Chapter 2

2 God, or someone, must have heard me because I woke up here with all that hate.

I cranked the wheel to the right, just looped around the block. There's this coffee shop with a big window on the second floor, a perfect view of that alley entrance.

Ashley was still arguing with those punks.

They were all over her, and she was crying, too scared to fight back.

Then my phone started ringing ― it was Ashley.

I waited till the last second to answer. "Hello?"

They hung up immediately. Some redhead grabbed Ashley's phone and started swearing.

I was too far away to hear exactly what he was saying, but it was nasty.

Maybe two minutes later, Ashley walked right into the alley with those guys.

I finished my coffee, real slow, then went downstairs.

I got to the school, acted all worried, asked the security guard.

Then I called Ashley's teacher, Mrs. Davis. She's this thirty-something woman, and she's all about money.

Ashley always brags about how rich her mom is, and she made me dress up when I came to school, so Ashley is the school's darling.

All the kids follow her around, and the teacher kisses her butt, even though she's always at the bottom of the class.

So Mrs. Davis practically ran out to meet me.

"Oh, Ashley's Mom, I'm so sorry to keep you waiting, do you know where Ashley is?"

I acted super worried. "No, I can't get through to her. I'm so worried."

"Did she seem upset today?"

Mrs. Davis hemmed and hawed, didn't say a thing.

I was ready to explode, and my husband, Mark, showed up just then.

He started yelling before he even got to me. "What kind of mother are you? You can't even pick up your daughter? You're useless.

"Call her! What if something happens to her?"

I looked at him, real calm. Because I was feeding him, he usually didn't talk to me that way. He only does that with Ashley.

How obvious can you get? Last time, I was totally blind.

Mark saw my face and got nervous, realized he'd gone too far.

He tried to backpedal. "I'm just so scared, baby. Don't be mad. Let's just find Ashley."

Mrs. Davis chimed in, too.

I got all frantic again, and turned to Mrs. Davis. "Do you have Ashley's friends' numbers? Can you call them, see if they know anything?"

Mrs. Davis practically jumped at the chance to help.

She called around, then asked if some of the kids would help search.

She's not subtle. She was thinking exactly what I was, and gave me a step up.

I gave her a grateful look, as she gave me the names and numbers of some people that I could call.

Soon enough, a bunch of kids and teachers were searching. Everyone broke into groups, searched everywhere, and it was all for nothing.

Ashley's phone was still off.

Mark was losing it.

I pulled out my phone and called the cops. I'd wanted to do that in the first place, but Mark stopped me.

I saw a flicker of something in his eyes.

Looks like there's a lot I didn't know about Ashley.

But now Mark probably realizes Ashley is really in trouble, so he didn't say a thing.

Usually, the police don't take missing persons reports until 24 hours have passed, but I mentioned she was the daughter of a big business man, so they showed up in minutes. I'd already done a few fake sobs.

I cried for being too stupid to see the truth before, for letting those wolves into my life, for messing everything up.

But I'd learned to hide my feelings, how to act.

I was the perfect mother, begging the police, "Please, you have to find her, please!"

I even ran up to people on the street, showing them Ashley's picture on my phone.

Any mom would have done the same thing. Nobody could say I didn't love Ashley.

I loved her to death.

More and more people were helping.

Meanwhile, on a side street, that alley near the garbage dump, nobody wanted to go near it. That's why they missed it the first few times.

But then this kid, who has a crush on Ashley, decided to take a look, and he heard screaming.

The alley was so deep, the sound was faint. And Ashley was already exhausted, barely able to make a sound.

The kid freaked out, didn't go in, just told everyone.

Soon enough, everyone was at the alley entrance, police in the lead.

They found Ashley at the end, naked, bruised all over, barely alive.