Chapter 136
Cathe flinched as if I’d struck her. Fresh tears spilled down her cheeks, and she wrapped her arms around herself defensively. “I… I… I don’t know.”
“Exactly. You weren’t thinking. You always…”
“Aaron,” My mother cut in, looking at me disapprovingly. “Blame won’t bring Jane back.”
She was right. Damn it. But I couldn’t help myself. I didn’t know what else to do.
Cathe sniffled and looked up at me with red eyes. “I was gone for less than five minutes. I swear. I even set timers on my phone to check on her constantly. But when I came back, the door was just open and Jane was gone.”
Before any of us could say anything, my mother’s phone began to ring loudly.
She glanced at the screen and frowned. “Unknown number.” She held the phone up to show me.
“Answer it,” I said. “It could be whoever took Jane.”.
My mother nodded, hit the answer button and put the call on speaker.
“Hello?”
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A female, weathered voice came through. She spoke quickly, sounded agitated as she threw Spanish words at us.
“Jennifer, raised a son who is set on ruining my life!”
Mom frowned. “Who is this?”
“Somos tan irrelevantes para ti que no te acuerdas. Soy Tiffney. (We’re so irrelevant to you that you don’t remember. I am Tiffney.)”
“Yve’s mother?”
“¡Sí! Tengo a tu querida Jane conmigo. Una hija por otra hija. Seguro que sabes lo que eso significa. Si valoras la vida de Jane, te sugiero que hagas lo necesario. (Yes! I have your precious Jane with me. A daughter for a daughter. I’m sure you know what that means. If you treasure Jane’s life, I suggest you do the needful.)”
How w
I didn’t waste another second. I snatched the phone from my mother’s hand. “You dare not lay a hand on Jane.”
“Entonces, ¿te preocupaste tanto por ella cuando arrojaste a mi hija a la cárcel? (So, you care so much about her when you threw my daughter in jail.)”
That made me pause. “Look, I had nothing to do with that. It’s not under my control.”
“Mentiras (Lies!)”
Fen growled inside me. “You listen to me. If you touch even a strand of hair on her head, Yve would be the least of your worries. I would
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destroy you and your entire fucking family!”
“Tienes una hora. Libera a mi hija o empiezo a enviarte fragmentos de Jane. (You have one hour. Get my daughter released, or I start sending you pieces of Jane.)”
The line went dead.
I stood there, staring at the phone, my entire world crashing down around me. Fen was so focused on directing his rage at Tiffney, that we’d failed to pick up on any sound Jane might’ve made in the background.
“I’ll take care of it,” My mother said, already moving to her car.
“What are you talking about? This is not your fight.”
“Yes, it is. You’re my son, Jane is like a daughter to me. I’m not going to let Tiffney hurt her.”
“Mom. Stop for one second.”
She finally stopped moving and turned to face me. “Tiffney was stupid enough to call from her personal phone. You know what that means? They have no idea what they’re doing. I’m sure they have Jane at their house. I’m going to get her.”
“Like hell you are.” I caught her arm. “You’re not going alone.”
“Aaron, listen to me, these people don’t know what they’re doing. I can…”
“No,” I said simply.
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“Aaron, if you go in there like this, and you’ll tear them apart before she can tell us where Jane is.”
She was right, and I hated her for it. But I couldn’t let my mother go.
However during that brief moment of consideration, my mom yanked herself from my grip, jumped into her car and sped off.
I had no idea what we were walking into. And the women in my life seemed determined to find every possible way to stop my heart from beating. One day, I thought grimly, they really would send me to an early grave.
*Aaron*
I didn’t waste another second. I ran to my car, pulled the door open and jumped in.
My hand was already reaching for the gear shift when Cathe stopped
- me.
“Aaron!”
I turned to see her sprinting toward my car. She still looked panicked even as her fist connected with my window in a series of desperate knocks. “Are you leaving too? What happens to us then?”
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