Deb glanced back at her baby brother, watching as he struggled to keep up. She couldn’t let them get their hands on him, not again. She would do whatever it took to keep him safe, including breaking her promise to Grey.
“Maybe Kim will change her mind,” Teddy said as they headed down the hallway that Grey made them promise to stay away from, making it perfect because they would never think to look for them down here.
“You heard what she said, Teddy. She can’t keep us,” Deb said absently as she began testing doors, trying to find one that was unlocked.
“But maybe she’ll change her mind,” he said, sounding hopeful.
“She’s not going to. You heard her. She’s going to California to move in with her daughter to help with the new baby. She’s not going to change her mind for us,” Deb said, sighing with relief when she finally found an unlocked door.
“Maybe they won’t send us back to Grandma,” Teddy whispered, sounding close to crying. Not that she could blame him, not after what happened the last time they made them go back.
“We’re not going back there,” Deb said with a firm shake of her head as she shoved the heavy door open and dragged her little brother inside with one hand as she reached up with the other and flipped the light switch on.
She didn’t care what their social worker said. They weren’t going back to that house. Over the past few months, the social worker had tried to make them see their grandma, telling them that Grandma was sorry and never would have left them with their father if she’d known what he was going to do but she was a liar. She knew that Daddy was hurting them because she’d let him do it.
“What if he finds us,” Teddy asked as Deb gently pulled him out of the way as the heavy door slammed shut behind them.
“He’s not going to,” Deb said as she took in the small room only to end up sighing heavily when she saw the large metal shelves lining the walls stacked with boxes and bottled water. They weren’t going to be able to hide in here, Deb realized as she turned around and moved to open the door only to frown when the doorknob wouldn’t turn.
“What’s that smell?” Teddy asked, making her frown when she caught the scent of burning rubber.
Deb looked back over her shoulder and felt her stomach drop when she saw the white smoke coming off the back wall. Licking her lips nervously, she grabbed her brother’s hand and pulled him closer to the door before releasing his hand so that she could try the door again.
“Deb?”
“It’s fine,” she promised him, risking another look over her shoulder to see more smoke coming in through the wall.
“I’m scared,” Teddy mumbled.
“We’ll be fine,” Deb said, focusing back on the door. She tried to pull the door open again only to end up banging her hands against it and screamed, “Help!” but she knew that no one was going to hear them back here.
As she continued pounding her fists on the door, she glanced over her shoulder and watched as the smoke slowly made its way past the boxes and–
A window!
“Come on!” Deb said, grabbing her brother’s hand and pulled him over to the shelves. When he tried to pull away, she tightened her grip and kept going all while she kept her eye on the window that they should be able to reach if they climbed up the shelves.
“There’s more smoke,” Teddy whispered hoarsely as she pulled him closer.
“We need to get to the window,” Deb said, releasing his hand so that she could grab hold of the large box on the bottom shelf and pull it out so that she could use it to climb onto the shelf, but it was too heavy.
She was just going to have to climb the shelf and pull Teddy up behind her, Deb decided as she reached up and grabbed hold of the shelf above her head and pulled herself up. When she managed to get her feet on the second shelf, she reached back and–
Froze when she felt the shelves begin to move.
*-*-*-*
“How about now?” Chase asked, making her bite back a smile as they pulled into Shadow House’s parking lot.
Pursing her lips up, she pretended to think it over before saying, “I think I’m going to have to say no.”
No matter how tempted she was to say yes, and god, was she tempted, it hadn’t escaped her notice that he hadn’t told her that he loved her. There was no doubt that he wanted her, but…
She couldn’t marry a man that didn’t love her.
“Are you sure?” he said, throwing her a questioning look as he reached for his door.
“I’m afraid so,” Sloane said with a sad shake of her head.
Sighing, he murmured, “I understand,” as he opened his door and–
“How about now?”
“Still no,” Sloane said, feeling her lips twitch when she saw the hopeful look on his face as she opened her door and climbed out. For a moment, she considered asking him to take her home instead so that she could curl up in bed and pretend that the last twenty-four hours didn’t happen, but Chase needed to swing by the fire station to see what the chief wanted and she needed to go see if that job offer was still good.
Sighing, Chase closed the car door and met her in front of the truck he’d traded the minivan in for as soon as the doctor cleared him to drive again. With a pitiful sigh, he leaned down and pressed his lips against her forehead. “You’re driving me crazy, Pookie.”
“The chief’s waiting,” Sloane pointed out as she leaned up and kissed his chin.
Sighing heavily, Chase leaned down and brushed his lips against hers. “This isn’t over,” he promised her as he placed his hand over her belly.
“Go,” Sloane said, giving him a gentle push.
Sending her a mock glare, Chase said, “I’ll have a ring on that finger by the end of the week, guaranteed,” as he reluctantly headed back to the driver’s side door.
“Go,” Sloane said with a rueful shake of her head and a chuckle as she adjusted her bag over her shoulder and forced herself to head to the front door.
She was tempted, more than a little tempted to say yes, but …
“God, I’m an idiot,” she told herself, sighing heavily as she pressed the call button and waited to be buzzed in.
She should just tell him yes, because that’s what any sane woman would do when the man that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with asked her to marry him, but apparently, Sloane was an idiot. The sound of the door unlocking drew Sloane’s attention back to reality. Slowly exhaling, she opened the front door and–
“Did you see the kids outside?” Kim asked as soon as Sloane stepped inside, making her frown as she glanced over her shoulder and took in the large parking lot.
Shaking her head, Sloane said, “No. What’s going on?”
“I think they overhead my conversation with their social worker. My daughter just had a baby and as much as I would love to stay for the kids, I can’t,” Kim rushed to explain, only to take a deep breath before continuing, “I can’t find them anywhere.”
“Where are they sending them?” Sloane asked, moving to check the play area to see if the kids were hiding in the playhouse or behind one of the large tubs of toys.
“Their grandmother,” Kim sighed, not sounding any happier about it than Sloane was because there was no way in hell that they were going back to that house. She didn’t have to ask if Grey or Hunter knew about it because if they had, they’d already be doing something to stop it.