When Travis disconnected, he turned back around. “She’s on her way back. They’re up the block at the bakery.”
Reese pulled out his phone, turned the screen toward Gage. “Z sent the image they have.”
Gage took the phone, pivoted to block the glare on the screen, and stared at the image of the woman behind the wheel of a car.
As much as he wanted to believe Travis was reacting irrationally, that he’d been expecting the sky to fall for no reason, the picture sent a wave of cold fear over him.
It was her. Despite the grainy image from being magnified, there was no mistaking the woman Gage still saw in his nightmares. He’d looked at her picture far too many times since that horrific day, wondering if they would ever find her, if she’d ever be brought to justice for what she’d done.
But what he didn’t understand was why she would come back?
Exhaling and maintaining his composure, Gage handed the phone to Travis, who glared at it.
“Do you know where she is now?” Gage asked, the question directed at Reese and Brantley. “Are we certain she came here?”
Reese was the one to answer. “No, we aren’t. That photo was taken at eleven seventeen. My brother didn’t get the notification right away, but as soon as he did, he had his team verify it.”
Gage glanced at his watch. It was fifteen after three, which meant Juliet Prince could be there now. Hell, she could’ve been there watching them for most of the afternoon.
Instinct had him turning, scanning everyone around him. His gaze skipped over men, his focus on women. He quickly dismissed any he knew but found it didn’t matter. There were too many people. Moms, dads, grandparents, and kids, all gathered to enjoy the first festival of the year.
As it sank in, Gage realized this was the perfect opportunity for that crazy bitch to snatch another kid.
Chapter Five
Travis’s worst fears had come true. The woman who’d turned his entire world upside down and inside out was coming back to finish what she started.
Worse, his entire family—not just his wife, husband, and kids—was here, all vulnerable. His mother, his father, brothers and cousins, their significant others, nieces, nephews. They were all in the vicinity and they had no idea that this crazy bitch was here.
Despite what anyone told him, Travis knew everyone he cared about was a potential target. Juliet Prince believed Travis to be directly responsible for the dissolution of her marriage. Her ex-husband had met his new wife during one of their visits to Alluring Indulgence Resort. From what Travis had learned, Nicholas Prince had indulged in a swinger lifestyle with Juliet but had traded her in for a newer model—one Nicholas happened to meet during one of those encounters at the resort. The man had also sought sole custody of his and Juliet’s daughter, insisting Juliet was unfit to care for her in her current state.
Travis couldn’t argue with the latter point, and he was sure that was what had tipped Juliet into crazy land. Now she had a vendetta against Travis, who she claimed was personally responsible for all of it. Which was the very reason she’d kidnapped Kate, hoping to strike a death blow to Travis. It had worked, no doubt about it. Those two days Kate had been missing had nearly leveled him and his family. Having to watch Kylie and Gage suffer had been almost as brutal as not knowing where his little girl was.
Bottom line was, she had to be stopped before she could do any more damage.
“I’ve put my deputies on alert,” Sheriff Endsley told them. “Unfortunately, we don’t know what she’s drivin’, but we’re keepin’ an eye out for out-of-state plates and rentals. We’ll run a cursory check if we come across somethin’.”
Travis refrained from telling them it wasn’t nearly enough. He could see by the look on the sheriff’s face that he already knew. But Jeff was right. They had nothing more than an image of the bitch’s face behind the wheel of what was possibly a blue car at some point today. The photo was snapped through the windshield, giving them nothing else to go on. Where she’d gone after that picture was taken was anyone’s guess, although Travis’s gut was telling him she wasn’t far.
“Daddy-O, why do we hafta leave?”
Pulled from his thoughts, Travis peered down to see Kade standing at his side, tugging on his shirt. Those blue-gray eyes so much like his own were pleading and intense.
Travis absolutely detested Juliet for doing this to his family, for targeting them, for making Travis a nervous wreck. And most importantly for making his kids look at him like that.
“We’re not leavin’ yet,” Gage said, drawing Kade’s attention. “We just wanted y’all to take a break. Have a drink and a snack.”
While Gage and Kaden began distributing snacks to curious munchkins, Travis focused his attention on others. He watched interactions between husbands and wives, moms, dads, kids. Nowhere did he see a lone woman slinking through the throng of people.
Not that he expected it to be easy.
Where was she? He knew she was out here. She had to be. Today was the perfect day and this was the perfect place for her to make a move. The question was, who would she target?
And while he searched for Juliet, Travis scanned the area for Kylie, knowing his heart wouldn’t return to its normal beat until he laid eyes on her.
Five minutes passed, then ten, then fifteen.
Didn’t Kylie know he was going to have a heart attack? At the very least a panic attack? He hated not knowing where any of them were at any given moment.
“I’m sure she’s fine,” Gage said quietly. “Probably finishin’ up her coffee with Jess, enjoyin’ her last bit of peace and quiet before joinin’ the fray.”
Sure. Probably. But the rationality didn’t help to slow the rapid beat of his heart.
Travis reached into his pocket to retrieve his phone but stopped suddenly when the air was rent with a horrific sound. The revving of an engine, the eerie screech of tires, followed by a sickening crash, then a crescendo of screams and shouts.
All eyes shifted to Main Street, instinctively following the sound. The same place the masses were headed, many pulling out cell phones, some making calls, others turning on cameras.
Without thinking, Travis took off running.
He wasn’t sure who was behind him, and in that moment, he didn’t care. He probably should’ve thought about his children, ensured someone had remained back to keep an eye on them, but something in his chest was ripping open, and he was merely trying to keep his heart from leaping out of his throat.
“Call 911!” someone yelled.
“Oh, my God! It hit her! The car! It hit her!”
It took only a few seconds to make it to the scene, another to navigate through the crowd. He tried to be gentle, nudging people out of the way, desperate to—
“Help! Please! Someone help my sister!”
That statement sent a flash of ice-cold fear through Travis’s bloodstream. He recognized the voice.
When he broke through the last of the crowd, he came up short, all the air in his lungs slamming out of him at the sight of his wife’s crumpled body on the concrete. Behind her was a small SUV, the backend smashed in, clearly having been hit by another car. And if the scene told him anything, it was that his wife had been pinned between that vehicle and the one responsible for the damage.