“Yes, Grayson. I know better than anyone how horribly things can go if you let your guard down for even a second,” Alania says.
“If Mom is desperate… why not just lure her onto the property?” I ask.
Grayson goes to say something, but he stops when Alania glares at him. “What do you have in mind?”
“Make her think I am alone,” I say. “Find somewhere in the house that she can be easily trapped, but somewhere others can hide, so I am not actually alone.”
“The basement,” Grayson says with a heavy sigh. “For the record, I don’t like this.”
“Hey. Make her think he’s got you tied up down there,” Derek says.
“She’d probably try to play hero and gaslight her, to be honest.”
“I could call her and pretend I am asking for help and tell her I am alone. Last I talked to her, she thought I thought she wasinnocent,” I say. “She has no reason to think she is suspected of anything.”
“It could work,” Adrian says. “But what if she just comes in and shoots you?”
“She won’t,” Ace and I say simultaneously.
“She’s going to want to get her back under her thumb so she can use her,” Ace says.
“Okay. Go home and get the basement set up. We will come by, and then Milly can make the call,” Alania says.
Chapter Seventeen
Milly
This basement gives methe chills with how Ace and I set everything up. We definitely pulled from our own traumas, and a lot surfaced in the process, but Mom will resonate with this enough for it to be realistic.
I am pacing with the phone in my hand, trying to convince myself to call. They had me put on headphones and close my eyes so the ones hiding down here could get into place without me knowing where they are. We don’t want me accidentally drawing attention to anyone. Eventually, I stop pacing and hit call. I have the house phone, so it is believable that I am calling at all. When she doesn’t answer, I keep calling. By the seventh time, she answers.
“Hello?” Mom asks with a huff.
“Momma,” I say with a whimper.
“Milly? What’s wrong, baby? Why are you calling from this number?”
“Momma, please come get me. I don’t want to be here anymore,” I say, forcing tears into my voice. “He makes me sleep on the floor in the basement.”
“He what? Baby, that’s awful,” Mom says, and I roll my eyes. “I made him mad when I tried to get Greg to come get me. He scares me, Momma. I just wanted out. Greg almost did, but he hasn’t come back to get me. He promised he would.”
“Milly, baby. Greg is dead. He killed himself,” Mom says.
“What? No. You can’t come here alone. He’s dangerous. He broke my wrist, Momma, and cut my hand open. He told the hospital that I did it,” I lie.
“What phone are you calling from?” Mom questions.
“The house phone. He accidentally left it down here when he came to… Momma, I wanna go home. He’s not who I thought he was,” I say, actually managing to make myself cry.
Damn. I should have been an actor.
“Is he home?”
“No, he said something about going to The Void or something,” I sniffle. “He just left when I called the first time.”
“Okay. I’m coming, baby. I’ll get you out of there, and we can just leave. How does that sound?” Mom says. “Just me and you. We can travel and find somewhere safer to live. Hell, maybe we could go to Europe.”
“I just want to be safe again,” I say with a whimper. “Please don’t get caught, Momma. He’s dangerous.”
