She stopped and looked up at him. Still grim, but now with some determination in that grimness too. It was almost a relief.
Determination felt like an active positive. Grim had felt…like the worst had already happened.
“You can leave me here, but I’ll only follow. You can’t cut me out of this. It’s too important, and I offer too much.”
He didn’t know what to do with this. Lia wasn’t someone who lied or exaggerated. She never acted like she thought she was any tougher than she was, but how could he just let her comewith? This could be dangerous. He had training. He knew how to deal with criminals.
But the way she was talking…maybe she did too.
Still. The thought of her in the middle of all this…
He reached out, cupped her face with his hands. “How am I supposed to save them if I have to worry about you?” And he had to save them. God, he’d let this go on so long, convinced it was…
He couldn’t think about that now.
“I can find them, Gard,” she said, so seriously, reaching up and putting her hands over his. “And I can handle myself. I always have.”
He didn’t want to risk it, but…if Lia was right, if she really understood what was going on here better than he did, Dani and Sammy were in so much more danger than he wanted to believe.
And he needed Lia to make sure he saved them.
“Let’s go then.”
Chapter Fifteen
Lia hopped into Gard’s truck. Determination had replaced some of her panic. She had the experience, the knowledge, the understanding to save Sammy before anything terrible happened. She knew what to look for. She couldhelp.
She’d saved people before. She’d put these kinds of men behind bars before. Sure, with the help of the FBI, but today she had the help of a cop. And some detectives, even if the female one had clearly been suspicious of her.
They were all willing to help, to try. They weren’t like the cops who’d harassed her when she’d been a runaway teen. They wanted tohelp.
And Gard was letting her help, even without knowing why. So it was all going to be okay, because she and Gard would doanythingto bring Sammy home safe.
So fear wasn’t the predominant feeling. Just a vague background one underneath her absolute determination to do whatever she could, however she could.
“While we drive, explain to me how you know this stuff,” Gard said as he pulled out onto the highway. His words were clipped. Not angry, exactly, but the sharp edge to his tone still had her stiffening.
Lia blew out an unsteady breath. He deserved this explanation, and it would help him trust she knew what she was doing. But it…hurt. That this was how she had to tell him about it.
Hurt couldn’t matter with Sammy at stake though.
So Lia tried to organize her thoughts. She needed to tell the story as concisely as possible. They could hash out details later. Once Sammy was safe. There was only so much time for understanding as Gard sped down the dark highway out toward this place on Dry Road.
“When my friend and I ran away, it was because this guy had offered her a job, like I told you. She told me they were happy for her to bring in more people—if I made a good impression. So, this guy picks us up and takes us to this…party, and my friend says if I impress the bosses, they’ll let me stay.”
She couldn’t think about how vulnerable and desperate she’d been to believe this story. Togoand then try to impress a group of grownmenthat she was somehow worthy of their “job.” She couldn’t think of Dani and Sammy being in the same situation.
She had to focus on the proving to Gard that she belonged here, trying to help them.
“Everything seemed… I mean, it was a little scary because they were mostly adults, and I was definitely the youngest person there, but no one did anything…scary. There were drugs and alcohol. My friend took something, but I stayed clear of that. My parents’ death weighed too heavily on me for that. But I figured drinking was okay.”
Getting off track. Too many details. “Anyway, at the time, I was naive. I didn’t know what it was about, and I didn’t really know enough to know how scared I should be. Everyone seemed to be having fun. Then there was this guy… He was the second in command. Important. I remembered my friend saying I was supposed to impress him in particular.”
Lia struggled to swallow past the way her throat tightened. She didn’t like to remember. But she had to.
“In the moment, it felt like he was really nice to me. As time went on, he was…protective. He wouldn’t let me take on any of these mysterious jobs like my friend did. He just…kept me withhim. For the first time in my life, it felt like someone cared. I knownowhe didn’t, but at the time I was a desperate, messed-up teenager. And he made me feel important. While my friend went to work, so-called, he kept me with him and told me I was his princess, and my life should be easy.”
She felt vaguely ill, but she had to push through. “I guess I knew something wasn’t right, but if I asked questions, he’d get mad at me, so I stopped asking questions. I just…enjoyed being his…” The words stuck in her throat, but she had to force them out. “I guess I thought I was his girlfriend. In the moment. And while my friend…disappeared, never to be seen again, and I saw questionable things happen around me, nothing bad ever happened tome.”
