My Dad's Bestfriend

Chapter 232

Evelyn

"What's the plan?" I asked Chloe, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand after finishing the water she'd given me.

God. I hadn't realized how parched I was until now. It was like pouring water over a desert-bottomless, dry, aching.

She looked at me for a moment, then exhaled slowly. "If I'm being honest? There's no perfect plan. Nothing with a hundred percent chance of success. Not against a man like Tyler." Her eyes were honest-raw and unguarded. "But what I can promise you is this: you're going to make it out of here. Alive. With your baby. Even if the plan fails, I'll make sure you don't."

She gave me a small, weary smile and reached across to squeeze my hand.

"It's late," she added gently. "You should try to sleep a little."

"B-but-" My voice cracked with resistance. I didn't want to sleep. Sleeping felt too much like surrender.

"I know," she cut in softly. "But I can't make the call to Jacob right now. Even though I want to. Tyler's got this place locked down with every kind of surveillance you can imagine. If I make one wrong move, we'll be caught red-handed. And if that happens..." her jaw tensed, "he'll transfer you somewhere worse than this. Somewhere I won't even know. Somewhere no one will ever find you."

The thought made my skin crawl.

She continued, "We have to wait until tomorrow. He'll go out for supplies—and the drugs he's been using. He can't function without them. He will leave, Evelyn. And when he does, that's when we move. That's our window."

I nodded faintly, still brushing my fingers over my belly.

Sienna.

I didn't want to die. I wanted to hold her. Raise her. See her smile, see her cry, walk, fall, rise.

"You think we'll really make it out of here?" I whispered. My voice trembled. I wasn't even sure if I was asking her or myself.

Chloe didn't hesitate. "Yes. You will. You and Sienna will have a long, beautiful life together."

A small, melancholic smile crept across my lips. I didn't know if I believed her-but God, I wanted to.

I leaned back into the chair. And as if exhaustion had been waiting for permission, it wrapped its arms around me and pulled me under.

***

Jacob

"That bastard's been planning this for a long time," Joey's voice crackled through the video call, his face stern on the screen. "The place he took her to-it's sealed. Tracker signals are blocked. Security's tight, almost military-grade. If there's a glitch, we'll find it, but Jacob..." he paused, then sighed, "it's damn near impossible. I don't want to disappoint you, but I need to be straight with you. We can't alert him—not even slightly. If he finds out we're on his trail... we don't know what he'll do to her."

"What the hell do we do then, Joey?" I snapped, pacing in the cold dark beside my car, parked in the middle of nowhere. I didn't even know how far I'd driven-l just knew I had to find her. "I have less than twenty-four hours. He told me he'd kill her. Kill her, Joey. That's my fucking Evelyn! If anything happens to her—"

"Jacob." His voice was firm now. "You need to calm down. If you lose it, we lose time. We lose her. I have a plan, and it's all we've got but it might actually work. We just need to be smart."

"What plan?" My hands trembled as I ran them through my hair. I hated the helplessness.

"It's risky, I won't lie," Joey admitted. "But look-if Tyler really just wanted her dead, he would've done it already. He gave you forty-eight hours because he's playing a game. That means he's got a motive-something deeper. Something bigger. He took her somewhere so secure, so hidden, because he wants control, not chaos. That's his weakness-we use it."

pull something up on

don't trigger media alerts, no news leaks, no scandals. Just a clean, focused search. These guys are ghosts-they'll

if Tyler catches wind of anything, he'll hurt her. That's a risk

got. He's too careful. This wasn't some heat-of-the-moment crime. He's been planning this for months, maybe longer. Every lead is buried. Every trail, wiped.

I didn't answer.

Because I couldn't.

she loved me over the crashing waves. The way her eyes softened when she talked about the baby. About our baby. And just like that, the present cracked under the weight

I knew what I had to

to save

if it meant walking

low but steady. "Give me the plan,

***

Evelyn

ran. And ran. And

right behind me, screaming, knife glinting in his

"I'll cut

sob clawed its way from my throat as I stumbled through the dark, my legs

and he was

And I screamed.

"No-!"

"Evelyn. Sweetheart-open your eyes."

on my cheek brought me back. blinked, disoriented. My skin was soaked with

face hovered above mine, worry etched into her usually composed features. "You were

down in a flash,

Sienna.

I let out a

pulled me into a careful hug, her arms surprisingly warm and steady. "It's okay," she repeated. "You both are

needed to hear them more than I realized. I let myself believe them for

But then-

Bang.

a

stood in the doorway, his eyes bloodshot, his shirt wrinkled, a knife twirling in his fingers. He looked like

s

going on?" His gaze swept over the two of us.

I clung

you try to hurt her?" he sneered, stalking closer. "Why was she

blinked. Why did he even

had a nightmare," Chloe said evenly. "And unlike you, I'm not a monster. I'm not here to

"Wow. That's rich."

pocket and stepped toward us, smirking. "One lifetime mistake and the

too late

girl you think?"

s