Chapter b139 /b

    “I think I’m going to go check on her,” I said. I stood up from the table, leaving my drink behind forgotten.

    Anna reached out and slid the ss over to her side. I’ll finish up then head back to my ce.

    Nodding, I started down the hallway to Alice’s room. When I came nearer, I saw that her light was out. Had she cried so hard she decided to just go to sleep? Or was she sobbing in the darkb? /b

    My heart lurched in my chest, and I knocked. “Alice, honeyb? /bCan we talk?” As I spoke, I turned the door knob and gently pushed the door opened. “Alice?”

    I nced first at the bed, but it was empty. Then I did a quick check across the entire room, but I saw no downtrodden outlines of my daughter. Flicking on the light, I saw the closet door was open, a few of Alice’s things were gone.

    No. No, no, no…

    This couldn’t be happening. She had to just be in the bathroom. Yet, when I stepped back into the hallway, I saw the bathroom door was opened, the light turned off.

    “Alice?” I called, louder, some panic in my voice. “Alice, honey? Where are you?”

    There was no response, at least not from Alice.

    Anna called from the kitchen. “Amber? What’s wrong?”

    “bI /bcan’t find Alice!”

    Anna came to join me in an instant and we searched the entire house from top to bottom. Alice was nowhere to be found, but the front door was unlocked. Her backpack, jacket, and shoes were missing.

    She must have sneaked out while Anna and I had been talking in the kitchen.

    “Did she run away?” Anna asked me, concern in her voice to.

    I tried to put myself in her shoes, imagining what she must have been thinking. To see Chase kissing her mom… To hurt because she Chase wasn’t the father she wanted…

    Then it all became clear. “She might have gone to see Julian.”

    Anna’s eyes went wide. “Call him! Quickly!b” /b

    My hands trembled as I reached for my phone.

    Alice’s POV

    This small town only really had one main street where all the stores were. Everything from the grocery store to the gas station to the hotel was located in one direction or another on this main road. Alice just

    had to find her way there.

    Easy enough.

    To the main road, at least. She was pretty sure she went in the right direction of the hotel, but it was a pretty far walk from her house, especially on her small legs.

    Still, she was determined to make it there all on her own.

    She had to talk to her dad and make sure he knew that he was the one Alice wanted for her father, not

    Chase. Maybe that would be enough to keep him in her life.

    It was already dark by the time Alice had started on her trek, and though the streetlights and headlights of the passing cars were enough to light up the sidewalk, the long shadows of evening seemed full of

    dangers.

    Alice held her arms around herself as she walked forward, for the first time feeling a bit nervous.

    She wanted to be brave, but…

    Then, two men stepped out of the shadow. They’d been standing behind a tree near the sign for the gas station. They had cigarettes in their mouths, the burning ends the first thing Alice saw.

    “You lost, little girl?” one asked, his eyes like coal and his voice gravelly.

    Maybe he was fine, but he gave Alice the creeps, an unpleasant shiver running up her spine.

    Without answering, she took off in a run.

    “Shit,” said the other man.

    Alice heard their footfalls following her and she pushed herself faster.

    Fortunately, she was almost to the hotel!

    Yet, just as she turned down the sidewalk leading to the doors of the rooms, she ran head first into a pair of legs.

    Looking up, she saw the legs belonged to Olivia.