Chapter 73

I leave the office, leaving them speechless. I look in the living room, in the kitchen, up the stairs, around the house and I can’t find my little girl. I go back downstairs and look at my friend.

“I can’t find her,” I commented, “If they did anything to her...”

“Do you think they’re capable?” he asks more nonchalantly than I do.

“Clara!” I cry out, utterly desperate.

“Yes?” says a muffled, tired voice. I notice a woman on her knees on the floor, mopping the floor. “How may I...?” she didn’t finish the sentence.

When she looked up and saw me there, she covered her face with her hands and began to cry. I knelt in front of her, grabbed her arm, and pulled her to me, hugging her tightly and cradling her. She was so much thinner; she looked like a child, so small, so weak.

“My little girl,” I murmur as she continues to cry non-stop.

It grabbed me as if I was going to leave again, to dilute myself. I was desperate

“Shh, I’m here now,” I tel