The past four days have been horrendous. I haven’t spoken to dad since he walked out after learning about my deal with the devil and I’ve hardly seen Noah as he’s been beating the shit out of every single person he knows who could possibly give him the slightest hint as to where my little sister is.
Dad has been in and out of the house, searching all day and then hounding the cops at night because they should be doing more. Noah’s been out, Aiden and Spencer have been out, hell, even Eddison too. Tully and Violet have basically moved into my home and have done their best to keep me alive.
Tully has literally shoved food down my throat and stripped me naked before throwing me in a shower while Violet scurries around the house, trying to keep my hopes up while all I can manage to do is picture Ari screaming out for me, wondering why I couldn’t stop them from taking her. Shit, she’s probably so scared. I wonder if she’s been eating or sleeping? If they’ve even bothered to give her some decent clothes.
My little Ari. How could I let this happen?
I managed to sleep a few hours last night and the second I closed my eyes, I dreamed about my future; what it would be like when I’m trapped under Anton’s thumb. I’ll be a pawn in his disgusting game and the thought makes me sick, but just as I said to dad, I’d happily take the spot by Anton’s side if it meant finding and bringing Ari home safe.
I head down to my room and pull out a shirt and shorts. I look like absolute shit but I can’t find it within me to care.
“Hurry up, Henley,” Tully calls from the living room. “Or I’ll leave without you.”
“Good. Go.”
Tully appears in my doorway two seconds later. “I’m not above coming in there and putting a bitch in her place. Now, hurry the fuck up and start acting like a decent human being before I’m forced to go ape on your ass.”
I roll my eyes and let out a huff. “Fine. Whatever. I’m coming.”
“Good…and would it kill you to put a brush through your hair? You look like shit.”
Geez! Thanks, Tully. Love you too.
I emerge from my room a few moments later and I have to give my crazy best friend a little credit as despite the pain shattering my heart, getting up off the couch and getting myself dressed and presentable goes a long way in making me feel somewhat alive.
I find Tully waiting by the door and she loops her arm through mine as I pass her, making sure I can’t run off and leave her in my dust. She closes the door behind us and I find myself looking down at the pavement as she drags me along beside her.
We walk for about fifteen minutes, each of us lost inside our heads when she turns to me with deep curiosity in her eyes. “How are you feeling?”
I raise a brow. “Really? Out of everything you could have asked me, you ask me that?”
“Stop being such a bitch,” she tells me. “I miss her too, so answer the damn question.”
I let out a sigh. She’s right. Tully has been there for me the whole damn time and I’ve been acting like a bitch since the second Ari was taken. No one around me deserves that kind of bullshit, especially not Tully and Violet. I owe them both a massive apology, but it will have to wait until I get my little sister back because I have a feeling I’ll be snapping at everyone I love a little more and more every day until I have my sister safe in my arms.
“I feel like shit,” I finally tell her, looking back to the pavement. “I can’t help but feel that this is all my fault. I should never have opened the door. I should have looked out the window and kept the fuckers out. I could have called the cops earlier or found one of dad’s guns. There’s so much I could have done to save her but I didn’t. I panicked and because of that, my little sister is gone.”
“No, you didn’t panic. You fought like the badass that you are, but there were two of them and only one of you. Not to mention, you were up against a guy who slammed you into a wall. You did everything you could and I’m sure Ari knows that.”
“You didn’t see her face when they were driving away. I was so close, Tully. I could feel her fingertips against mine but I wasn’t fast enough. I could have thrown myself inside the car and given us another chance.” I let out a sigh. “I let her down.”