Screams and laughter. That's all I hear all around me, and it's a little unsettling at times for reasons only I know. I know everyone is here to have a good time and how the rides will make people scream when they lift, spin around, and twirl you upside down, but whenever I hear someone screaming, I fear the worst.

I stood at the silver aluminum rail, listening hard to every sound coming from the funhouse of mirrors. There were screams. There was laughter. There was shouting about where to go, and there were smiles on the kids' and adults' faces when they exited the funhouse. But there was a feeling inside of me that I couldn't shake. Something wasn't right.

At one point, I thought I heard Everly scream, and she probably did. She'd been screaming and laughing since we entered the rides area. I also know it's typical for children to scream when having fun at places like these.

I was growing nervous with each second that passed. I didn't want to be here tonight, but I didn't want to upset my daughter, either. This was the birthday present she asked me to give her—the first gift she'd ever asked for from me. So, when Seraphine called me out on it after I mentioned that we shouldn't go and how she glared at me through her piercing electric blues, I knew I had to put aside those terrible inklings I felt. I didn't want to disappoint either one of them.

A shiver crawled down my spine when I looked at the time, realizing my girls had been inside the fun house for over twenty minutes. I wasn't sure how long it took someone to find their way through the maze, but my gut told me they should've exited by now. Especially after seeing some of the kids and adults standing in line behind Everly and Seraphine exit the maze.

I rushed to the booth selling tickets, barging through the crowd, and cutting in front of a woman with her young child trying to buy tickets. "Excuse me," I told her, then looked at the elderly woman behind the glass, who gave me a scolding look for cutting in line. "I'm sorry to barge in like this and interrupt your selling tickets, but how long does it usually take for someone to get through the maze?"

"Usually around ten to fifteen minutes."

It's been nearly thirty minutes since they went inside.

Panic instantly rushed through me. "I need to go inside. Something isn't right. My girlfriend and daughter have been inside the funhouse for about a half hour now."

"I'm sure they're fine. If you want to go inside looking for them, you'll have to pay the ten dollars, but first, you'll have to go to the end of the line."

The hell I do.

I reached into my back pocket and removed my wallet. I pulled out a business card and brought my wallet to the glass window, flashing the woman my shield and sliding my card underneath the window. "I'm going in without buying a ticket," I warned, clenching my teeth. "Something's wrong."

A worried look appeared in her eye, and she nodded.

"I suggest you shut this down until I come out with both of my girls."

Without saying a word, I flashed my badge when I rushed past the carnival workers, taking tickets. My stomach instantly twisted when I entered the funhouse. Between the dark area, the minimal neon lighting above me, the weird as fuck music, strobe lights, and smoke billowing around like we're at a fucking concert? I'm not liking this one bit.

I felt my way around as I moved through the weird as fuck optical illusion maze. Everything was deceiving as fuck. My feet moved fast inside, and the further I got into the labyrinth of hell, the quieter it became, which meant everyone was finding their way out. Hopefully, I didn't come in here for nothing, and my girls are standing outside looking for me.

I removed my phone. "Call my girl," I demanded my phone to do. Instead of listing Seraphine under her real name, I wisely chose to have her contact come up as my girl since it could mean anyone if I was somewhere when I didn't want anyone to know she was calling me.

No answer. Fuck.

"Call Murphy."

After a few rings, he picked up and answered, "What kind of trouble are you in now?"

"Where are you? Are you still at the fair?" I demanded since he mentioned he'd come to the fair tonight after telling him how unsure I was about going and how I didn't want to break Everly's heart because of the hunch I had.

"Yes, I'm still at the fair. I've been wandering the rides area looking for you. I have a belated birthday gift for Everly."

My eyes closed in relief. "That gift will have to wait. I need you to come to the funhouse maze of mirrors. Call me immediately if you see my girls looking for me. If you don't, I want you to order the workers to shut down the maze and turn on the lights."

"What's going on?"

My entire world just crashed and burned—again. "I think my worst fears have surfaced and come to life. The fucking no good rotten bastard has both of my girls. I just know it," I answered, pained. "I feel it. And if he harms either one of them... I swear to God..."

"Take some deep breaths. I'll be right over there. We'll get to the bottom of this. If he took your girls, we'll find them."

***

"I'm going to throw up," I muttered to Murphy as the guts in my stomach twisted and knotted while looking at the officers speaking to the funhouse workers who were inside the maze at the time. And I studied every one of those employees' faces. They had to have seen something. At least one of them had to have seen something.

"We'll find them," Murphy said, trying to console me.

After making two huge mistakes back to back, I always told myself I'd never make another mistake again. Well, here's another one to add to the list. I knew I should've stuck to my guns by us not coming and offered to take Everly somewhere else.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

I also promised I'd never allow anything to happen to Seraphine. I assured her I wouldn't. This just shows and proves to her that I'm incapable of making and keeping promises since I've just broken another promise to her.

I also promised the devil in disguise I wouldn't let anything happen to Everly when she was in my care. Now she's gone—with Chadwick, of all fucking people. Another fucking reason for her to want to petition the courts, telling them that I'm incapable of being a fucking father.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

I angrily raked my fingers through my hair, then gripped and pulled while leaning my head back, and looked at the sky blanketed with darkness and blinking stars, wondering where in the hell underneath this fucking sky he took my girls.

"I should've gone in there with them, Murphy," I mumbled, lowering my head and eyeing my partner. "Seraphine asked why I didn't want to go in with them..." Disappointed in myself, I shook my head, "Fuck Murph... I should've just pushed those horrible memories from when we were on those missions aside and went in with them."

"You can't blame yourself for what happened."

The hell I can't.

My eyes turned to slits when I groaned, "Yes. I can." My arms frustratedly raised as I shouted, "I promised her I would never allow him to get to her! I promised her I'd get to him before he got near her! Now look! They're both gone, and it's all my fault!"

Fuck this. They need to see my girls one more time. One of them had to have seen them. One of them had to have seen something. One of them knows something and was most likely paid to keep their mouths shut. If not one, all of them.

Lifting my phone and pulling up the last pictures I took of my girls, I stormed over to the workers being questioned and held a picture of my daughter in front of each of their faces, having them look again, demanding, "Look at her. Look really hard at this girl. Don't you remember seeing this little girl wandering the maze at all?" I slid the picture to the next one and shoved the phone back into their faces, saying, "She would've been with her. You can't tell me you didn't see these two moving through the maze."

I studied their faces as they re-looked at the pictures I was showing them. I was angered when they all shook their heads again, saying no, that they were sorry for not seeing them, that they had seen multiple people wandering by, and that it was too hard to remember every face that passed them. It took every ounce of willpower in me not to take them all down and make them suffer until they confessed to seeing them.

Murphy must've seen the blazing fire shooting from my eyes or heard the warning tone in my voice that I was about to pull out my gun and snap. Or it was because he knew me well and sensed what I was ready to do—what I wanted to do—and what I was seconds away from doing. Because he pulled me away from them, saying, "You can't threaten them with your gun, Mitchel. They've done nothing wrong. Your girls need you to be looking for them. They don't need you sitting in a jail cell over something stupid. If they know something, we'll get it out of them the correct way. Don't be a dirty cop. Not right now. It's not the time or place. All right? "

Gonzalaz shouted for me as he exited the funhouse, waving his hand for me to come, shouting, "Mitchel! Come over here. I've got something to show you!"

I pushed Murphy aside and rushed over to Gonzalez. "What did you find?" I said, following back into the maze of hell.

"A few things."

He walked me to a mirror with a hidden door. When he opened it, my blood instantly started to boil, and I saw nothing but red; Seraphine's wig and phone lay there on the ground, smashed.

"There's also a note another few feet away."

He walked me over to it and shined his light on the ground. "Finally, after all these years, I have both your girls. See you in hell motherfucker," I muttered, reading aloud what was spray painted on the ground. I balled up my fists and turned, punching the tree beside me, not caring if I had just broken my fucking knuckles.

Gonzalez shined the light another few inches over and said, "This was the final note I found. It says: I'll make sure to record the torture and killings of your girls. I'll make sure to kill them the same way you tortured and killed my brother."

I clenched my teeth and turned, punching the tree again and yelling obscenities at the top of my lungs.

"Declan," Gonzalez said, his hand squeezing my shoulder. "We'll find them. Do you have any idea where he would've brought them?"

I shook my head. "I have no fucking clue, but I know someone who just may know where he would've taken them," I groaned.

I lifted my phone. "Call Marla. And if she doesn't answer, keep calling until she answers her fucking phone," I ordered, whether the phone understood my command or not.

The little electronic device must've understood my order because when she didn't answer the first time, the phone kept calling her until she answered.

"Declan, do you know what time it is?" she scolded tiredly.

"As a matter of fact, I do. It's time for you to tell me everything you know about Chadwick. Seraphine and Everly have been fucking kidnapped. And I'm one hundred percent sure it was that coward fucking bastard who took them."

She gasped. "What? How? You don't make mistakes like this, Declan," she scolded.

I looked down, rubbing the back of my neck, trying hard not to blow a fucking gasket on my best friend of sixteen or so years. "Yeah, well, apparently, I fucking do. Now tell me everything you know. Right. Fucking. Now."

I hope you enjoyed the chapter!!🤞🤞