Page 3 of Flawed Revenge

But she couldn’t do that.

No matter how unsettling—okay, outright terrifying—this place was, she couldn’t leave. Not after all the trouble she’d gone through to find it.

And it had been a lot of trouble to get there.

Still, no matter how long it had taken her to find this place, the urge to turn around, climb back into her car, and head home, there was no way she could do that when the stakes were so high. So she was going to have to do her best to pretend that the gate leading to what looked like a long, tree-lined driveway wasn't half covered in overgrown bushes, almost like someone had been trying to hide it.

That didn't mean that this place was haunted.

Besides, there was no such thing as a haunted house.

Even if this were the perfect setting for one. Even though it felt like she was being watched, although she couldn’t see anyone.

Now that she’d found this place, how exactly was she supposed to get into it? Yes, she’d found the gate right where she’d been told it would be, but it was locked, and there was no camera or microphone or any sort of button to push to alert whoever was inside that she was there.

Climbing the gate was out. It was topped in rusty barbed wire. If she tried to get over it, she was only going to cut herself into ribbons. The fence attached to the gate was eight feet tall and also topped with barbed wire. Also covered in bushes, too.

Someone seemed to have gone to a lot of trouble to make this place difficult to spot. In fact, if you weren't following specific instructions, she doubted you’d ever even know it was there.

Part of her wished that she didn't know the place was there. Then again, given her reason for trying to find it, she knew that wasn't really true. It was only her fear talking, she wanted to be there. More than that, she needed to be.

Glancing around again, Kate wasn't sure what to do. She couldn’t get in, but she couldn’t leave, and there didn't appear to be a way to alert the house’s occupant of her arrival. So she guessed that meant she was camping out right where she was, until a car came or went. However long it took, she couldn’t afford to leave.

Not yet.

Not until she saw him.

Not until she explained everything. That she’d lied, that she hadn't done what he’d ordered her to do. That she’d kept the money and put it to another use. That now she was desperate for his help, even though she knew he wouldn't want to give it to her.

Still, she was desperate enough to be there. To seek him out despite what had happened between them. Surely a part of the man she remembered, the man she’d once loved, was still inside him.

Deciding to wait inside her car for someone to show up, Kate had just turned around when all of a sudden, out of nowhere, like they really were ghosts, she was surrounded by six large figures all dressed in black, faces covered, all armed, all pointing those weapons right at her.

A startled scream escaped as she froze.

What the hell?

Who were these people?

And why were they pointing guns at her?

What exactly made them think she was any sort of threat? She was wearing black tights and a denim dress, with a flared black coat thrown over the top. Her long blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail and decorated with a ribbon tied in a big bow, and she wore black ankle boots. There was absolutely nothing about her that screamed danger.

Unless …

Were these people into something criminal?

Just because the man she remembered would never have broken the law didn't mean that he was the same person he’d been back then. After all, she never would have predicted he’d have tossed her away like trash. Especially given the circumstances.

Obviously, she’d never really known him at all.

But still … this?

This was crazy. This was wrong. This shouldn’t be happening.

Without exchanging a word, one of the men suddenly reached out and grabbed her. Before she could blink, she’d been roughly shoved up against her car, her hands yanked behind her back, and her wrists secured with those plastic cuffs—no zip ties—she’d only ever seen on TV before.

“Please … I don’t … what are you … I haven’t … I just need …” Kate rambled, unable to finish a sentence. Unable to finish a thought. She was so far outside the realm of what she understood that she couldn’t figure out what she was supposed to do.