“No, no. She’s not gone. She’s just not at this home anymore. She’s been moved.”
“Moved? Where?”
“I wasn’t here during the transfer. I wish I could say more.”
“Umm. Okay. Thank you, Tammy.” I end the call immediately, squeezing the phone tightly in my hand. “Maddie’s been moved. Why wouldn’t Neo tell me?”
“That’s weird. Maybe it just slipped his mind.”
We start walking again, my thoughts stuck on Maddie and where she might have been moved.
Jagger’s phone rings, cutting through the silence. When he answers, I watch him.
“No shit. Well, at least we know she wasn’t out causing trouble.” He pulls the phone from his ear and says to me, “Melody was found tied up in her room.”
I’m a bitch for smiling, but Melody is learning the hard way not to fuck with people. Something tells me sheislearning, though.
“All right. See you in a bit.” He ends the call and sticks his phone in his pocket, just as I open the front door.
Sensing my unease, he takes my hand and leads me over to the couch, boots still on. “We’ll figure out where Maddie is and maybe then you’ll be able to get the update you want.”
I nod, swallowing down the lump in my throat. “I know. Maddie just doesn’t like change, and I hope her move doesn’t set her back at all.”
“She’s sleeping, Scar. I doubt she even knows.”
She knows. Maddie might be sleeping, but her mind is awake and alert. She knows exactly what's going on around her.
Jagger holds me for a few minutes until the door flies open and Crew and Neo stagger in. I bolt up, words spilling from my mouth. “How could you not tell me Maddie was moved!” I shout at Neo.
“Calm your ass down,” he barks. “Maddie wasn’t moved.”
“Yes, she was! I called the home and they told me she’s not there anymore. Don’t act like you didn’t know. You’re still trying to keep her from me, aren’t you?”
Neo doesn’t respond, just taps into his phone and lifts it to his ear, his eyes on mine as he speaks. “Dad! What’s going on with Maddie?”
His eyes widen, so mine do the same. My stomach twists into tight knots as the look on his face spreads to one of sheer panic. “Find her, dammit! Do whatever you have to do, but you better fucking find her!’
When he ends the call, his phone goes flying from his hand, crashing into the television on the wall. I hurry to his side because I need to hear him loud and clear.
“Tell me,” I say, my voice shaking.
“Maddie’s missing.”
“Missing?” I gasp. “How does someone in a coma go missing?”
“Someone blackmailed an employee at the home. Signed Maddie out and took her, medical equipment and all.”
Neo’s expression of shock mimics mine. We all stand there silently as we grasp the information we’ve been given.
Finally, after minutes ofinternally screaming.
Who would do this?
Why would anyone do this?
Where is Maddie?
It hits me.