Page 54 of Twice in a Lifetime

“No, it’s not,” Tristan insisted. “You did everything right. You came here and you told Linc, and because of that, we’re gonna find her.”

“Are you... are you Tristan?” she asked quietly.

He nodded. “I am. Blythe’s my sister, and we’re going to get her back.”

“You promise?”

“I swear.”

Everything moved at lightning speed then. Tristan had no choice but to call Nona and Trick and tell them what was happening. School would be letting out soon, and I needed someone I could trust to get the kids so I could do everything in my power to make sure I brought their mother home.

Nona assured me she would keep them safe, while Trick insisted on coming into the office to help in any way he could.

Thanks to Merritt’s description, we knew the make and model of the car we suspected took off with Blythe inside. Our tech guy, Tony, got busy hacking into the security cameras all around the parking lot, scrolling through hours of footage for the car.

“Got something,” he called from behind a wall of monitors. Tristan and I ran over, leaning in to watch the screen he pointed to. “I got the car pulling into the parking lot a little after nine this morning. Whoever was inside didn’t get out. They sat there for the next three hours, staking the place out.” He hit a button to speed through the footage, slowing it again when it showed Blythe exit the back of the building.

My heart lurched painfully as I watched the woman I loved on the grainy screen. She wasn’t paying attention to her surroundings as she dug around in her purse for her keys. I decided right then and there that we were going to have a fight about this once I got her home safely. Because I was absolutely going to find her, and she was going to be okay. There was no other acceptable outcome. I’d lived without her for twenty years, and I refused to live another minute of another day without her.

On the screen, a man dressed in dark clothes rushed her from behind. He must have said something because she started to turn, but before she could get a look at him, he pulled a gun from the pocket of his hoodie and slammed the butt of it into her temple.

Bile crawled up my throat as I watched her crumple to the ground, then the asshole who was as good as dead dragged her back to his car, dumping her limp body into the back seat of his piece of shit car, and took off.

“Do we have another angle where we can see his face, or even the plates on his car?”

Tony’s fingers flew over the keyboard in a blur, and a minute later we were watching the same footage from a different camera.

“That motherfucker,” I hissed, rage and adrenaline dumping into my blood and making my vision go red.

“You know that guy?” Linc asked from his place behind me.

“That’s Lonnyfuckin’Oswald.”

Tristan’s head whipped around in my direction. “That piece of shit from high school who used to call you Trashbury?”

I nodded as my fingers clenched into fists and my molars ground together. “That’s him.”

“What reason could he possibly have for attacking and abducting Blythe?”

“Pride,” I grunted. “He pulled his shit at The Tap Room a couple months back, and your sister put him in his place.”

Tristan stood tall, slowly pivoting to face me. “Meaning?”

“Meaning, when he wouldn’t take a hint, she insulted him. Then when he started hurling insults my way because she’d bruised his ego, your sister punched him in the throat in front of the entire goddamn bar.”

Tristan raked his hands through his hair in frustration. “Jesus Christ. She’s always been too damn protective of the people she cares about.”

“Well that’s a lecture you can dish out once we find her. Tony, pull up anything and everything you can find on Lonny Oswald. We’re gonna need property records, last known address?—”

My phone buzzed in my pocket as I rattled off instructions, but time slowed to a crawl when I pulled it out and saw the alert on the screen. Despite the hurricane swirling around inside me, my lips pulled into a grin as I clicked on the message and pulled up the map.

“Scratch that. I need a team to go in less than two minutes. I know where they are.”

Tristan shot me a bewildered look. “How?”

I twisted my phone so he could see the screen. “Because your sister just shared her location with me.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

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