Counting Sheep

Chapter 22

"You need to call Alice and Ethan—tell them to bring Hazel back as soon as possible." He said and Layla turned to him with frantic eyes. "W-what?! You don't think Hazel is safe? You don't think she is in danger or that someone could have gotten to her, right?! Oh, god!" She cried, covering her face with her hands.

She felt so stupid, so guilty. How had she not thought of Hazel?

That little girl was becoming a piece of her and she would never forgive herself if something happened to her while she was still in Layla's care. "Julian, I can't lose her!" She sobbed. "I-I just can't! I won't survive it."

Julian murmured softly, pulling her head to his chest and rocking—something that felt completely foreign to him, but also...something right.

"Listen to me, baby girl. You know just as well as I do that Alice and Ethan wouldn't let ANYTHING harm a single hair on her head. They will protect her no matter what until she is safe and back with us." He made her head tilt back so that he could meet her gaze, stroking the line of her jaw with the pad of his thumb. "I will protect you. I will protect her. With my life." He said quietly, resolutely.

Layla could only stare at him, her broken and beautiful warrior.

I love you, she wanted to say, but instead kept quiet.

Seeing that she had calmed, he kissed her forehead and released her. Numbly, she got to her feet and called Alice. She told her partly of what was going on, but didn't delve too deeply into detail and Alice responded softly, with kindness and reassurance. She and Ethan would bring the little girl up in no time and as they hung up, Layla wanted to smack herself at how stupid she had been to think that Hazel would ever come to any harm while with her best friend, but also, she knew that she wasn't able to help it.

Her worry for Hazel would be there no matter what..why? She didn't know. She only knew that it had become a mission for her to lead Hazel to have a life that could be somewhat normal in a world that was anything but.

She wanted Hazel to know true love and true happiness.

Julian cursed suddenly and she spun to face him.

"What? What's wrong?" She asked and his jaw moved as he ground his teeth together.

"All of my footage."

Her brow furrowed as she moved to fall into the seat next to him again. "All of the footage from my cameras are uploaded directly onto my laptop. This is what it caught before someone cut off the footage." He growled and pressed play.

It was sped up slightly and Layla barely noticed that she was holding her breath.

It showed five different camera angles, all of which she recognized to be outside around the structure. From what she could see there wasn't anything out of the ordinary or at least that's what she thought when she saw it.

A figure.

Someone was creeping into the frame, but not in a way that showed that they were trying not to get caught. It was as though they knew the camera was there, but merely taking their time.

Layla's eyes began to water as she watched the person turn towards the camera as if to say, 'Here I am. Too bad you can't get me.  I know you are watching.'

They lifted their arm and the camera went shockingly bright for a moment before nothing. Julian cursed again, rewinding the tape while Layla watched silently with a building dread. He replayed it about three times before he finally paused the frame and zoomed in on the figure.

Layla's eyes went wide. "That's a..." she began, but Julian cut her off with a snarl. "A woman." He shot up off the couch and went to grab his phone, Layla watching his movements.