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“Is that what you want to talk about?”
He leans back with a chuckle, the vibration causing flecks of ash to fall to the cushions. “Are you always this persistent?”
“Hey, if you want to sit in silence until Kain returns, be my guest.”
“That’s the problem with people, isn’t it? You all have this asinine desire to fill the space with your own voices.”
I narrow my eyes. “I’m picking up on some mommy issues.”
“My mother sold me, so yeah. That’s pretty accurate.”
The blood drains from my face. Oh God. I’m going to hell.
Ghost throws his head back. “Oh fuck, I’m sorry. You’re just too easy to mess with.” Wiping a fake tear from his eye, he puts the joint between his lips and takes another hit. “Are you sure you don’t want some of this? It seems like you need it.”
I shake my head, about to offer something snarky when his head whips to the space the front door would be.
“Fuck,” he hisses. “They found us.” That oval faces me and goes still like earlier. Eerily still, horrendously still, like every muscle in his body is frozen, locked in one moment of time. Oh my God please say something please stop looking stop staring stop whatever it is you’re doing.
Then I see it. The film of smoke billowing through the cracks around the hidden door.
“What the hell is happening?” I ask, my eyes darting to the kitchen where I know the knives are stored. “Ghost? Who found us?”
He whirls around, his fingertips digging painfully into the skin of my upper arms as he grips me. “Listen to me, Lillith. We don’t have much time.”
My chest tightens. “Ghost, what—”
“Fun time’s over, Lillith, and you need to be very quiet and listen carefully if you want to live.” My heart stops, jumps to my throat, and I can do nothing but as he’s demanded.
“Some men are going to come in here,” the distorted voice whispers. “I don’t know how many, but I’m guessing at least three. This next part is very important, Lillith.” He goes still, oh so still, and I’m worried my heart has stopped, convinced there’s nothing pumping blood through my veins as he says, “They’re going to take you.”
My mouth pops with the beginning of a protest, but the look in Ghost’s eyes stops me. “They’re not going to kill you—you’re worth too much to them—so don’t try to resist. It’s not you they want, at the end of the day. Do you understand?”
The smoke is burning my eyes and throat and making it impossible to speak, so I give him a nod. I’ve never been so fucking terrified. Not even that night Kain showed up at my door. For some reason, this feels different. Like my life is dangling on a tightrope, and one wrong move will send me plummeting to certain death.
Ghost presses a button at the side of his mask, and a low whirring noise fills the space between us. “You’ll pass out from the gas in a few seconds. When you wake up, you’ll be in a place you don’t recognize, but you must remain calm. Can you do that for me, Lillith?”
Again, I nod, though I’m starting to feel less and less confident in my ability to do so. The gas is already starting to take effect, and I really don’t know if I’m strong enough to do what he’s asking of me. Ghost’s voice makes its way to my ears, though it sounds like I’m deep underwater.
“Be strong, Lillith. Kain will come for you. I promise.”
Then everything goes black.
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
KAIN
I look down at the location Ghost sent me, then back up to the boxy building in front of me. I’m an hour outside the city, and there’s nothing but pasture and run-down barns for miles. I’m not sure what a warehouse is doing out in the middle of nowhere, but it’s the location Ghost got when he traced the text message.
The message detailing my best friend’s torture.
My stomach hardens as I step toward the large iron doors, already planning ways to break whatever lock they have in place. As I near, it becomes apparent that there’s no such lock, and when I tug on the bars, the door swings open with ease.
Okay. That’s not fucking good.
I should turn around, come back when I have a better plan and a better idea of what I’m up against. Except… it’s Wes. I can’t leave without Wes.
Filling my lungs with a breath, I ignore the screaming of my gut and step inside. My steps echo off the walls of the warehouse, the enormous space empty except for a few wooden pallets propped in the corner and a smattering of sawdust coating the floor. It looks like the place was emptied in a hurry. The question is, why?
