I feel like a little girl when an unsafe adult asks to keep a secret, one that rusts in your veins. I saw Liam’s exhaustion tonight, in the office with Joe, at how he needed all of this to be over… I know he’ll come looking for me, armed and ready, and once and for all, I’ll lead Joe and Liam right to them. I can no longer sit around while those cells underground are likely occupied by frightened women. With some luck, Tyler will bring me back there, and they’ll know where to find me with the map I drew for them.
“That's it,” Tyler whispers, as I button the last button on my shirt, put my shoes on and slide my phone into my back pocket. Tyler gestures toward the sliding glass door that leads out to the front of the house with a quick jerk of his head.
I try to steady my breathing as the rain pounds against the glass, the sound similar to the pounding fear in my chest and head. Tyler pushes me forward, and I unlock the window to slide it open. The wind and rain hit my face as I step out into the downpour, instantly soaked, and Tyler pauses for a moment as he grabs the nightstand lamp and shatters it on the floor. I don’t have time to make sense of his action when he shoves me further outside and from a distance I hear Fiasco barking.
His fingers clamp around my wrist as he drags me toward a black Mercedes parked down the street. I want to screamfor Liam, each step further from him is making me regret this decision.
What am I doing?
He yanks open the passenger door, towering over me as he pushes his wet dark hair away from his face, revealing a soul too evil for being so handsome. His youth softening his features, but his green eyes carry so much anger and something painful. Something he never truly wanted a part of him and had to survive.
He hustles me inside the car, my elbow hitting the center console as he slams the door shut behind me. Before I can contemplate escaping, he slides into the driver's seat and throws the knife into the console, and looks up at me, his gaze full of anguish and regret? It’s so fast it could be my prayers playing tricks on me.
“Don’t fuck around, Sara,” he grunts, and I nod, waiting for the next horrible thing to happen.
The car lurches forward as he starts the engine, his green eyes darting between me and the rearview mirror. Rain hammers against the windshield, and I wonder if it's the last storm I'll ever see. I can feel panic rising as we speed through the darkened streets, each turn taking me further from Liam and Joe. My Home.
We're heading toward the warehouse I first discovered the poker games with Artemis and those underground cells right below us. This is what I wanted, isn't it?
Tyler glances at me, his jaw tight. “You're surprisingly calm.”
“What did you expect? Screaming? Begging?” I keep my voice steady despite the terror coursing through me.
“Most would,” he mutters, turning down a narrow street lined with closed stores and restaurants. “But you're not most people, are you, Sara?”
“You would know, you’re the one who’s been stalking me this entire time… Aren’t you?” It’s barely a question; I already know the answer. I’ve pieced it together from the moment Tyler approached me. It was too coincidental with Joe’s death and his obsession with getting closer to me and pretending to want to date me. Clearly, it wasn’t under the lure of attraction. There was always something else, and seeing him at the poker game simply confirmed it. I wait for his reaction, but he doesn’t flinch, so I continue.
“What will happen to me?” I ask, whispering.
Tyler's lips flatten as he speeds down the street. “He’s going to…” He looks over the driver’s window and smacks the wheel with his palm, making me jump. “For the record, I didn’t have a choice. And yes, I stalked you… I…”
“We always have a choice, Tyler.” I cut him off, my voice brittle and confined in sadness.
“Maybe you're right,” Tyler mutters, his knuckles white against the steering wheel. “But it's too late for that now. Liam shouldn’t have blown up the Velastra and Joe should’ve stopped digging.”
“How can you let women get trafficked, Tyler. How?” I raise my voice, but he doesn’t respond, his jaw tightening, focused on the road.
The car slows as we approach the area near the lighthouse, and memories flash of Tyler chasing me on the wall, the ocean much angrier tonight with the storm. My heart hammers against my ribcage as he cuts the headlights and parks the car. For a moment, we sit in silence, the rain drumming on the roof.
“Look,” he says, turning to me. “Just do what they say and—”
The door beside me yanks open, and a large hand grabs my arm, wrenching me out of the car. I stumble, my shoes slipping on wet concrete, and with no time to gather my surroundings, something slips over my head and my vision turns dark. Thehood is rough against my face, scratching my skin as I'm manhandled forward.
I can't see a thing, but the grip on my arm is brutal, fingers digging into my flesh hard enough to leave bruises. The ground beneath my feet changes, descending deeper and deeper, and I bump my shoulder on the narrow path. My breath comes in shallow gasps at the suffocating fabric.
“Move faster,” a gruff voice commands, shoving me forward when I hesitate, and I nearly fall. The air grows thicker until it carries that unmistakable scent from the underground rooms where Artemis and I discovered the poker game. Where we first glimpsed into this world that Joe had somehow entangled himself in. I know exactly where I am even though I can’t see, and it takes everything out of me to say a brief prayer that they don’t throw me into one of those cells I had seen.
I have faith that Liam will know where to find me, and my cell phone is still pocket-deep in my jeans. Somehow Tyler didn’t search me, and my hope is to send a location pin. Regardless, I know this is reckless; Liam and Joe would have never let me use myself as bait.
I’m going to regret this, fuck me.
We keep moving forward through the corridor, the sounds growing louder with each step. Voices blend, rising and falling like waves, punctuated by the clink of glasses and music I can feel through the soles of my feet. It sounds almost celebratory, almost like a…Without warning, someone yanks the hood off my head. The man holding me turns away before I can glimpse his face, melting into the crowd.
I stand frozen, trying to process what I'm seeing. The room glows with an eerie dark purple light that casts strange shadows across unfamiliar faces. Men and women in elegant clothes mill about, all wearing ornate masks that hide their identities. Somelounge on velvet couches, drinking from crystal glasses, while others watch the proceedings with predatory interest.
A party, a depraved fucking party.
The room pulses with a sinister energy. In one corner, a man in a sleek tuxedo presses a young woman against the wall, his mouth between her legs consuming her, while others watch with vacant interest.
