Chapter 42

Caleb

I sat in the living room,Lost. My phone vibrated with a message,at the same time the detective walked in. I didn't move, I couldn't for the life of me. I let Jason deal with it.

“ Mr Cross?”,
“ Mr Cross?”. I looked up and the detective was looking at me.

“ My officers are on the way to find your family members. I'm sorry about your wife. We'll start searching “.

I nodded because what else was I going to do? . I walked over to the bar and grabbed a bottle of Whiskey and walked out to the back porch and sat there drinking. The last thing I said to her was to be careful and I would see her. She said okay. I couldn't help but cry. I Loved her, I fucking loved her with all my heart and they took her away from me.

They took the one thing I truly wanted away from me. My heart felt like it would explode, I continued drinking because the pain wasn't lessening,it wouldn't stop and I needed it to stop.

Jason

I stood looking at him through the doors,he was crying and drinking. He truly loves her. I kept watching him , time dragged on slowly, it was morning and he wasn't showing any signs of stopping. I walked out and took the bottle from him. He had two empty whiskey bottles on the table,he was on his third bottle.

“ It's enough Caleb. Drinking yourself away won't bring her back “.

“ Why ?Why did they hurt her ?What Did they want?. Why do I have to suffer?.” he asked, taking another drink. My phone started ringing. The detective was calling. I put the phone on speaker.

“ Yes Detective “.

“ Mr Cross’s family has been taken to the hospital. The edge of the cliff drops straight into the ocean. I have divers searching but nothing. We'll continue the search, I'll update you and you can relay the message to Mr Cross ”.

“ Thank you Detective ”.

I ended the call and looked at him. He looked miserable. I grabbed the bottle out of his hands and tossed it away.

“ Get up, go take a shower. Your family and friends are at the hospital. Let's go”.

He stood up and walked into the house. Once alone I called my father and told him what happened. He remained quiet. I saw Max and Pete walking towards me.

“ Where's Mr Cross?”.
“ Taking a shower ”, I answered.

“ We've been doing some investigating. Turns out Your mother has a trusted Man, Taufik Ahmad. His details have been wiped clean , there's no Data in him”, Max said looking at me.

“ We found out because we decided to monitor Mrs Campbell's phone. In a message to Ms Davidson,she mentioned
“ Taufik has taken care of it. There's no traces . I got what I wanted now you can have what you want ”. I'm sorry boss but I think the madam is involved in this”. Pete said, looking unsure.

Fuck. I saw Cross walking Down the stairs. I looked at Both of them . “ Do not mention this to him. He's been drinking non-stop. I won't stop him from doing anything but I need him to be sober and I need to inform my father so we can deal with my mother accordingly “.

They both nodded. When we got to the hospital. We found all of them in one of The VIP rooms. The minute Cindy saw him ,she walked over to him and held onto him and cried. Holly didn't look any better. I looked at Ryan.

“ What happened Ryan?”.

“ I had just left Caleb's place and was heading to the construction site when someone ran me off the road. I passed out, when I woke up I was tied to a chair. Holly, Mya and Grace were there. They , whoever he was had them standing on chairs with ropes around Their necks”.

“ He already had my phone. I've seen enough to know the outfit was special ops. He told me to call Caleb and tell him I needed him in Payson. I refused at first,he kicked over the chairs , Mya and Grace were standing on. I couldn't let them die. So I called Caleb and Told him to come down “.

I looked at his parents.

“ What happened in your house?”.

“ Aria left with Nathan for the bank shortly after Caleb left. I was in the green house when Cindy came an hour later and told me she's headed to the bank. Aria Called her saying that she forgot a document so I said okay. I was still there when I heard Michael yelling. When I ran into the house, Micheal was in the living room on the floor bleeding. A man just walked out of nowhere and grabbed me ,told me if I didn't do as he said Michael would die. Michael was in the library when he heard a gunshot,he said when he opened the door the Man was standing there,he stabbed him twice “. Amanda said.

I looked at Nathan ,“ How Did they get her?”.

“ We were headed back from the bank when Mrs Cross asked me to Drive by one of the bakeries for her to get something. It was out of the normal route. I told her but she said she would be okay. I followed her into the bakery and then we left. On the way back there was a traffic Jam and an officer was directing cars in the other direction. I made sure no one was following us, I was on alert. On the way home we took the back road because there was a construction site up ahead. They shot the tires out first then started shooting up the car”.

He sat forward and put his head in his hands. “ My first instinct was to protect her. She started screaming,I grabbed her covering her , shielding her body. Before I knew what was happening I felt the gun at my head. Because I wouldn't move he shot me two times on the third time , he shot me in my stomach because I wouldn't let her go. When he pointed the gun to my head she told him to stop and that she would do whatever he wanted her to do”.

“ I couldn't move, he got her out of the car and he made her call Miss Cindy and he made her tell Miss Cindy where to meet us. I probably passed out after that because I remember waking up tired to the chair “.

“ Holly, how did he get you and your friends?”.

“ Ever since Ari disappeared at first we've been cautious. I've been handling the business and Grace and Mya have been handling the cafe for us. I was busy doing some work, I was at home when Grace called me and told me that something happened and I needed to go to the cafe . It was there that he got us. Apparently he was already there when Grace went to open the cafe at 6:00, he was already waiting for them and he had them call me but it wasn't just one person . There were three of them and they had guns pointed at Mya and Grace. They forced us to close the cafe and walk outside into a black tinted SUV. I don't know what happened but I passed out and when I woke up it was just like Nathan said I was tied to a chair”.


“ They knew If I called Caleb , he would come. They knew specifically Who should call Who. They had to have been watching us”. Ryan said.

“ Yes. I wasn't fully awake but I heard something. I heard someone say ,it was worth the wait, having patience is key. It took a while but the waiting paid off in the end, ” Amanda said.

The door opened and my father walked in. He stood looking at everyone. “What did the detective say?”. He asked me, but Caleb answered.

“ She's gone, she's dead and she's not coming back. They won't find her body. The water current is too strong. Praying and hoping she's still alive is hopeless. Six times,they shot her six times,no one can survive that , much less her”.

No one said anything,they just kept looking at him . “ I'm sorry Holly. She was like a sister to you, I'm sorry I didn't protect her. ” ,He stood up and walked out.

” She's always been there for me, since kindergarten,she and aunt Angela were my family. When aunt Angela died she was unconsolable and now I've lost her too. I don't know what to do now”. Holly said, crying.