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The call fell before I could answer it. Then it started again. When I saw my mother’s name on the caller, something constricted inside of me. She’d called before, of course, but something felt odd about her calling me in the middle of the day if she wasn’t alone babysitting Sofia. I answered the call, feeling dread rise inside my chest.
“Ma?”
“Mi niño! Oh, Díos! Mi niño, we tried,” she sobbed. “They took her. They took her, and Lisa hasn’t woken up. Oh, my God.”
“Mom! I can’t understand what you’re saying. What happened?” I got out of the car, trying to listen to her better.
Hearingmy desperate tone, Mia jumped out as well. Ben was leaving the building, and when he noticed our tense mood, he frowned and walked toward us.
“They hurt her; I’m still trying to wake her up.”
“Who is hurt?” My insides froze. “And who are they?”
She took in a shaky breath, trying to calm her crying. “Andrea came here with a man. They barged into the house and took Sofia with them. We tried to fight them off, but they hurt us, and the man knocked Lisa out. I’m so sorry, mi niño.”
Bile rose from my stomach, and I had to fight back the urge to vomit. I turned to my friends, unsure if my mother was still talking or the call was still connected. “Lisa is unconscious. And Andrea took Sofia away.”
They froze for a second before turning into rescuing mode. Something I was having a hard time doing.
“Let’s go,” Ben urged.
I ambled to my car when I felt Mia’s small hand on my arm. “You’re in no condition to drive.” She pulled me gently, and I followed her to her car. She turned to Ben. “Take Haley to Beans to stay with Izzie. Then call the police. I’ll reach my parents so they can take the kids there, too. I don’t want either of them on their own. I’ll call Aaron as well on the way.”
It took me a while to understand why they wanted the family together and Aaron to intervene. That’s when it dawned on me. That wasn’t just a scorned ex-wife reaching for my baby. The cartel might’ve been involved.
I tuned them out, my mind running a mile a minute, yet not working at all. My worst nightmare, the one I couldn’t even consider, was happening. And I felt out of sorts, already feeling like I was failing my daughter.
“Get out of your head.” Mia snapped me out of my spiral. “Take deep breaths. We need you sharp for this. We’ll fix whatever happened, but we need you with us.”
She sped up to my place, I wasn’t even sure if she’d called Aaron or not, I couldn’t listen to anything around me. As soon as we arrived, I jumped out of the car before she could turn the engine off. I marched inside, and my chest constricted. There was shattered glass on the floor, the furniture was askew, and there were even drops of blood scattered around the living room. I was already having trouble breathing, and seeing my mom and Lisa hurt didn’t help. Thankfully, Lisa had regained her consciousness.
On autopilot, I crouched in front of them, assuring myself they were fine. Ma was crying and apologizing, but Lisa seemed catatonic. Tears ran down her face, yet she didn’t seem to notice what was happening around her.
“Nobody touches anything unless you’re gloved up and work directly with the investigation,” Mia instructed the officers already on-site. Only two of them seemed to be from Holy Water, making me wonder how far Aaron’s reach was.
“What happened?” I managed to ask through the growing balloon in my throat.
As my mother reported what went down, I felt my unease grow along with my anger. I stood up, pacing the room and gripping my hair, welcoming the pain in my scalp.
Mia pulled her phone from her pocket and showed them both a picture. “Was this the man?”
My mom shivered and nodded in agreement, Lisa had yet to say a word. I felt Mia tense, so I looked at the picture she was showing them. I felt a punch in my gut when I saw Matias portrayed on her phone. He had my daughter. That son of a bitch had taken my baby from me and hurt my mom and woman, all with my ex-wife’s help.
To say I was feeling murderous was an understatement. I wanted to destroy them both and fill them with pain.
Mia was once again on the phone. “Aaron, it’s confirmed. Matias and Andrea are the ones behind it. Issue an APB for them.” She paused to listen. “Wait a bit, I’ll ask for the model.” She crunched in front of the women and asked softly, yet with urgency, “Did you see the car they were driving?”
My mom shook her head, crunching her face in regret. Lisa was still lost in her world. Ma took Lisa’s hands and tried to call her, with no response. Mia snapped her fingers in front of my woman to pull her from her trance.
Lisa seemed startled to see us and didn’t seem to hear what Mia was saying. I framed her face with my hands so she’d look at me. When she noticed me in front of her, she started sobbing, her tears showcasing the bruise on her face even more, which only served to increase my rage.
“Lissie? We need that information.” Controlling my ire was a struggle, but I needed to save it for the right people. “Did you see the model of the car?”
She whispered what she remembered, and Mia informed Aaron, already strategizing our next steps with him. More law enforcement arrived, and I recognized some of them from my time at the DEA, although I was in no condition to interact.
Mia gave some final instructions to the uniformed men and then squeezed Ma’s and Lisa’s hands in reassurance, which were still clasped together. “Let’s go, Danny. We’ll meet Benny at the company and go from there.”
Too overwhelmed to say anything, I just nodded at them and followed Mia out the door.
