Chapter 75 CHAPTER 078
With the morning light, I am able to see that he brought us to an abandoned warehouse. It is huge and feels almost cavernous. The windows are high and off to the far end of the space, there are tall stacks of long forgotten boxes containing God knows what.
"Mom?" Tyler calls, his mother has gone silent on the other end. We hear only her breathing. I know Linc is with her and I strain against the gag in my throat, it is futile. I can't make a sound. I know I shouldn't but I feel desperate. I don't want to die without hearing Linc's voice one more time.
I don't want to leave him without speaking to him one last time. I don't know where the death thoughts come from, but listening to unstable Tyler talk to his mother and the awful suspicious silence on her end, I get a bad feeling in the pits of my stomach.
"Tyler, honey, we need to talk about that again. But please you will have to let Amelia go first. I am so sorry, I think I might have misled you." Her quiet regretful sob choked voice comes to me like a slam to the gut.
But it is nothing compared to what Tyler must feel because he pulls the phone away from his ear, glares at it for a second, disbelief and confusion on his face, then he brings the phone back to his ear, I can hear his mom calling his name softly. Apologetically. Filled with shame and remorse.
"No!" He yells into the phone and smashes it on the concrete floor. My heart lurches into my stomach, I look at the shattered bits of the phone on the floor and it feels like that is my heart on the floor. Broken beyond repair. I might die in this warehouse today.
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Linc Dmitri POV::
"We got him." Hernandez whispers to me as Sheryl stares at the phone in her hand, numbly. Tyler ended the call at the perfect time. The technicians over at the investigation room were able to triangulate his location down to a mile radius.
I managed to stay quiet and did not interrupt the call as Sheryl and her son talked, further confirming my terrible suspicion about why Tyler acted the way he did.
"Please. Linc. This is all a terrible misunderstanding. Please. Don't hurt my son. I can explain." Sheryl comes up to me, her beautiful face streaked with tears and shame. I have never known Sheryl to be able to feel embarrassment. But it is written all over her features so vividly, I am taken aback. And I want to extend her grace immediately, but I can't. Not yet.
This is not resolved yet. Far from it. I can't feel anything till I have Amelia safe in my arms.
"Sir, we are set to leave." Hernandez says, I look around to see that Abbie and the other guys have already left the room.
"Please! Let me come with you. Linc, please. I will explain everything." Sheryl falls to her knees in front of me. Instinctively, I lean down to raise her up. She is crying freely now and in spite of myself, I feel a tinge of pity for her.
"Okay." I say simply and turn around, following Hernandez who is saying something about the drive being an hour long. We have the advantage of daylight so we can find the place easier, but it is also disadvantageous because he could see us coming. Hernandez keeps talking and I am not sure I am following, my blood is roaring in my ears, I have a lot of questions and I want answers to them.
We take two cars, Abbie and the other guys with all their high tech and properly concealed lethal weapons trailing ahead, me, Hernandez and Sheryl behind in my land cruiser.
"Explain yourself Sheryl." I say coldly. She has her head in her hands, and the pity I felt for her earlier has already disintegrated. I am too nervous about what we are driving to that I can't muster the energy to feel any kind of sympathy for her. Her son is a psychopath and I intend to make sure he never harms anyone like this ever again. I don't make promises to people who wrong me. I hold grudges and I never forget.
Tyler would be facing the full wrath of the law for this. And that is after I get my hands on him. For his sake, I hope he did not physically assault Amelia. I hope he kept her untouched and safe. I can't predict how I will act if I see her broken. He might not live to go before a judge, so help me God.
"There really isn't much to explain, Linc. I am mortified. I am embarrassed. All I can do is plead for mercy from you. Please, extend grace to Tyler. Please." She says, not meeting my eyes.
"That won't cut it Sheryl. You are going to tell me why Tyler thinks I am his father or I am going to drop you out of this car and the next time we will be meeting would be when I hand you his corpse." Sheryl recoils from my harsh words, I don't mind. I intended for it to sting.
I need her to hurt the way I am currently hurting. If anything happens to Amelia, I don't think I would be able to live with myself. How could I have failed her so terribly?