Hot Coffee (The Hollens) novel Chapter 36

Ethan's POV

I arrived home in the early hours the next morning. The plane ride took eight long hours because of a terrible weather pattern and a lot of turbulence. As I drove up to the mansion, every one of my household employees were lined up in front of the main entrance.

I got out of the car with rage and anger. "Where's Emma?" I yelled, daring anyone to answer my question without knowledge.

Their eyes only glanced at me. 

I was furious. I needed answers and all they could provide was eye contact. My eyes landed on Halley. "Halley, where's Emma?" I asked again, controlling my anger.

"Sir, all I know is that she was in the room and then Sharon and your mom came after her."

"Where were you when they left with her?"

"They didn't leave with her. They had someone take her somewhere."

"Where were you?!"

She began to cry. "I was locked in the chambers."

I pushed past everyone and headed inside and upstairs to my bedroom. Things had been scattered around and the bed was unmade. I looked around carefully, hoping that I'd find something to lead me to her. I found pieces of broken glass on the floor next to the bed, and one of the sheets was missing. 

Sam, my friend in the police force, came over to investigate and get statements. Apparently, my mom and Sharon knew I was out of town and waited for the perfect opportunity to sabotage my life. They had Halley locked up in the chambers and took away her phone. My two security officers were ambushed and held at gun point by three other men. Mom and Sharon came upstairs to Emma and dragged her out of the room after, first, breaking her phone. That explained the pieces of glass I found. Then, they had someone drive away with her while they got into my mom's car, and fled the country three hours later. Rumor was they were somewhere in Italy; it would be difficult to find them  since Sharon knew the country so well, but we would find them, it was only a matter of time.

I needed to find Emma but we wouldn't be able to do that without putting out a missing person's report and alert everyone nationwide, for their assistance with finding her. All I could of think about was her, but when Halley told me she was pregnant, I grew angrier and began to worry about her and the baby. Where were they? Are they alright?

"Sam, find that driver before I find him. I'm about to tear someone apart!"

"Ethan, please. You need to calm down. We'll handle this, and we'll find her."

Sam called, informing me that they hadn't yet located the driver of the vehicle that took Emma away but they were able to run his plates based on the descriptions and pieced together information provided by the staff accounts. After half an hour of cursing under my breath, and constantly watching the time tick by, he called back again. They located the driver and he told them that he'd dropped her off at a swamp.

A swamp! A fucking swamp! Who the hell does these kinda things to an innocent, defenseless, pregnant young woman?

She had just turned twenty four last month. She didn't even know her way around the city because she was scared of it and all the bad memories it held over her. How was she to know her way out of a damn swamp? I couldn't help but feel so sad, yet angry. She was dropped off at a swamp last evening like a piece of shit, left to be lost and, eventually, dead. There had been a thunderstorm last night and she was out there without a roof over her head or anything to eat.

My poor baby must be so scared and cold.

A dreadful feeling came over me.

What if she was dead? What if someone found her and killed her? What if she missed a step, fell into the water and couldn't climb back out? What if a tree branch broke off and fell on her head? What if...

My mind was going into all types of weird scenarios as I climbed into the helicopter and prepared for take off to Oyster Bay. I was going to find Emma and nothing, and no one, was going to stop me.