Chapter 183

Lauren's POV

Roman finally laid Tessa down on the couch, carefully resting her head on a small pillow he grabbed from the side. I stood a few feet away, pacing back and forth, unable to sit still. My palms were clammy, my heartbeat so loud that it almost drowned out every other sound in the room. My mind was in complete chaos, every possible scenario spinning around in my head each one worse than the last.

Aria was gone.

I had already tried calling 911, my voice shaking so hard that the operator had to ask me to repeat myself twice. But their response was the same useless line, they said I had to come to the station to write a report, describe what I think might have happened to her and provide a description of Aria or a photo of her, and that alone could take almost all day, what mother out there could calmly waste that much time while her five-year-old daughter was out there possibly scared, hurt, or worse.

I knew what had happened. Someone