Lucas

The first time I saw Allie, the words "good girl" may as well have been tattooed on her forehead. It was clear she didn't fit in with the party scene. It's not Allie. She was a nervous wreck while I cornered her in Kat's kitchen. I could smell her nerves from across the room like perfume amusing all my senses.

She may have been wearing a dress that was too short and looked damn good, but that's not what sealed the deal for me. Those eyes held my attention first, but what stood out were Allie's red cheeks, nervous laugh, the subconscious nibble on her lip. She was out of her element, waiting for someone to take advantage of her. She was one timid snort away from passing out from embarrassment. It's not like I wasn't trying to throw her off. I needed to be in control so I could have her. I needed to make her nervous enough to second guess walking away from me.

It worked, since we are where we are. One night that I am eternally grateful to have had shitty luck with Kat, and some sort of grace to have seen this girl pass by without noticing me.

None of that changes who Allie is at her core. It's no surprise she's instilled basic rules, and is raising Jadon to be like her—a good kid.

But Allie has a weakness. She has never been the best with her phone. The night we met, she walked around with the flashlight feature on, and didn't realize it until she was getting out of my car. She's not technologically deficient, but she doesn't always pay attention to her phone. I suspect it's just one of those things that isn't important to her, which I respect.

There is a more recent incident revolving her neglect of her phone. Specifically, hanging up her phone or muting herself. For today, I'm thankful she isn't paying close attention to her phone to realize she never hung up on me. I noticed it this time when I heard her voice in my pocket while Tom and I left school.

Since we've been hurrying back to my house, I mentioned stopping by Ted's to get the ring back. So long as I can hear Allie and Jadon are home safe—and not running away—I think we can afford a pit stop.

The oblivious Allie is on speaker while Tom and I listen on mute.

"And if someone tells you they know me and say it's okay for you to go with them?" She asks Jadon. She's given him every plausible scenario for the "stranger danger" talk. He gives her the practiced answers enough that it's clearly drilled into his brain.

With enthusiasm, he shouts back at her. "I scream and run. If he chases me, I kick him in the shins! Then I punch him in the nuts so he knows he's a loser!"

Tom snorts beside me. "You're kidding me."

"Damn straight, Tom. My boy won't be picked on, picked up by a stranger, or any of that dumb shit." I taught Jadon that last part, and Allie reversed that in the span of ten seconds, correcting him from my devious ways. She told him to just run and hide or keep screaming until he finds an adult he knows.

It's smart, sure, but at some point we'll be teaching Jadon how to swiftly knock a fucker down and not run scared. If he keeps up with her solution to run from everything, Jadon will not grow. He needs to learn no one will push him around. Allie needs to give on this one.

She already has him on the plant diet.

"You're sure you want to head over to Ted's?" Tom asks.

"Yeah, they're almost home. I just need that ring back and he's going to hand it over." Whether it's by force, or through his cold, dead fingers.

Tom grimaces, but makes a turn down a street halfway to my house.

We are otherwise quiet when Allie and Jadon's conversation dies down, and while Tom isn't even upset about his forced leave, he's worried Allie doesn't want to see him. "I don't think Allie hates you, Tom. She's going to get over it."

He shrugs. "Just feel like a fraud right now. I was worried about her repeating the same mistakes as her mother when she didn't give up your name. Then you show up, and I couldn't decide if you were like Mark or not. It didn't help that you were sleeping with Kat."

It's no surprise to me. Nobody had bad intentions this time. When I came around, Tom was protecting Allie and Jadon, while Allie was doing the same.

We hear Allie make it home just as Tom turns down another street. The second Tom and I hear Allie shut off her car, my heart settles, but only for a minute. The rustling of her phone in her dress pocket mixes with Jadon's questions and Allie's anxious tone.

"How about a snack, Mommy?"

"Just—let's get inside, okay?"

"So they made it home," Tom says. "Ted's place is about fifteen minutes away."

"Good." Ted is going to be one sorry fucker when he sees me.

My thumb hovers over the red button on my phone. They're home, so I don't need to listen anymore. Just before I tap the screen, that voice stops me. It's muffled, but fuck if I wouldn't know it from the heart.

Tom and I both freeze when Ted clearly tells Allie she's not leaving. We share a look before Tom spins the wheel. The rush forces my good shoulder to slam into the door. His tires screech and he drives over someone's grass in an abrupt scramble to turn around to get to Allie and Jadon.

"Shit! This guy never learns."

Tom points to my phone. "Record that, Lucas. This is what you want." He tosses me his phone, and I start a voice recording. It's going to be shit, but it's better than nothing at all.

I text Joel to meet at my house while Tom runs red lights and nearly hits three cars in our urgency.

Ted and Vivian's voices, though muffled, send me into a panicked fury. If we don't get there soon enough, my heart is going to beat out of my rib cage. Also, they could do anything to Allie and Jadon while I'm not there.

Vivian's threatening voice throws all rational thought out the window. It's her calm voice where she is a little crazy. I've seen it before when her house maids don't polish the floors according to the direction of the sunlight or something.

"Tom, you need to hurry."

Ted is going to die. Also Vivian. What the fuck is she even doing at my house?

"You, me, and your mom are going on a trip," Ted says. He pours out and serves up bullshit to Jadon about me wanting them to leave together. Something about being a family.

Fuck this guy.

Fuck Ted. Fuck him. Fuck him into next year.

Ted and Allie exchange words, and the prick mentions something about making another baby. He claims he's taking what's his—evidently, Allie.

"I'll kill him." He can't even stand up to me in person and fight for her. He waits to corner her when no one else is around, knowing Allie won't stand up to him.

"Lucas," Tom takes a hard right around a corner. "I know that you're angry. Hell, I'm angry too, and worried about my daughter and grandson, but you need to keep your head on straight. Do what's best for them and not based on what you're feeling. Mark, Vivian, and Ted will get what's coming to them, even if it takes time. Just focus on getting Allie and Jadon out of there, okay?"

"Mhm."

"He covered up that accident, the medical treatment, and god only knows what else, and he will certainly cover this up if he needs to. You don't have the resources or attorneys like Mark does. They are always ready to fight his legal battles. We need to show self-defense, Lucas, and if they're kidnapping them in broad daylight like this, you know he's covered his tracks. Just get her without earning yourself an attempted murder charge, and we will take Allie to the police with this recording."

We'll see.

Tom and I jump when we hear a pop go off on the speaker.

That sounded like a gun. Now it's violent. That changes things.

Then, Vivian's calm voice. "I said get in the car." There's a loud thump, and Allie screams. "Next time, I'll aim for the little shit."

We're around the corner, and Tom's foot is to the floor while his engine roars. With my house in sight, Tom slams on the brakes just before we hit Allie's car in the driveway.

My door flies open while I leap from Tom's car and scan the neighborhood for them. The front door to my house is wide open, swinging. There are no other cars in my driveway, so they have to be in one of the neighbors' driveways.

"Where are they?" Tom asks, looking around us. Half of the cars are here, and nothing stands out.

I notice two reverse lights and the purr of an engine a few houses down. A silver car—that I don't recognize—hurriedly backs out of the driveway, and I spot the fucker. Vivian is still standing in the driveway where the car was.

"Allie!"

Ted sees me, and freezes in the middle of the road. He needs to get past me in order to get out of the neighborhood.

"Ted," I warn him with a stern look and shake my head.

He revs the engine with a vicious grin on his face.

I notice Allie in the front passenger seat with blood coming from her nose, and her hand pressed to her forehead. With my finger pointed at him, I warn him again. "Don't you dare, Ted."

He dares.

Ted speeds by and around me in the street. I reach for Allie's handle, screaming when it slips through my fingers. "Fuck!"

Another car speeds out of a second driveway, and it looks like a standard Vandenburg vehicle. I don't care what she does. I run for Tom's car and speed down the street after them just as Joel's cruiser rounds the corner toward my house. Good, he can stop Vivian.

In the rear-view mirror, Tom takes my place in the street, but Vivian doesn't hesitate.

She speeds right into Tom.