Chapter 7 - MY WIFE'S REAL VOICE
Ryan answered on speaker.
"Where are my children?" Caroline demanded.
Ryan nearly laughed. "That's your opening line?"
"Ryan, listen to me. My father is out of control. Bring Lily back to me."
"You locked a child in the wall."
"I was protecting Emma."
Owen shouted from the passenger seat. "From who? You?"
Caroline's voice changed when she heard him.
Cold. Flat.
"You should have taken the money and disappeared."
Ryan glanced at Owen.
There it was. No more performance.
"Why did you marry me?" Ryan asked.
Silence.
"Caroline. Why?"
"At first? Because my father told me to meet you."
Ryan's hands tightened around the wheel.
"And later?"
For one second, her voice cracked. "Later got complicated."
The black sedan rammed their rear bumper.
Lily screamed.
Ryan fought the wheel.
"Caroline, call them off!"
"I can't."
"You mean you won't."
"No. I mean I can't. My father knows you found Owen. He'll burn everything now."
The sedan hit them again.
Owen rolled down his window and hurled the GPS tracker into a passing drainage ditch.
The pursuing car suddenly slowed.
Ryan took the next exit and cut through a gas station, losing them behind a row of trucks.
Caroline was still on the line.
"Ryan," she whispered, "do not go to the police station."
"Why?"
"Because Victor owns more than fake cops."
"Where do I go?"
She breathed once, hard.
"Your mother's old church. Ask for Father Ben."
Then a man's voice sounded beside her.
"Who are you talking to?"
Caroline gasped.
The call ended.
Owen stared at Ryan.
"Was that Victor?"
Ryan nodded.
Lily began to cry.
"Daddy?"
"What, baby?"
"Grandpa Victor has Mommy's red phone."
Ryan looked back.
"What red phone?"
May you like
Lily sniffed.
"The one with all your pictures when you're sleeping."
