Page 33 of Securing His Family

The memory of Reed bleeding in his driveway was burned into her brain. What had he done to Andy? How had he got to him when, like Reed he had been a special forces soldier?

How had Patrick been able to do all this? Had he had some training?

Could she really live with herself if Patrick went into the school and killed more innocent lives?

She had to believe that help would come soon. It went against every mothering instinct in her to put her daughter in danger, but if she had her close, then she could protect her. All they had to do was hang on. Steve and the others would come and save them. She clung to that belief.

Forgive me Charlee for what I’m about to do.

“I hate you for making me do this,” she snapped at Patrick.

“Like I care. Let’s go and remember, one word and there will be more blood on your hands than there already is.”

The walk to the administration building was over far too quickly for Lauren’s liking. She took a deep breath and plastered a smile on her face, hoping that it was convincing.

“Hi Lauren, did you have an appointment?” Sonya, the school’s receptionist smiled up at them as they approached the desk. Her gaze slid to where Patrick stood, her brow furrowing for a second before clearing up.

“Hey Sonya, no I don’t but I need to grab Charlee. I forgot I’d made a dentist appointment for her. The clinic called to remind me. Can you get her for me and I’ll sign her out?” How she managed to keep her voice calm was beyond Lauren. She wanted to think of a way that she could get a secret message to Sonya that nothing was okay with this situation. That she didn’t have to pull Charlee out, but she was doing it under duress. But she couldn’t think of a way without tipping Patrick off that that was what she was doing.

“Okay. Are you with Lauren or do you need something, sir?” Sonya directed her question to Patrick and Lauren tensed waiting to see what he would do.

“No.”

For half a second Lauren had hoped that Patrick would somehow slip. Announce that he was Charlee’s father. But, of course, he didn’t because he would’ve known that Lauren had told the school to be extra vigilant with Charlee’s safety. After all, he’d known Andy was watching the school and had done something to put him out of the picture.

“Okay, then, let me call Charlee.” Sonya looked at Lauren as if seeking her approval for it.

“I’d appreciate it.”

The minutes seemed to drag between Sonya calling Charlee’s class and the moment the little girl appeared, but it wasn’t that long at all. By the time her daughter skipped up to her, her body ached from the strain of keeping herself upright and not collapsing in a heap as the emotions and worry about Reed and Andy hit her now that she had a few seconds to think.

“Hi Mummy, what’s going on? Where’s Reed? Who’s this man?” Of course, her daughter would pepper her with questions. Questions she couldn’t answer because anything she said could cause Patrick to lose his shit and fire his gun.

“I forgot I made you a dentist appointment. Come on, we’re already late.” Lauren placed an arm around her daughter’s shoulder. “Thanks Sonya. See you soon.”

She held Sonya’s gaze for a second and, because she had her back to Patrick, she mouthedhelpand then turned around, hoping and praying that Sonya got the message. Or that when someone from Power Security turned up, Sonya could tell them what happened.

“Bye Lauren. See ya Charlee. Good luck with the…dentist.”

Lauren prayed that Patrick didn’t pick up on Sonya’s slight pause. Prayed that the second they left, Sonya would call the authorities.

Was Patrick aware that the school had security cameras in the office and around the perimeter? He had to be. Or had he done something that would affect their feed? Considering how he always found her and had been following them without their knowledge, she wouldn’t put it past him to do something to ensure everything that happened in the past ten minutes wasn’t recorded.

Charlee must be feeling her tension, or she knew something was going on that she didn’t understand, because her daughter wasn’t chattering like she normally did at school pickup.

God, she couldn’t cope with this. Couldn’t cope with the very thought that because of her, two men could potentially be dead. And she’d knowingly put her daughter in danger even if she’d had no other choice.

She was the worst mother on the planet but she didn’t know what else she could’ve done. No matter what she did, there would be bloodshed.

Somehow she squashed the sob that was threatening to erupt out of her so that it sounded like a half sob, half cry.

“You okay, Mummy?” Charlee asked.

“Yep. I’m fine,” she said dredging up a smile to reassure her daughter.

“In you get,” Patrick announced, not bothering to open the door for her like Reed would’ve done.

Could she make a run for it? Could she drag Charlee away from here and head back toward the school and the safety of their building? Her gaze darted around for potential escape routes.

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