Page 73 of Lose to Win: Lost Trilogy: Part 3
“She was literally just here, Puck,” Arlene cries out. “She was just going to use the restroom.”
Devereaux already has his phone to his ear. I know he’s calling Malone to check on the security on the house. I rush back upstairs to grab my laptop, my fingers unable to move fast enough when I enter the password.
I type in the code for the security system here, then click on a different screen, willing the machine to go faster. I hit play when I get to the one I want, but I don’t see anything out of the ordinary. Sweat breaks down my back when I go to the live feed and see Emily sitting on the couch downstairs.
I grab my laptop and run back to the living room. Devereaux’s face is stone cold as he listens to whatever information Malone is giving him. Alison and Arlene look shocked, and Wyatt’s expression is very close to the one his father is wearing.
“You need to see this,” I tell no one in particular. They all cluster around me, even little Ethan, who hops on the back of the couch and assesses the situation. In this moment, he looks so much like Dylan, I am getting the chills.
I press on the live feed, pointing with my finger where it clearly saysliveon the screen.
We look at the same couch we’re all sitting on at the moment. But instead of looking at us on the screen, we are staring at Emily sitting on the same couch, laughing at something that Alison said, both of them gesticulating, then pointing at Arlene.
“What the fuck,” Wyatt echoes my feelings exactly.
“They hacked us,” I conclude.
“Who the fuck are they?” Wyatt growls.
“Ali,” Ethan calls from his perch on the back of the couch. “Unka Wyatt said a bad word. I won’t say it though.”
“I’m proud of you, baby,” she gives him a watery smile, then picks him up and walks away with him.
“Who else is left that we have to kill?” Wyatt explodes as soon as his nephew and wife are out of earshot.
My eyes go straight to Devereaux. We’ve been waiting for this, but we thought we were smarter. We thought we were ready.
“Are they gonna come back for my brother? For Becca and her baby?” Wyatt continues his line of questioning. “I thought Ali and the kids would be safe now that we blew that fucker the hell up.”
“No,” I finally answer. “He’s just coming after me.”
“You?” Wyatt looks shocked. “So he took Emily to…”
“To get to me,” I confirm.
Uncle Kenny is in town.
21
Emily
It is incrediblyeasy for one to kidnap another person if said person just walks out the door and purposely gets into their car.
My stomach had been in knots since the guys left in the middle of the night like that. I tried to sit with Arlene and Alison, get to know them better. But I felt restless and worried sick.
I remained with a smile on my face when the cell phone Puck gave me buzzed in the pocket of my cardigan. I pulled it out and pretended that everything was okay when I saw the pictures texted to me, along with a message.
Unknown: Your father and boyfriend are in this van. I have a military missile pointed right at it. It is programmed to deploy in three minutes. You either walk outside the house before then. Or they die. Your choice
I think it is the smiley face at the end that got me the most. It felt like a slap in the face.
Feeling like I had no choice, I excused myself from the room under the pretense of going to the bathroom, then walked right outside the front door, quiet as a mouse.
“Hmm, I didn’t think you’d come.”
I stare into the eyes of a man I have never met before in my life. He looks like a total psychopath.
“Who are you?” I whisper when the car we’re in rolls down my father’s driveway, slowly and carefully so it wouldn’t attract any unwanted attention.
