A week before their high school graduation, Ellie's boyfriend walked her to her door and kissed her goodnight, just like any other night. But there was nothing ordinary about what followed. Austin disappeared without a trace, never to be seen again...
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It had rained all night, so both me and Bear were soaked and muddy when we came back from our morning run.
"I think he's in Las Vegas," my brother said as soon as I stepped inside.
"Who is in Vegas?" I asked, while I used a large bath towel to wipe Bear down before he got mud over the entire house.
"Dad."
That got my attention. I unclipped the leash from Bear's collar and he immediately went into the kitchen in search of his water bowl.
"Dad's in Vegas?" I repeated, dumbfounded, as I stepped out of my dirty sneakers and peeled off my wet socks.
Why the hell would he do that? It was the most idiotic thing he could ever do. And he'd done some very stupid shit over the years, but him in Vegas would be a complete disaster. He'd step into the lions den and all the years of running would be for nothing.
"Yeah."
My brother tapped a few keys on the keyboard, acting way to calm, in my opinion. I grabbed a towel from the bathroom to wipe my face and hair and walked over to him so I could watch what he was doing over his shoulder.
My brother had a picture of the casino strip up on one of his screens.
"What the actual fuck? Why the hell would dad go back there?" I asked, like my brother knew the answer.
He tapped a few more keys, and the screen changed. This time to a map of the outskirts of Las Vegas, near where we'd had our first home.
"I don't know, but I think he's meeting someone."
"No?" my face dropped. "Is he really that stupid?"
"Seems like it."
"How do you know he's meeting someone?" I demanded in a more aggressive tone than I'd intended.
My brother swung around in his chair so he faced me. "His phone pinged on one of my alerts when he texted someone."
My eyes narrowed. Was he serious? "The phone he's only supposed to text us with?" I asked.
My brother nodded. "Yes."
"What did it say?"
"Tomorrow. Same time."
I groaned out loud as I sunk down onto the couch. "Why would he do that?"
"Which part? Text someone on a phone he's not supposed to use unless he's communicating with us? Go back to Vegas by himself? Or meet up with someone while he's there?"
I scoffed. "All of them. They are all so incredibly irresponsible and stupid."
"That they are, and I have no idea why he would put himself in that position."
"Is he suicidal?" I asked, not even joking.
My brother shrugged his shoulders.
"I'm serious."
"I know." His brown eyes, so similar to my own, peered over at me. "I am too, but I don't know why the hell he's there, or what his intentions are."
I scratched at the beard growth on my shin. It was getting longer and thicker since I hadn't bothered to shave for a few days and it had started to itch. It was time to break out the razor again.
"Did you try to text him?"
The look he gave me in response told me he had and that me questioning him about it was insulting.
"Okay, okay," I said and held up my hand in apology. Of course he had tried, I knew that. My brother was on top of all that kind of shit. "It must have something to do with that fucking money," I concluded after I'd gone through everything in my head.
"Probably."
My brother got up from his computer chair and took a seat on the loveseat. It got quiet for a while as we both considered what this could mean for us and my mind did not paint a pretty picture.
As far as we could tell, our dad was scheduled to meet up with someone. The text had said 'same time.'
"Same time?" I hissed as the anger got to me. "So he's done this before!"
My tone got Bear's attention. He walked over to me and nudged my side with his big nose. "It's okay," I mumbled and petted his head while I watched my brother rub at his forehead. I could see just how tired he was, and it made me feel guilty. He spent most of his time in front of those large computer screens, working to keep us safe and to support us. And what did I do? Nothing other than complain.
I needed to step it up somehow. Supporting us and making sure we were safe shouldn't only be on my brother.
"He must have another phone, because nothing like that has ever triggered any alerts before."
"If he's willing to risk everything, he must be meeting with someone that either has access to the money, or knows how to get to it."
"Or he's in trouble..."
"I wonder if that was why he told us to be careful?" As a way to warn us in case things went sideways.
"Or he's just telling us he has to be careful."
My eyes snapped up and met his. "What should we do?"
