Jason
The silence was deafening when I entered the house. My footsteps echoed through the space, making me feel more like I’d stepped into a tomb than a home. It was evening, dinnertime. But there was no dinner, and I was there alone.
“April! Willa?” My voice echoed through the house.
No response.
I kept myself in check, taking slow, deep breaths and doing my best not to lose my cool.
I went into the kitchen and spotted a note on the counter, my name written in swoopy handwriting I recognized instantly.
I snatched up the note and read.
“Thought you might need a little more persuading. Let’s talk. —Shauna”
I crumpled the note and tossed it aside. Coming home to an empty house had been the first surprise. The note had been the second. What the hell did it mean? Was Shauna working against me? Did she have something to do with why Willa wasn’t home?
And worse than that, the note was cryptic—by “persuading” I guessed she meant she had Willa and April, but I didn’t know that for sure, or why. Where was she, and where were they?
I called Shauna. Straight to voicemail. I sent her a text, but I didn’t expect an answer. I looked around the kitchen, my mind racing to figure out what to do next.
Scott. It all came together as I stood there, anger rushing through me.
I dialed his number.
“Jason.” His voice was crisp and terse. I was right. He knew exactly what was going on.
“What the hell have you done, Scott?”
There was silence for several long moments.
“Where the hell is Willa?” I asked, my voice low. “And April.”
“They’re safe.”
“Safe where?”It was all I could do not to scream at him, not to get in my car and hunt him down.
“Let’s talk first. I’ll be right there.” The line went dead.
I paced through the kitchen and went into the living room. I’d been on the fence about working with the FBI, but the events of the day put any doubt to rest.
I called Agent Martinez and let her know to be ready for another call within the hour. She was all too happy to comply.
I met Scott at the door when he got there. His posture was strange—I could tell he wanted to appear strong and in charge, but there was a slight slump to his shoulders and a hesitation in his eyes that suggested he was unsure of himself.
He stepped through the door, and I followed him into the living room. Scott took a seat, and I stood across from him, my hands on my hips.
“So,” I said. “This is it—your big power play.”
“You’re the one making this so hard,” he said. “You know what I want. What we want.”
“All this time you were telling me what I wanted to hear, that you were executing my wishes. But you were going behind my back, lying right to my face.”
“I was doing what needed to be done, Jason. You’re going to drive this company into the ground.”
“So you kidnapped my daughter, kidnapped my—”
I didn’t know what to say, didn’t know how to refer to April. What was she to me? More than a nanny, that was for damn sure.