Chapter 12 - GEMMA
Chadworth didn’t remember the drive.
Only fragments.
Marcus yelling into the phone.
Police lights.
Lorelai sobbing in the back seat.
Rosamund calling Gemma’s school.
The answer was always the same.
Gemma had been signed out.
By an authorized emergency guardian.
Sabina Voss.
The school’s system had been updated two weeks earlier.
Chadworth nearly threw the phone through the window.
“How?”
Marcus already knew.
“Rachel.”
His assistant.
She had changed the emergency contact list.
Chadworth called her.
No answer.
Police went to her apartment.
Empty.
Nina issued alerts immediately.
Airports.
Train stations.
Road checkpoints.
Chadworth stood in the mansion’s foyer looking at Gemma’s tiny pink backpack sitting beside the stairs.
She had left it that morning.
Rosamund picked it up.
Inside was a drawing.
Four stick figures.
Dad.
Lorelai.
Gemma.
Rosamund.
No Sabina.
At the bottom, Gemma had written:
MY SAFE PEOPLE.
Chadworth couldn’t look at it.
Marcus took his arm.
“We’ll find her.”
“How?”
“We think.”
“I’ve spent four years thinking. I need my daughter.”
Lorelai suddenly spoke.
“The rabbit.”
Everyone turned.
“What?”
“Gemma’s bunny.”
Rosamund looked around.
“It’s gone.”
Lorelai’s eyes widened.
“She takes it when she’s scared.”
Marcus understood first.
The stuffed rabbit had once contained the USB.
But after police processed it, he had installed something else.
A small locator chip.
Standard security precaution.
He grabbed his phone.
Signal.
Weak.
Moving north.
Chadworth stared.
“Where?”
“Westchester.”
They moved.
Police coordinated from behind.
Marcus drove like a man who no longer cared about speed limits.
The signal stopped near an abandoned horse property.
Chadworth knew the place.
Elliot’s brother used to own it.
They approached quietly.
One house.
One barn.
No lights.
Marcus held Chadworth back.
“Police first.”
“No.”
“Chad.”
“That’s my daughter.”
“You rush in, you could get her killed.”
Chadworth hated him for being right.
Nina’s tactical team arrived seven minutes later.
The longest seven minutes of his life.
They entered the house.
Empty.
Barn.
Empty.
Then Rosamund’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
“Hello?”
Gemma’s voice whispered:
“Rosie?”
Rosamund nearly collapsed.
“Gemma? Baby, where are you?”
“I don’t know.”
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Is Sabina there?”
Silence.
Then Gemma whispered:
“She says Daddy doesn’t want me anymore.”
Chadworth grabbed the phone.
“Gemma!”
“Daddy?”
“I’m here.”
She started crying.
“Daddy, I’m sorry.”
“You have nothing to be sorry for.”
“She said you picked Lorelai.”
“No.”
“She said you don’t need me.”
“Gemma, listen to me. I am coming for you.”
A sound in the background.
A door.
Then Sabina’s voice.
“Who are you talking to?”
Gemma gasped.
The phone dropped.
Chadworth heard footsteps.
Then Sabina picked it up.
“Chadworth.”
His entire body went cold.
“Where is she?”
“You should have gone to Canada.”
“If you hurt her—”
“You still don’t understand your position.”
“My position is that you kidnapped my child.”
“No. I’m her legal guardian.”
“Those papers are forged.”
“They won’t matter if you’re dead.”
The line went silent.
Then a loud engine started.
Marcus looked at the tracker.
“It’s moving.”
Fast.
May you like
North.
Toward the border.
