Page 82 of Abandoned

Chapter Twenty-Three

Zara tried to catch her breath, but Brett’s hand squeezed her throat. Don’t panic, Zara. Breathe.

Brett ranted. “I told you to leave us alone. If you had listened, kept your nose to yourself—”

Zara tried to tune him out and looked over to Miley. Her bruised face radiated terror.

She signed something. —gonna kill us.

Brett slammed Zara against the post in the kitchen counter. “Are you listening to me?”

Zara’s insides shook. The feel of his hand around her throat felt familiar. Had it been Brett, not Ernie, who had broken into her apartment?

Brett’s eyes glinted with an evil gleam.

She didn’t doubt Miley’s words at all. He was bent on killing them. But she’d do whatever she could to save them. But what?

Brett swore. Letting go of her throat, he slapped Zara.

Her lip stung. She licked it. Blood.

This man was so strong. She would never be able to overpower him. She hadn’t been able to fight him at all a few days ago. She wouldn’t be able to now either.

As Brett resumed his monologue, Miley signed again. This time letters. E-n-z-w-e-i-l-e-r. She signed it again. Then added a sign of her hand, thumb and finger wiggling. Flesh?

That didn’t make any sense. Had she spelled what she intended? Miley had confused e’s and a’s at times. But a’s didn’t make sense in the word.

Brett’s voice drew her mind away. “I really thought I was done killing. There is a rush to knowing you have that much power over someone’s life, but I didn’t want to kill them. I didn’t want to kill Miley. Or even you. No, I want to kill you. I’m sad to kill Miley. I really loved her, but she’d know if something happened to you. And I can’t have any suspicions. So it’s time for you two to die.”

He grabbed Zara’s shoulder and shoved her toward Miley. Zara landed on the couch beside the young woman. “Miley, come.”

Miley stood and went to Brett.

God, give us an out. Or send some help. Please.

Brett held the gun to Miley’s side and threw a sweatshirt over it to hide it. “To the door.”

Zara stood and went to the door. She reached for the handle and spotted movement down the hall.

Corbin.

With her hands in front of her, she hooked one index finger over the other and slid it off. She mouthed, closet. It was only a partial sign, but hopefully he caught the important part.

He vanished, and she opened the door. Lord, protect that little boy, and help someone find him quickly.

At least Zara knew that Corbin hid in there for comfort. He wouldn’t be locked in like she had been.

But she was trapped even more now than she had been in that closet as a child or the bathroom over the weekend.

She walked out the door. If only she had a way to leave a clue that they were in trouble in case someone noticed her car was there. She pulled her signature teal hair tie off her wrist and set it on the railing before walking down the steps and to Brett’s truck.

“In the passenger’s side.”

She got in. Even though she wanted to slide right out the other side, she couldn’t risk Miley’s life.

Brett made Miley slide in next, then got in himself. He grabbed a package of zip ties off the dashboard.

“Miley, zip-tie her hands to the steering wheel. Zara. Hands at nine and three. You will drive exactly the way I tell you to. Follow every rule of the road. Act like nothing is wrong. I bet you know enough about guns to know that if I shoot this into Miley, there’s a good chance it will go all the way through her and into you. Two broads with one shot, if you will. Understand?”