INAMORATA || 18+

31| hope

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She disappeared 48 hours ago, give or take. It's hard to focus when someone you care about has just vanished.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out what happened. Or at least a working theory. Mick somehow found the house and snatched her up. Could I be wrong? Hell yeah. And I hope I am. But that's what we're going with right now. Based on that information, I've gotta do something I really don't want to do.

"Hello?" It's startling to feel my dad's voice on the other end of the line after not talking to him since leaving Chicago.

"Keith."

"Hudson."

I sigh. "I need your help. For once, it's actually important...really important."

"Wow. The obnoxious, self-absorbed Hudson Whittaker is actually asking for something important. Not a get out of jail free car, something that actually matters. What do you want?"

Well, that fucking sucked. But it doesn't matter right now. I need help finding out more about Mick. "Dad, something bad happened to someone close to me. I need help getting information on the dick who did it."

There's a long pause before he sighs. "Give me a name and I'll text you everything I can find."

"Michael Hale."

He doesn't even bother to say goodbye. The only indication that our conversation is over was the click. I hate the idea of just sitting and waiting for him to text me like a dolt. We filed the police report yesterday. But so far there's nothing. It was so bizarre watching my front yard be turned into a crime scene. But it was devastating when they didn't find a single clue. Today though, I gotta figure out a way to tell her brother that his sister was kidnapped on my front lawn.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Emma asks. She's been making sure I function properly, practically force-feeding me and sneaking melatonin into meals so I don't collapse from exhaustion.

I nod. "That would be nice."

The drive feels awful. It doesn't take that long to get there, but it feels like we're going at a snail's pace. All I can think about is Dove, and how I hope that he's not being too horrible to her.

Who am I kidding?

The man is a monster. Any horrible thing I can imagine, I'm sure he's doing something worse to her. And here I am, concerned about getting chewed out by her brother. I deserve it. I should have been protecting her, should have walked her out to her car or something. But now, she's gone. And I don't know when or how I'll get her back.

Dove's brother is standing on the porch, like he knew we would be here. Maybe he was waiting for me. The news had blasted the fact that she was missing into the homes of people all over the state, and maybe the entire country. He doesn't look happy when he sees me, and I don't blame him. I'd be pissed off too if my sister ran off with some guy she met that summer then disappeared.

I get out of the car and approach him, only for him to punch me. I'm not even going to fight back. I deserve it.

"Woah, woah!" Emma steps between us. "Tensions are high, I get it. I love her just like you two do, but decking Hudson isn't going to get us Dove back home."

"She wouldn't be missing if she wasn't running around with you like an excited school girl," Lucas snaps.

"While your concerns are valid, I promise you that neither of us have anything to do with it," Emma says, trying her best to subdue his anger.

Lucas' gaze turns on her. "Who the hell are you?"

"Emma Romano, I've gotten close to your sister over the past few weeks, close enough that we think we might know who has her."

Lucas doesn't respond, so I take the opportunity to step in. "We think it might be Mick. He came back and that's why she wants to leave. Not because she's going through an identity crisis, but because of him. I don't know how he found my house, but he did, and now I'm confident he must have her."

"Mick? Why would he have her? Last I heard they broke up on good terms."

He doesn't know. I don't know why I thought he would, Dove had a hard enough time telling me, there's no way she could have told her brother or her Dad. But now I have to tell him at least something, otherwise there's no way he's telling us anything.

I sigh. "She's scared of him. He did something to her, bad enough for it to be plausible for him to have taken her."

"So any information you have on him would be amazing," Emma adds.

As Lucas racks his brain for information, my phone rings. I step off to the side for a moment, assuming it's just my dad getting back to me, but my heart skips a beat when Dove's name comes across the caller ID. I don't know if I'm hallucinating and my brain is showing me what I want right now, but I don't hesitate in answering the phone.

"Dove?" I whisper, startled by the anxiety and fear in my voice.

"No, it's Selene. But don't hang up! I'm calling on her behalf, I swear."

I groan. "How the fuck did you get her phone?"

"I convinced Mick to let me have it, told him I would text people so they'd assume she just ran off. I don't have long to talk, but Dove has a plan and I think it might work."

"What's the plan?" If there's any chance that her plan might bring her back home, I'm on board. No questions asked.

"She had me convince him to let her have free roam of the house starting tomorrow. I'm not sure what she's going to do from there, but I made sure to tell her all the spots in the house where she could get out the easiest. I wish I had more to tell you, but that's all I have for now."

I'm quiet for a long time, processing what she said. It's not much of a plan, but Dove is probably keeping some details to herself, just in case Selene decides to switch sides. "How's she doing?"

"Well...she's a lot stronger than I am, I'll tell you that. If someone was hurting me the way Mick's hurting her, I don't think I could take it. I'd love to tell you more, but I have to go...I'm really sorry about all this."

I want to beg her, plead with her to stay on the line, to find a way for me to talk to Dove or just get her out of there right now. But from the way she was talking, I know that she wished she could have done just that. For all her flaws, she's not a complete monster. Sure, she's fucked up and doesn't know how to get her own head out of her ass, but she's trying and I appreciate that. And the fact that she's willing to help Dove escape after everything that happened between the two of them...it says a lot.

Emma and Lucas are talking on the steps when I return. About what? I'm not sure. But they're both smiling, and even laughing on occasion. For a second, I think about telling them about what Selene said. But something tells me that for now, we need to work on finding out as much as we can about Mick. Let Selene and Dove focus on getting out while we do all the work of finding where they are. I'm not entirely comfortable with this plan, I'd rather just find his house and beat him to a pulp, but if this is what Dove thinks will save her, then I'll do it.

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