My Brother's Best Friend

Chapter 22

(Ryan's POV)

"That's impossible," I tell the doctor hoarsly.

He's talking nonsense. That's not possible. Ruby has to have been in the jeep. I seen her. I know she was there!

He looks at me in pity. I don't want his pity, I want my girlfriend!

"We searched the surrounding area," the police officer finally says, as he steps back into the room. When he left is beyond me. "There is no way a heavily pregnant woman would be able to make her way through the terrain in that woods. Even if she did, she wouldn't have gotten very far."

"What are you saying?" I close my eyes, trying to block out the images of Ruby hurt more than she already was, or worse...

"I'm saying, that your girlfriend was never in the vehicle, or-"

"What do you mean she was never in the vehicle! Of course she was in the fucking vehicle! Are you calling me a fucking liar?" I lunge at the police officer, completely forgetting that my body is still very weak, the doctor and nurse only barely holding me up.

"Please calm down, Mr. Butler," the doctor says in a somewhat calming tone. "The officer is here to help you and your girlfriend."

"Obviousl-" I'm cut off by the nurse as he attempts to calm me down.

"Please listen to what he has to say. We're all on the same team here. Right now your eight month pregnant girlfriend is missing so we need to pull together to see if we can find her. That is everybody's priority."

"As I was saying," the officer continued. "Your girlfriend-"

"Ruby," I snap. "Her name is Ruby."

"Of course. Ruby was either never in the vehicle or she was taken from the vehicle. I think it's fair to say that the first possibility is out of the question. The problem is, we don't know why anyone would take her and where they would take her to. Mr. Butler, do you know anyone who has something against you?"

Someone took Ruby? Someone took her. Why would anyone take my beautiful, innocent, harmless, perfect girlfriend?

"No," I say. "I don't know of anyone who has anything against me."

"Okay," the officer says, nodding at the doctor and the nurse as they begin to leave the room. "Do you mind telling me exactly how the accident happened?"

"We were headed home," I tell him, my mind still stuck on Ruby, trying to figure out who could have taken her, and why. "We had spent the two previous nights at The Grand Hotel. There was a memorial for my fellow team members from Iraq being held there and as a treat for Ruby, we stayed there for the following two nights. She's been under a lot of stress lately with the pregnancy and I decided she needed the break.

We had only been on the road for about an hour when an SUV crashed into us from the side. I tried to keep us away from the edge of the road but they hammered into us again. I couldn't control the car. It just toppled over the edge." I pause for a second, a lump forming in my throat. "We landed at the base of a tree. I looked towards Ruby and she seemed okay. We both heard the tree before us starting to fall. It only took seconds for the tree to hit us and I blacked out."

"Is that the last thing you remember?" The officer asks.

"No. I remember waking up sometime before the ambulance arrived. Everything was spinning. I remember looking over at Ruby. She was unconscious, her face was covered in blood, her shoulder looked dislocated and her stomach..."

A sob breaks through my lips.

"What, Mr. Butler? Tell me about her stomach."

"I couldn't see it," I cry. "I couldn't see it. She was covered from debris from the tree. Before I had the chance to try to wake her up I blacked out again from the pain."

I put my head in my hands and cry loudly. Where's Ruby? Where's my baby? Where's my family?

"Where is she? Why would someone take her?"

"I don't know Mr. Butler, I don't know. We will find her though; I promise you that. We will find her." I hear his footsteps as he makes his way towards the door but I don't look up. "I'll give you some space. I'm going to inform my team of the information you've provided me with and hopefully it'll help us to find your girlfriend quicker."

The door clicks closed behind him and I wipe my tears from my eyes. I need to be strong for Ruby; I need to pull myself together. Sitting her crying isn't going to find her.

"Ryan!" I look up to see my parents, Ruby's parents and Matt bursting through the door.

"What happened?"

"Are you okay?"

"Where's Ruby? Is she okay?"

"Is the baby okay?

"What room is Ruby in?"

Questions are fired at me from everyone all at once and I have to hold my hands up to get them to quieten down.

"What happened, son?" Dad asks me.

"We were on the way home from the hotel because Ruby wasn't feeling great. We were driving alongside a steep forest when an SUV deliberately ran us off the road."

"What?" Mom gasps.

"I know." My stomach tightens in knots as I prepare myself to tell them about Ruby. "We crashed into a tree, and I blacked out when the tree fell onto the jeep."

"Shit!" Matt curses. "Is Ruby okay?"

A lump rises in my throat when I look up at my best friend. There's an almost desperate look in his eyes from the need to know how is sister is.

"I don't know," I tell him honestly.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Fear is evident in his voice and he looks from me, to his parents and back again.

"I mean, Ruby wasn't in the jeep when the paramedics got there."

I stare up at five gobsmacked and horrified faces. Ruby's mom, Susan, is the first to break the silence.

"Where is she?" She asks faintly, her hand on her chest as if she's trying to keep her heart in place.

"I don't know," my voice cracking. "The cops think she's been taken."

"Taken? By who?"

"They don't know that either." I feel completely useless. How did I let this happen? This is all my f-

"You bastard!" I look up just in time to see Matt lunging at me. We fly off the opposite side of the narrow hospital bed, my head practically bouncing off the cold, hard floor. "This is all your fucking fault!"

I lift my hand to try to block my face from Matt's fists. I feel a knee in my already bruised rib cage and I hiss out in pain. "If anything happens to her Ryan," Matt roars as he continues to plummet me. "I swear to fucking God, I'll kill you!"

My vision starts to blur as Matt continues his attack on me. I hear our mother's screaming at him to stop and I can faintly make out the outline out both our father's pulling him off me before, once again, I succumb to the all-too-familiar darkness.

**********

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