BONNIE
Exhaustion weighed down on her with every step she took. Why hadn’t she gone the other way? Why had she decided to go into the forest?
She’d honestly thought it wasn’t a big forest and the highway was on the other side. She was very mistaken. Bonnie was completely lost and she had no clue where she came from. Was Rogan’s guest house to her right, left, or behind her?
Here Bonnie was yet again being dumb. She didn’t know how long she’d been walking but she did know it felt like eternity. When she left, she hadn’t even thought about shoes-something she would like to have right now.
There were pebbles and thorns on the forest ground. Branches hit her in the face and tree trunks tripped her. Bonnie’s whole body was aching with every fall and hit she took. The cold was making her go numb.
Why hadn’t she checked the weather before she left?
Bonnie hadn’t been in her right mind. She honestly should have left in the morning when she could see and make a better getaway. But Bonnie hadn’t wanted to leave then. What if Daddy-she sighed-Rogan came back and decided he was going to lock her up in the basement again?
She wasn’t going to let that happen. There was no way she was going back down there to get tortured. She needed to protect herself, and even though her leaving close to night was foolish, she’d to do it. It was her best option.
Bonnie wished she’d taken more time to look around and figure out which way she needed to go or come up with a game plan. She seemed to go into things without thinking them through very well and it wasn’t wise of her at all.
Tears of frustration filled her eyes as she pulled her bag over her shoulder. Right now she needed her pacifier so she could calm herself down and start to think rationally. But as Bonnie searched through her bag, she couldn’t find it.
Where could it be? Why wasn’t it in her bag? She’d specifically placed it on top of Mosey in her bag so when she needed it, it was easy to grab.
Shit.
Her eyes went wide. That could have been the plop she heard when she was leaving. Her pacifier could still be in the house. Tears ran down her face. It was her favorite pacifier and now she would never have it again.
Bonnie closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. She had to continue to move or else she was going to break down and die in the forest. Okay, the dying part was probably a stretch but it was what it felt like to her. She was lost and didn’t have a phone to contact anyone. She didn’t want to take the phone and have Da-Rogan contact her.
She sighed. She really needed to stop calling Rogan Daddy. He wasn’t her Daddy anymore. He didn’t want her and she had to accept his decision. No matter how much it hurt and no matter how much she didn’t want it to be true.
She could die here in the forest, and no one would care. Well, Mosey would care, but then he would die along with her. No one was looking for her. Rogan was probably grinning and telling people to leave her in the forest to die. He absolutely didn’t want anything to do with her. She still couldn’t believe it, but all the evidence was there.
He told her not to contact him anymore and he left the house without saying anything. All signs he didn’t want her anymore.
Bonnie didn’t want to die in the forest alone. She wanted to travel and live her life but right now it wasn’t looking too good for her.
She was definitely going to die out here. Some wild animal was going to kill her and eat her remains. Or Rogan was going to send someone to come after her.
She wanted to believe he wouldn’t do that. She wanted to believe right now he was looking for her and was worried she could get cold.
So badly she wanted Rogan, Raynar, and her to work out. She really did. Neither had responded to any of the texts she’d sent though, which only showed they didn’t want her. Rogan had told her he didn’t want her to text him anymore. Raynar hadn’t said anything.
Tears ran down her face as she thought about both of them. She’d been so happy the last couple of days with them. Well as happy as she could be knowing her brother was going to call at any second. She should have told Rogan and Raynar about it right away but she wanted, needed, to talk to her brother first.
“Why?” she yelled as she sobbed.
Why did this have to happen to her? Why couldn’t her life have been normal?
Bonnie should have never gotten into his car. Then she wouldn’t be so heartbroken about leaving Rogan and Raynar.
“Why did I have to be so stupid?” she whispered to herself as she continued to walk.
She couldn’t see anything on the ground. Was there a root right in front of her? She didn’t know. Was there a wild animal closing in on her? She absolutely didn’t know and hoped there wasn’t. But at the same time maybe they could take her out of her own misery.
“Why did I have to fall in love with two men?” She sobbed. “Why me?”
Bonnie’s toes got caught on something and she went flying to the ground. She screamed in pain as her toes were on fire but also from the searing hot pain running down her leg. Shit. That hurt so bad.
Tears streamed down her face as she laid on the ground. Normally, she would be pushing herself off, trying to get away from all the insects but she didn’t have the strength.
She didn’t have the strength for anything.
Bonnie had made so many mistakes in less than a month. Too many to count and now she was paying for it. Was this the price she was paying? If she could do it all over again, she would go ahead with the arranged marriage. It was better than laying on the cold ground at night, hurt and covered in bugs, shivering with each passing second.
“Please,” she begged.
She knew no one was out there. She knew these were her last minutes to live. Bonnie felt her eyes starting to get heavier with each passing second. She took a deep breath in, relishing the cold air for one last time. Her body was starting to go numb. From the cold or from her dying, she didn’t know and she didn’t really care.
All she wanted was love and a Daddy, she thought as her eyes closed.
ROGAN
Several hours had passed since Bonnie had gone missing and they had been searching the whole time. No one could find her. The dogs were searching but then they lost her tracks.
Rogan was currently in the house, pulling out maps of the surrounding areas so they could mark off where they had been. They needed to find her and fast. The night had already come and it was cold outside.
He knew from the little clothing she wore in the video she had to be cold. Was she all right? Was she continuing to move or had she stopped? Everything in Rogan hoped she hadn’t stopped. She needed to continue to move to keep warm, no matter how much she wanted to give up. But he didn’t know if she knew those things.
Had she hurt herself? Was she bleeding and in pain? Rogan knew she didn’t handle pain well and he was worried. What if she was attracting animals with the scent of her blood?
“Why the fuck haven’t we found her yet?” Rogan yelled as Lucius and Angelo walked in.
“We’re going to find her,” Lucius said. “Do you have anything else we could use with her scent on it?”
Rogan nodded his head. There was her pillowcase she snuggled up to all the time at night. Call him a creep for watching her sleep through the cameras. He wanted to make sure she was safe and he only did it briefly.
She always looked so peaceful.
“Raynar, can you go get her pillowcase?” he asked with a sigh. They needed to find her and soon. “She couldn’t have gotten far,” Rogan said.
“She isn’t a fast walker and it’s dark outside.” “We’ll find her soon,” Lucius promised.
“Nothing can happen to her,” Rogan whispered. “She’s my life. Raynar and Bonnie are my life and I can’t lose her now.”
Lucius and Angelo stared at him in shock, which only annoyed him. Now was not the time to be shocked about what he was saying. Bonnie was out in the forest somewhere, scared out of her mind.
“Not the fucking time!” he growled.
“We’ll find her. Why don’t we look to see where we’ve searched. Then we can have the majority of the people looking at the new areas and a couple people looking through what we’ve already looked at,” Angelo said.
“Did she message you at all after you left?” Lucius asked.
“She did, but I was talking to you and had my phone on silent. I quickly sent her a message, but it wasn’t great. I needed to think things through. It was dumb of me, and something I wish I could take back but I can’t,” Rogan said. “But none of the texts were about her leaving or where she was going.”
“Okay,” Lucius said. “That’s alright. You’ll have plenty of time to make it up to her when we find her.”
“I would’ve stopped and texted her,” Angelo muttered.
“If you have something to fucking say, then say it to my face. Don’t mutter it under your breath,” Rogan barked at him. “I know I made a fucking mistake. We’re all human here and we all make mistakes. Some we regret more than others and me not replying is one that will haunt me for the rest of my life.”
“Sorry.” Angelo looked down at the map.
Rogan took a deep breath. He needed to calm down and start to think clearly. She was still out there and nowhere to be found. Had someone helped her? Who would even be on his property?
“I’ve got the pillowcase,” Raynar said as he walked into the living room.
“Thank you.” Rogan took it from him, and held it to his face, breathing in her sweet scent. “Before I give these to the dogs, we need to figure out where we’ve already searched and where we haven’t.”
“That should be easy,” Lucius said. “We’ve been all over these areas surrounding the house and this area here.” He was pointing to the map as he talked.
“We’ll need to look there again,” Angelo said. “Like you said earlier, she could have moved and we don’t want to miss her.”
“Once we give the dogs the stronger scent to follow, it should be easier to find her,” Rogan agreed.
Rogan looked at the whole forest they hadn’t looked through yet. He hoped she wasn’t there at all. He didn’t know how she would have gotten there so fast, but maybe she did.
“Ready?” Rogan looked up at Angelo. “We’ll stick together with one of the dogs.”
“Ready.”
All three of them got up and walked toward the front door. Rogan turned back at the last second, making eye contact with Raynar.
“We’ll be back soon with her. Have everything ready,” he gently said. “And don’t worry. We’ll get her.”
Rogan could see the worry and tears in Raynar’s eyes. He’d been an emotional wreck since he found out Bonnie had disappeared. They all had, but Raynar especially. That was one of the reasons why Rogan had asked him to stay back at the house. He wasn’t thinking straight and Rogan knew he didn’t want other people to see him cry.
He walked out of the house and back toward the lead dog.
“I’ve got a pillowcase with a stronger scent,” Rogan said to its handler.
“We’ll follow you.”
“Yes, Boss,” the man replied.
Rogan handed over the pillowcase and let the dog sniff it several times. The dog started to sniff the ground, following her scent. All three of them followed as he walked into the forest. They had flashlights turned on so they could see where they were going.
Please find her.
All Rogan wanted was to find her.
After several minutes of the dog sniffing and walking around, he started to bark and took off running. Rogan shined his light in the distance and his heart sank at what he saw where the animal stopped. Someone was laying on the cold hard ground of the forest.
Shit.