Where's Molly (Cat and Mouse, #2.5)

by H.D. Carlton

She won’t be waking up, which means that Layla will be left to her tears while I’m gone.

As a mom, this hurts.

I didn’t want to risk Layla being taken by CPS and put in the system.

Isn't 'the system' a better option at this point?

I hope to God another girl never finds this journal.

And then Adeline does.

Francesca’s favorite helper, Rio,

RIO <3

I peek over my shoulder, quickly ensuring the men behind me are still unconscious, then slip out the door. Only to smack directly into a hard chest. “Where ya goin’, mama?” Hope, elation, freedom… they fizzle out like a damp firecracker. My bottom lip trembles as I lift my gaze. Rio.

I LOVE RIO SO MUCH

Francesca brought him in a few months ago, right after his nineteenth birthday, and not long after he arrived from Puerto Rico.

Poor Rio.

However, they've been having issues with him letting targeted girls slip through his fingers.

GOOD GUY RIO

I'm fucked. Well and truly fucked.

No because it's RIO <3

“Do you have a sister?” I ask.

YES HE DOES AND THAT'S WHY HE'S THERE

Legion is an underground organization run by an elusive no-face man named after his company,

Zade?

much like their sister organization, Z,

ZADE

my palms are sweaty, and my knees are weak.

Arms heavy? There's vomit on your sweater already, mom's spaghetti?

“No friends? Boyfriend?”

Subtle.

the fantasy novel from Adeline Reilly that I’d been reading.

Of course.

Quietly, I fish out my phone from my back pocket and click on the feed for my security cameras,

Maybe you should have done that first.

he kicks off his shoes at the entrance,

What a gentleman.

He shrugs, popping the disc into my DVD player

Who still had a DVD player in 2022?

“Everyone has popcorn, Molly.” He says that like it’s obvious.

I currently don't.

Then, he grabs my legs and, resting them over his lap, massages my feet,

Man of my dreams right there.

“At one point in our lives, we don’t know our soulmates at all. But that doesn’t make them any less of one. Sometimes… sometimes you just know.”

Because staring into her eyes is the only thing I needed, to convince myself she's everything I'll ever want for as long as oxygen invades my lungs. I knew it deep in my bones the day I met her. Even back then, my soul immediately recognized hers as its other half.

His eyes darken like a forest fire within, blackening with a hunger as potent as the flames. I’ve never been so ready to walk into a wildfire.

“I love how easily you bend for me.” “Just don't expect me to break,”