Prologue
Polly
My feet hit the ground running, and I’m gone.
Correction: we’re gone.
I’m not alone anymore, and I probably never will be again. It’s just me and Brandon against the world now, and I’m not about to let this kid suffer alone. No matter what happens next, all we have is each other. Sometimes, though, that’s enough.
Tonight, it’s got to be enough.
I don’t have a choice.
Our world was stolen from us: our dreams destroyed. Brandon and I didn’t have any say in that. We didn’t have a say in any of it, but now I have one decision that I can make, and that I will make.
Survival.
I’m going to survive, and I’m going to do whatever it takes to get Brandon to his father.
He’s our last hope.
I run away from the house, and I move as quickly as I possibly can. They won’t realize we’re gone for a little while. I have a few minutes, at least. The men who came for us are nasty and horrible, but they’re no match for me.
They’re no match for a little doctor who isn’t about to leave a kid behind.
Moving away from the house, I turn down a side alley and keep running. If anyone looks outside and sees me jogging down the road with a kid in tow, they’re going to think it’s a little weird for a 30-something year old woman to be running with a kid and a diaper bag. I mean, it’s not like I had time to really pack. I didn’t even bring myself a change of clothes.
None of that matters, though.
I keep my ears open, but I don’t hear anything. Of course, I wouldn’t. These guys are too good to yell or shout to one another. Nobody is going to scream, “Polly stole the baby!” That would be insane, and it would give away their location.
No, none of them are doing that.
Instead, what they’re doing is so much worse.
These guys are sneaky, and they’re silent, and they know I took Brandon.
They aren’t going to stop at anything until they find me.