I chuckled and asked, “Why would we need to run off in the middle of the afternoon?”
She pointed upstairs with a trembling finger and said, “Mom was talking in your room before she left, and she wasn’t alone.”
The humor drained from my face as I knelt in front of her and asked carefully, “Who was with her?”
Ava swallowed and replied, “Uncle Blake.”
Blake Ramsey was my business partner and closest friend for five years, the man who had stood beside me at my wedding and claimed to admire everything I had built.
I felt my pulse hammer in my ears as I asked, “What were they saying?”
Ava’s voice cracked as she answered, “They said tonight the police would think it was an accident and that you would not come home.”
The room seemed to tilt, yet I forced myself to stay calm because panic would only cloud judgment.
I grabbed my car keys, lifted Ava into my arms, and hurried to the garage without another word.
As I strapped her into her seat my phone buzzed with a message from Lauren saying she had forgotten her wallet and would be back in ten minutes before heading to the store again.
Ten minutes meant whatever they had planned was meant to happen within that window.