“What are you doing?” I ask, betrayal setting in like poison in my bloodstream. All this time—how did I not see? How could it be him? I keep waiting for something else to happen. Maybe he’ll rip off a Jack mask and I’ll see the true monster beneath.
Because this can’t be.
It can’t be Jack.
It’s Ryan. They caught Ryan.
“I don’t want to hurt her. Really, I don’t. But I will put a bullet in her if you don’t do exactly as I say.”
“Jack?”
“There will be plenty of time for explanations. Now. You are going to put your phone on that table and walk out of here with me. When Deputy Shultz asks you something, you’re going to smile and wave, and pretend nothing is wrong. Understand?”
“I can’t leave my mom, Jack. Please.”
“She’ll be fine in a few hours so long as you listen.” He grips me by the arm, hard enough to leave a bruise.
“Was it you this whole time?” My eyes fill with panicked tears as my heart pounds.
“Be good, Anastasia. We can’t have Deputy Shultz thinking anything is off. Got it?”
Lord, help me. Please keep Momma safe. Jesus, I need you. Amen.
“Okay.” I take a deep breath and start toward the door. Jack drapes a jacket over his drawn pistol and follows me out, the gun pressed to my spine.
“Hey, Anastasia!” Deputy Shultz greets with a wave. He’s young. A former Army man turned police officer in the last year or so.
“Hey, Tanner.”
“Everything okay?”
“Yeah. Jack is going to give me a ride home.” Bide your time, Anastasia. My dad always told me that, if someone tried to abduct me, I was not to go with them.
It was better they shoot me right there than to let them get me alone.
So, I try to keep my voice level, my smile plastered. Until we reach Jack’s car. As soon as he opens the door, though, I turn like I’m going to get into the car, then slam my knee into his groin and sprint away from my momma’s house. “Call Sawyer! It was Jack!” I scream.
A single gunshot tears my attention back to the scene behind me.
Tanner is collapsed against his cruiser, his weapon beside him. And Jack is standing there. His weapon drawn.
He turns back toward me. “Stupid girl,” he spits out.
On trembling legs, I sprint as fast as I can away from him. In the opposite direction from my mom and Tanner. That way, he’ll follow me instead of going after them. If I can just get—another gunshot.
Agony spreads like fire through my veins, and I stumble forward, hitting the pavement. Jack is on me in an instant, lifting me up by my arm and dragging me toward his car. “Stupid girl. How many people have to die before you get it? You can’t beat me!” he hisses the words in my ear and lifts the trunk of his car.
He throws me inside and slams it shut.
Darkness surrounds me, but it’s nothing compared to the pain. I reach down to my side where the bullet tore through me. My fingers come back warm and sticky. No. Please, God, no.
As much as I don’t want to, I press down on the wound, biting back a scream as pain shoots through my side all over again. Pressure, I have to keep pressure.
Fear thrums through my veins, adrenaline slowly fading away to the cold realization that things just went from bad to impossible.
But I know that, if he gets me alone, I’ll be dead before the sun comes back up tomorrow morning. Tonight, though, I’ll fight. Until there’s nothing left in me.
Jack Weathers may succeed in killing me, but I’m going to do some damage on my way out.
