Page 84 of Bobby

Save our girls.

He holds my eyes, and I swear he can read what I’m thinking through them because his widen a second before narrowing, and then he nods. “I’d be honored to. I will bring them home, Wildflower. You can trust in that.”

The ringing of the phone on the table scares me, even though I’d been expecting it.

Bobby grabs my hand and holds it tight as I look at Danny, who nods at me. He told me to only answer it once he nods that he’s ready to track it.

I put it on speaker, and everyone is dead quiet. We even landed the plane about an hour ago on a random airstrip to shut off all the noise so Trevor wouldn’t guess I was up to anything.

Danny assured me that if Trevor’s somehow trying to track my line, like we’re tracking his, it will show that I’m still in New York at the apartment. I don’t ask how he can do that, but that seems to be my new MO: Do not ask questions and just do what they say. They’ve led me this far without issue. I have to trust them to continue to do so.

Especially since my expertise is in looking at data and going over the numbers. Theirs is… this. And other things, I suppose.

“Trevor,” I say when I answer. I try to remain calm, like Danny told me to be. That crying and begging for the girls wouldn’t do much to help us. It could inflate his ego and he could mock me, or it could annoy him and he could hang up before we can get a trace.

“Do you have my money?” He speaks as if it’s a business deal, like we aren’t talking about money in exchange for him not hurting his children.

I look around, and all I see are reassuring faces, nodding at me and letting me know I can do this. “I’ll come to you. I… I quit. I emailed my supervisor last night.”

He doesn’t respond, and the line goes silent. I look at Danny with panic in my eyes, asking without words if he’s hung up. All he does is gesture with his fingers to keep going. Trevor is still on the line. He’s just being silent because he didn’t hear what he wanted to hear.

“Where are you?” I ask.

Still nothing.

“Please, Trevor,” I beg. It’s not an act, but the truth. I’ll get down on my knees if he wants me to. Anything to find out where my girls are. “I did what you asked. I quit. Tell me where you are so I can come get the girls.”

“San Antonio. You have until tonight to get to the airport.” His voice is gruff, and it’s clear he’s mad. He sounds like he’s about to hang up, and I don’t know if we got what we needed. I pick up the phone and hold it close to me.

“Tonight?” I grasp at straws, trying to think of questions I’d be asking if I were still in New York and on my own, not with a man who cares for me enough to risk his family’s safety for my own. “What if there are no flights? It’s the day before Thanksgiving.”

“Find a way. It’s not my problem. Or….” He stops talking, and I take the bait he’s dangled in front of me.

“Or?” A small hope flares inside me. Maybe he’s realized this is all too much. That he shouldn’t be doing this.

“Get me the money. Or I could just leave them at the airport and wait for you. However, they are very cute kids. Who knows what will happen in such a busy airport so close to the border?”

I know nothing about Texas, no clue if San Antonio is as busy as what I see on the news about the airports in New York. All I know is that San Antonio is closer to Mexico than I’m comfortable with right now. It’s not the location, just the idea of the girls being taken out of the country. I know those stats. Children kidnapped and taken away from a family are significantly harder to find if they’re moved internationally than they are within the United States. Not that finding a kidnapped child isn’t hard inside the US as it is. It just gets even worse when they go outside the country.

“No!” I scream and then close my eyes when I hear Trevor’s chuckle come across the line. He said it for my reaction, and I fell for it. “I’ll come get them. Tonight.” I take another breath and look at Bobby, who nods—all the encouragement he can give me—and I keep going. “When I get there, where should I meet you? What’s your address?”

“Get to the airport first, and then I’ll call you.”

“But how will you—” He hangs up before I can finish speaking, and I look at the phone and then the men before me. “He doesn’t even know when I’m flying out. I mean Payton. How will he know when to call?”

“He doesn’t care,” Marco growls through clenched teeth.

“Nor do we. We got a lock on his location: Abilene, Texas. Get on the phones and get me details on this address.” Danny points to something on the screen that half the team can see and then starts barking orders at the other half just as the plane’s engines start back up.

“You did good, baby. Real good.” Bobby pulls me into his arms and hugs me tight before he moves me back to my seat as we take off again.

“Do you think the girls are okay? What if he doesn’t have them?”

“He will,” Liam says as he sits opposite me, and his friend Mason sits beside him. “If not with him, then still close. He needs to use them as leverage to get the money. Trust me, he’ll keep them until he gets the money. They always do.”

The haunted look in Liam’s eyes should frighten me. And it does, but it also makes me sad. He must know from experience to look that cold. And I don’t think he was the threat, but a victim. Or knew someone who was.

“We’ll find them. I promise.” Bobby’s words calm me, but the twisted smile on Mason’s face scares me. He looks far too happy about the possibility of something happening.