Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 69511 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69511 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
It was a bit longer when I heard the screams of my name.
My dad.
He sounded desperate.
Scared.
As scared as I felt.
I whipped my head around in the direction I thought I heard his voice, then cupped my hands over my mouth in a funnel shape and screamed, “Daddy!”
A lot happened after that.
My dad’s light finally caught my face, and I started to cry.
“Baby, hang on!” he yelled. “I’ll get you!”
He couldn’t get me, though.
I sat there for another half an hour with my dad telling me it would be okay when a big boat with US COASTGUARD emblazoned on the bow pulled up beside me.
I had no clue how I’d gotten so far from the wall.
But the hotel was so far away that I realized how lucky I was to be alive.
I’d swum really far.
The moment I was in the boat, I was bundled in a silver space blanket and then shoved into a life vest.
I put it on, allowing them to snap up the buckles.
My eyes must’ve been as huge as they felt, because the woman buttoning my life vest said, “It’s gonna be okay, baby.”
It didn’t feel like it was going to be okay. It didn’t feel like anything was going to be okay ever again.
She pressed her hands against my cheeks and pressed a kiss to my brow.
I leaned into her, and stayed leaned into her, until we motored around the bay back to my parents.
I found them standing at the dock, looking anxious.
The moment the boat was close enough, Dad catapulted himself on board.
He had me in his arms moments later.
“Baby,” he breathed. “God.”
I felt my throat tighten.
“I’m sorry,” I breathed. “I’m so sorry.”
He ran his hands over my body, checking for injuries.
“Are you okay?” he asked. “Are you hurt anywhere?”
I was already shaking my head. “No. I’m okay.”
I mean, about as okay as I could be after being scared out of my mind all night.
“Sir,” one of the men who rescued me said. “We need to get her to the hospital.”
Dad picked me up and walked me to the ledge, then easily carried me over the ledge.
He didn’t hand me over to my mom, who was reaching out to me.
“Honey, she’s too heavy for you,” my dad told her bluntly.
She was right.
I’d been too heavy for my mom for a long time now.
“Please,” my mom pleaded.
My dad ignored her and caught me up on his hip, like he used to carry me when I was a baby.
I hadn’t been a baby in a really long time.
“Let me see her,” my mom ordered.
I hated when they fought.
“I can walk,” I whispered into my dad’s neck.
He squeezed me tight before saying, “Honey, let’s go. You know we can’t be out here.”
That was also something I’d learned not to argue about.
Dad was a US senator.
From the first moment I could remember, Dad had practically forced us to have security.
“Is it your job, Daddy?” I asked, scared.
He’d always told us, if we were taken, that we needed to know our names, phone numbers, and any other pertinent information that he deemed necessary.
We couldn’t go to school with the public because Daddy was apparently on a couple of foreign countries’ hit lists.
Dad was also a Navy SEAL.
He’d done some really bad stuff, he said, that put him at enemy number one to some people.
He’d said, since he was already on people’s ‘shit’ list, that he might as well continue the high-profile thing he had going on and advocate for the men willing to sacrifice their lives for our country.
Truthfully, I didn’t care what my daddy did.
I loved him no matter what.
He was my favorite of my parents.
Nothing against Mom, but she expected too much from us. Even at twelve, she expected me to be this perfect little doll for Daddy.
Mary Beth liked to say that Mom wanted the picture, not the family.
But the way she was holding onto my hand let me know that she cared.
Though, when I peeked out of Daddy’s neck, I saw the photographers at the front of the dock, right next to the ambulance.
“Daddy,” I whispered softly.
“Yeah, baby?” he rasped.
“Where’s Mary Beth?” I asked. “Where’s Gavrel?”
He swallowed. I felt his throat bob against my nose.
“Your brother is at the hotel, secure,” he rasped.
I waited for what felt like forever before I said, “And Mary Beth?”
“She’s gone,” Dad said. “Mary Beth’s gone.”
My stomach bottomed out. “Those boys, men. They were there to meet Mary Beth.”
“They what?” He stopped and looked at me, his eyes wide. “Tell me what happened.”
The order had my body trembling.
“The boys that Mary Beth met,” I whispered. “She was there to see them. I think she went with them.”
He was already shaking his head. “She didn’t go with them, baby. They took her.”
I opened my mouth but closed it just as fast. “No. That’s not what happened.”