Chapter 14
Down one
Emma and Penny search the places her and Trevor agreed would be meeting spots if they were separated still no sign Penny is now worried about her daddy and Emma doesn't know how to console a child
The sterile scent of the empty coffee shop clung to Emma like a second skin, a stark contrast to the vibrant chaos of the newsroom she’d left behind. Penny, perched on the edge of a booth seat, traced invisible patterns on the sticky tabletop, her lower lip trembling. Every passing car, every distant siren, sent a fresh wave of anxiety through the little girl. Emma’s own heart hammered a frantic rhythm against her ribs, a frantic drumbeat of worry for Trevor and a gnawing fear for Penny.
"He'll be here, Penny," Emma said, her voice too bright, too forced. She slid closer, putting a comforting arm around the child’s narrow shoulders. Penny leaned into the touch, a small, desperate anchor in Emma’s storm. "He promised he'd meet us here if… if anything happened."
The words hung in the air, heavy with unspoken dread. “Anything happened.” It was a euphemism for the unimaginable, for the chilling possibility that Trevor, her infuriating, infuriating rival, had stumbled into something far more dangerous than a career-ending mistake. His assignment, the missing persons reports that had initially seemed like a tedious sidebar to Emma’s Vera Tek investigation, was now a terrifyingly solid lead, a thread that had inexplicably intertwined with her own.
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