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“Yes,” Kat huffed. “The one person willing to answer a phone call apparently.”
My heart thumped behind my ribs. “My grandmother is in the hospital.”
Lleyton twisted to me, the corners of his eyes crinkling as he squinted at me. “Are you sure? How did she pick Amelia up then?”
“She didn’t.”
“What?” Kat snapped. “Of course she did. I called you, she answered, and then she was at my house. She most definitely did not have a broken hip.”
Panic clawed up my veins, and I fought to keep the car straight on the road. “Kat, my grandmother is currently in a hip cast and most definitely did not drive to your house. She doesn’t even drive at all.”
Kat fell silent. “Oh no.”
I couldn’t breathe. “Didn’t Amelia tell you it wasn’t her grandmother?”
“It was so early, she was still asleep! I just bundled her into the woman’s car…”
“I’m calling the police,” Lleyton bit out. “Fuck!”
Kat bawled into the phone, hysterically sobbing down the line. “I’m so sorry! I’m so, so sorry. I didn’t know. I was just in such a rush to get to the airport and I was so angry at Lleyton…”
I hit the ‘end call’ button on Lleyton’s phone, cutting off Kat’s barely coherent babble.
I knew who had my daughter. I just never thought she’d stoop this low.
Terror laced Lleyton’s voice. “I’m calling nine-one-one.”
I shook my head. My phone was still at Zeph’s parents’ place. There was only one person who hated me enough to answer that call, drive over to a stranger’s house, and impersonate my grandmother. “Don’t bother,” I bit out. “Call Zeph instead. Tell him to meet us at his mother’s house. She has my daughter.”
31
ZEPH
Asmall crowd had gathered outside my parents’ house when Kelly and I arrived. They were a group of nosy neighbors, each of them staring wide-eyed as Lyric picked up a stone and threw it through the front window, screaming my mother’s name.
“What on earth is she doing!” Kelly squawked, hand over her mouth in shock at the broken glass all over the driveway.
I wished I’d been anywhere but at her house when Lyric had called, completely frantic and hysterical, accusing my mother of unspeakable, but not terribly surprising, acts. Kelly had insisted on coming with me and had pissed me off the entire way here, babbling excitedly like this was the most exciting thing to happen in her bored-housewife existence.
Tasha, the older woman who had lived next door to my parents since I was a kid, hurried over to my side. “Oh, Father Zepherin. Kelly. Thank goodness you’re here. We’ve called the police.”
I ignored her, running past Lleyton who stood helpless on the grass, watching Lyric scream up at the silent building.
I collided with her as she drew her arm back to hurl another stone.
She struggled against my hold, tears streaming down her face. “No! Let me go! She has my baby!”
“Stop. It’s me.”
She instantly went floppy in my arms, her knees giving way. I caught her, hauling her up into my arms and cradling her.
“Shh. It’s going to be okay. We’ll get her back.”
“What kind of evil is your mother, Zeph? Where is she? They aren’t here! They aren’t here! They’ve taken her somewhere.”
She sobbed into my arms, and I carried her to my car. Lleyton followed, face white with shock.
“Drive,” I barked at him. “Hurry, before the cops get here and arrest her for the damage.”
