“Liz, what are you doing here?” Lincoln asked, opening the front door. Tristan waited in his car for me.

“I know Emma’s supposed to stay the night, but I would really feel more comfortable if she was home with me tonight.”

Lincoln raised an eyebrow as Kathy walked over to greet me. “Liz, what’s going on?”

“Just picking up Emma.” I smiled. “I’ll explain everything later, I promise.”

“But Tanner just stopped by to pick her up. He said you were having car trouble and wanted him to drop her off at your house.”

Oh my God.

I turned to look at Tristan. The worry in my eyes must have been clear as day because he pumped his fist against his mouth as I hurried back over to him. “Tanner has her.”

“Call 911,” he ordered as I hopped into the car and he drove off. I spoke with the cops and they said they were on their way to my house to meet us.

I couldn’t stop shaking. My mind was shutting down on me and I couldn’t see through my tears. My head was growing more and more dizzy as each second passed. I was going to faint. I was going to pass out. I was going to—

“Lizzie,” Tristan said sternly as he gripped my hand in his. “Lizzie! Look at me. Now!” he ordered. I sobbed, unable to stop as I turned his way. “I need you to take a breath for me. Okay? I need you to breathe.”

I inhaled deep.

But I wasn’t certain that an exhale followed.

“Can you think of any place he might have taken her?” a police officer questioned me.

“No. No.” His partner stood by side him, taking notes. The process of everything was slow, and I didn’t understand why they were taking their sweet time when they could’ve been out there searching. “I’m sorry, when are you going to actually start looking for her?”

Tristan handled calling everyone. He made sure everyone was up to date with all the information, and it wasn’t long before Faye, Sam, Kathy, and Lincoln were standing in my living room, and Mama had already hit the road with Mike to be there soon.

“Ma’am, I know you’re worried, but there is a process we have to go through when a child is missing. We’ll need the most updated photos you have of her, and we’ll need to know more details about her—hair color, eye color. Did she have any reason that maybe she ran away from home?”

“Are you kidding me?” I huffed, unable to believe the words that had just left his mouth. “We just found cameras hidden in my house, and then you have the nerve to question if maybe just maybe my daughter ran away instead of being kidnapped? Tanner Chase has my baby, so how about you just do your damn job and find her!” I screamed at them, not meaning to take it out on the officers, but having no one else to blame. I felt so helpless. I did this. This is my fault. My baby could be hurt, or even worse…

“Lizzie, it’s okay. We’ll find her,” Tristan whispered against my ear. “It’s okay.”

But we didn’t find her that night. The search went on and on, and we checked every inch of town, every inch of the wooded forest, but there was nothing to be found. Nothing at all. Mama and Mike showed up, but weren’t exactly sure what to say other than, ‘They will find her.’

I wished the words brought more comfort, but they didn’t. Everyone seemed just as terrified as I was.

I told everyone to go home, but they all refused and fell asleep in the living room. When I finally made it to my bedroom, Tristan was there to hold me. “I’m so sorry, Lizzie.”

“She’s just a baby… Why would he hurt her? She’s my world.”

He held me for a few minutes longer before we heard a tapping on my bedroom window. When we turned to look, there was a Post-It note sitting against it.

So many books in this shed. I wonder what Emma would want to read? –TC

“Oh my God,” I muttered.

“We have to call the cops,” Tristan said, reaching for his phone. I looked out of the window and saw Bubba sitting on the ground.

“No, Tristan. We can’t.” I opened the window and climbed out. “He said just us.”

He followed after me and picked up the stuffed animal that had another Post-It note.

Libraries and sheds are a weird mix. Sheds seem better for cars if you ask me. –TC

“He’s by your shed,” I said to Tristan, who placed his hand in front of me, refusing to let me go first.

“Stay behind me,” he ordered as we walked toward his backyard.

“What a hero you are, Tristan.” Tanner laughed, looking our way. His body looked like a shadow until he stepped closer to the light from the shed. “Taking care of Elizabeth.”

“Tanner, what’s going on?” I asked, confused and terrified.

“Do you hear that?” Tristan whispered to me. I stopped to listen, hearing the sound of a running car inside the shed.

“Emma’s in there, isn’t she?” I asked Tanner.

“You always were smart. That’s why I loved you. Aloof as fuck, but still, smart.”

“You have to let her out, Tanner. The chemicals from the car will hurt her. They could kill her.”

“Why did you choose him?” he asked, leaning against Tristan’s table saw. “I just don’t understand.”

“I didn’t choose Tristan, Tanner. It just happened.”

Tristan edged closer to the shed and Tanner hissed. “No, no, no. Stop right there, Casanova. Or I’ll shoot.” He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a gun. Oh my God.

“What do you want from us?” I cried. My eyes moved to the shed where the car was still running. My baby… “Tanner, please let her out.”

“I just wanted you,” he said, waving the gun around. “From day one, I wanted you. And then Steven took you. I saw you first, and he didn’t care. I won the coin toss, and he still took you away from me. And then he died, and I gave you time to mourn him. To miss him. I was here waiting for you, and out of nowhere, this guy shows up and steals you!” Tanner wiped his hands over his emotion filled eyes. “Why didn’t you pick me, Liz? Why didn’t you come back for me? Why haven’t you ever seen me?”

“Tanner,” I said, walking cautiously toward him. “I do see you.”

He shook his head. “No. You’re just scared. I’m not stupid, Liz. I’m not stupid.”