“I’m logging you into the street cameras,” Rika told her, tapping away on her cell. “They turned right out of the gate about ninety seconds ago, probably headed toward town, but keep an eye on them and make sure. We’ll follow.”

Banks nodded, Rika handed her phone back to her, and everyone rushed through the front door, grabbing keys to cars on the way.

But I caught sight of something and stopped.

They all veered around me, emptying the foyer, but I stared at the grandfather clock, it’s pendulum frozen and the minute hand paused on nine minutes past ten.

Holding up my wrist, I checked my watch, seeing it was actually twenty-three minutes past the hour.

I glanced at the clock again.

“What is it?” Emmy rushed back up to me.

“Clock stopped.” I couldn’t breathe. “Ten-oh-nine. That’s when Reverie Cross died.”

I mean, I didn’t really believe that shit, but I also knew Madden was the only one who refused to light a candle on EverNight. Kind of weird.

She pulled me along, both of us running to the back doors of one of the SUVs, Kai and Banks piling into the front. Michael and Damon climbed into the other car with Winter and Rika, and Kai slipped the key in, pausing suddenly.

He tapped the digital clock, and I zoned in, seeing ten-oh-nine on the car clock, as well.

“What the hell?” Kai growled.

But he didn’t stop to worry. “How far ahead of us are they?” he asked his wife.

“Just reaching the village,” she told him, looking at her screen. “Hurry.”

We strapped ourselves in, and I shot a worried look to Emmy next to me.

“It’s not EverNight,” she whispered.

“It doesn’t have to be.”

Reverie Cross had all year to strike, and while I knew a lit flame the next morning meant you were safe, I had never cared to think about what happened to those who didn’t light a candle at all.

“Let’s go!” I called.

Kai shot off, slamming the gas, and we raced down the driveway, Michael’s headlights bright on our tail.

Kai charged onto the road, the tires spinning under us on the snow-covered blacktop. Kicking it into low gear, he sped down the street, past the other houses lit up with bonfires, lanterns, and holiday lights.

“Did you reach Engelstat?” I turned to Emmy, remembering what I’d asked her to do.

“Yes, the kids are safe.” She nodded. “Banks sent security to the theater. They’ll stay there until we come.”

I nodded once. Good.

If anything, they were probably safer there. Tons of people, the whole place locked down…

“Where are they now?” I asked Banks.

She hesitated, studying her screen and changing vantage points. “Heading toward Old Pointe Road,” she finally answered and then looked to Kai. “They wouldn’t be going to the resort, right? Meridian City, maybe?”

He shook his head, turning his eyes left and right as he raced at what felt like a hundred miles an hour. “Just keep your eyes on them.”

I stared out the window, clenching my jaw so hard it ached. Taylor Dinescu. We hadn’t messed with Blackchurch for him after the last time we saw him that night at the Cove. We threw everything at him and his family, sending him to prison, because he deserved to be there. Not only for what got him sent to Blackchurch, but for my own personal reasons, too.

He’d hurt Emmy. A lot. And he fucking enjoyed doing it.

And when he finally managed to get out six years ago, I hired someone to keep an eye on him for a while—make sure he didn’t get any ideas—but I knew he didn’t deserve a second chance. We should’ve sent him away.

Or dealt with him permanently. He was the one with the money. Not Ilia. If I had just taken care of it, we wouldn’t be here.

“This could’ve been our kids,” I mumbled, tears filling my eyes.

“It is our kids,” Em replied.

I looked over at her as she reached out and took my hand. I couldn’t imagine what Damon was feeling right now.

I wouldn’t really know the full measure of it until it was one of mine.

“What happened in that room?” Banks asked Kai. “Something went wrong if they left a dead body behind. How did we not hear or see anything?”

“We’re going to find them,” Kai stated. “Mads is smart.”

“He would’ve fought,” Banks told him, crying again. “They would’ve had to hurt him to get him in that car. Did you see on the camera if they hit him or not?”

He shook his head but didn’t answer.

My eyes burned, seeing Banks so scared for the first time ever. I turned my head out of the window. This would be the end of us. If anything happened to those kids…

We had minutes. Minutes before they were gone forever.

“Look at me,” Kai told her, trying to keep his eyes on the road too. “Not today.”

Banks nodded but still looked about to break.

I heard a seatbelt unclick, and Emmy was suddenly in my lap, forcing my face around and my eyes on her.

I closed them, though. I’d brought this on them. What if worse happened to our kids someday? What life did I bring her into?

“Look at me.” She shook me.

I opened my eyes.

“We couldn’t be anyone else,” she said. “This isn’t your fault.”

I stared up at her, all the doubt and worry I was usually good about hiding laid bare for her, because she always knew what I was thinking. She could read me as well as herself.

I didn’t want to be anyone else. But I didn’t want the kids to suffer the consequences for our choices, either.

I wrapped my arms around her and looked up into her eyes. “I love you,” I whispered. “Thank you for my children.”

If I didn’t get a chance to say it again…

Her smile peeked out. “Ditto.”

I held on to her, her scent and eyes reminding me of our kids and everything I loved about waking up every day.

We had a right to be here, and we didn’t ask for this.

Reaching down, I fisted both sides of the slit of her dress and ripped it up her thigh, giving her legs room to move. “Let’s go get these motherfuckers.”

She kissed me as Kai sped into the village, but immediately slammed on the brakes.

“What the hell?” he barked.

I pulled away from Em, squinting out the front windshield to see the street crowded with people, despite the thick, white flakes pouring down. I glanced over at the theater, noting Banks’s two men just inside the doors, guarding the kids.

I exhaled, looking back at the costumes and masks and fire pits glowing bright around the village as music played and people smiled.

Santa sat up in the gazebo, a line of a dozen kids waiting to meet with him.

“The treasure hunt,” I reminded him. That was why everyone was out. We couldn’t have planned this kidnapping better for Taylor and Ilia. Tons of activity to get lost in.

I glanced behind me, not seeing the others. Michael must’ve gone the long way, knowing what the village would be like.

“Head past the cathedral,” Emmy told him. “Take the lane down to Old Pointe.”

He hit the horn and flashed his lights as people took their sweet time getting out of the fucking way. Slowly, the snow-covered street cleared.