make sure she kept up all appearances.
Doing yoga and lunches and fundraisers. Things the wife of a man like him would do.
Though she was shaking out of control as she buckled Levi into his car seat, her sweet boy babbling and waving his puppy. She kissed his cheeks, his knuckles, tried to calm herself as she climbed into the driver’s seat and made the fifteen-minute drive to meet her father.
She pulled into the parking lot. Immediately, she saw her father’s car on the other side of the lot. She took the spot beside it, her pulse clattering through her veins.
Her father was in the driver’s seat, and her mother was in the front passenger.
Her cousin Lilah got out of a car on the other side of them.
Her stomach was a riot of knots.
Barely able to get her hands to cooperate, she unlatched her door and climbed out of her car just as her father and mother got out of theirs.
Fear and determination pulled through her mother’s expression. “Grab Levi and buckle him into our car.”
Confusion bound her, but she remembered what her father had requested of her. She needed not to question. They didn’t have time. She had to trust that he was going to get them out of this.
She immediately did, unbuckling her son who was giggling and cooing and waving at his grandparents, no idea of what they were about to embark on.
Having no idea the danger that surrounded them.
Panic thundered, but her determination was stronger.
Her mother opened the back door of their car, and she was quick to buckle Levi into the car seat that was already there.
“What’s going on?” she asked while she fumbled with the straps.
“We decided this morning it would be best for you to take Lilah’s car and leave yours here. Lilah is going to come with us, just in case anyone is watching,” her father rushed.
Lilah resembled her. A lot. Tall with long blonde hair. A slow, sinking feeling crept over her when she realized what her father was thinking.
