Chapter 6 - Rescuing Emma
"We have a major problem," Elena said, rushing into my hospital room at 4:00 p.m. that afternoon, her phone pressed tightly to her ear.
I set down my water glass, instantly sensing the tension in the room. "What is it? Did they arrest Caleb?"
"Caleb caught wind of Gary Vance’s confession," Elena said grimly, hanging up her call. "He skipped his bail check-in an hour ago. And according to my private investigator, he just pulled up to Emma’s elementary school in his Mercedes."
Panic exploded in my chest like a grenade. "No! He’s going to take Emma!"
"He knows his life is over," Elena said, grabbing her coat. "If he gets his hands on Emma, he’ll use her as leverage to force you to drop the charges, or he’ll try to flee the country with her!"
"I have to go," I yelled, yanking the heavy hospital blanket off my legs.
"Rebecca, no!" Nurse Sarah cried out, rushing to my side as I swung my cast-encased legs over the edge of the mattress. "You can't walk! Your femur fractures haven't set!"
"I don't care!" I screamed, tears spilling down my cheeks. "My daughter is in danger! Get me a wheelchair NOW!"
Dr. Mercer sprinted into the room, saw the look in my eyes, and didn't even argue. He grabbed a heavy-duty transport wheelchair from the hallway, locked the brakes beside my bed, and helped Sarah lift my heavy, plastered legs into the leg supports.
"I’m driving you," Detective Miller declared, pulling out her police radio as she escorted us toward the elevator. "All units, this is Unit 404! We have a parental abduction in progress at St. Jude’s Elementary School! Suspect is Caleb Walker, driving a black Mercedes E-Class! Proceed with extreme caution!"
The ride to St. Jude’s Elementary felt like a fever dream.
Detective Miller drove with her lights and sirens blaring, weaving through afternoon traffic while I sat in the passenger seat, clutching the dashboard, praying with every breath in my body that we wouldn't be too late.
When we pulled into the school’s circular driveway, the scene was chaos.
Parents were screaming, pulling their children back toward their cars. Parked right across the yellow fire zone was Caleb’s black Mercedes.
Near the front glass doors of the school, Caleb was dragging ten-year-old Emma by her arm. Emma was weeping hysterically, digging her sneakers into the concrete, clutching her blue backpack to her chest.
"Daddy, stop! You're hurting me! I want Mommy!" Emma cried out.
"Shut up and get in the car!" Caleb roared, his face twisted into an unrecognizable mask of rage. He pulled open the rear passenger door and attempted to shove her inside.
"CALEB!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.
Caleb spun around.
Detective Miller jumped out of the cruiser with her service weapon drawn, taking cover behind her car door. "POLICE! DROP TO YOUR KNEES, CALEB! PUT YOUR HANDS ON YOUR HEAD!"
Caleb looked at the police gun, then at me sitting in the wheelchair that Miller had quickly pulled from the trunk.
"Rebecca?" Caleb gasped, his eyes wide with disbelief. "How are you here?!"
"Step away from my daughter," I said, my voice echoing across the concrete driveway with an authority I didn't know I possessed.
"You ruined everything!" Caleb screamed, grabbing Emma by the shoulder and holding her in front of him like a human shield. "You were supposed to die in that car! You were supposed to be dead!"
The surrounding parents gasped in horror.
"Daddy, please!" Emma sobbed, trembling violently in his grip.
"Caleb, look at me," I said, pushing the wheels of my chair forward until I was ten feet away from him, completely ignoring Detective Miller’s frantic order to stay back. "Look at me!"
Caleb’s eyes snapped to mine.
"You lost," I said, my voice cold, steady, and razor-sharp. "The police have Gary Vance’s confession. They have the video of you cutting my brake lines. They have the two-point-five-million-dollar insurance policy. And the IRS just seized your Credit Suisse account in Switzerland."
Caleb’s face went entirely white. The last remnant of his arrogant power collapsed into sheer, unadulterated terror.
"It’s over, Caleb," I whispered. "Let her go."
His grip on Emma’s shoulder loosened.
In that split second of hesitation, Emma broke free, sprinting across the pavement as fast as her little legs could carry her, throwing her arms around my neck, sobbing hysterically into my shoulder.
"Mommy! Mommy!" she wept.
May you like
I wrapped my arms around her, burying my face in her hair, holding her so tight that nothing in this world could ever separate us again.
Behind us, Detective Miller and three responding officers tackled Caleb to the ground, slamming his face into the asphalt, clicking the handcuffs shut around his wrists with a final, echoing snap.
