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“What do you mean?”
“Let me show you.”
Lacey’s breath hitched in her throat as the sounds of scuffling floated down the line.
“Lacey, are you OK? Don’t do anything you –”
A woman’s frantic voice echoed in her ear, sending chills coursing down her spine. “Mom?” she whispered, her tone laced with dread.
Suddenly, a scream ripped through the phone. Pain and fear wrapped around it like a noose. Lacey’s heart stopped beating as it seemed to stretch into eternity.
Sam had her mother.
Sam was torturing her mother whilst on the phone with her.
“Stop it, Sam! Stop it!” she screamed, her voice echoing through the trees, sending a bird fluttering into the air, the leaves smacking against each other as it did.
Finally, the screams died down and Sam returned. “I tried playing nice, and you didn’t do as you were told. Have you found them or not?”
Squeezing her eyes shut, Lacey realised she had no choice. Mason may have claimed he would do anything for his sister, but she would do anything for her family. “I found them,” she whispered, hating the words as they slipped over her lips like barbed wire.
What have I just done?
“Good girl. Where are they?”
“A few miles outside Whiteridge, North Dakota,” Lacey said, disgust swirling in her stomach, threatening to make her sick. “A cabin in the woods.”
“Just what I needed to hear.”
“Don’t hurt my mother,” she begged, tears trailing over her cheeks. “Please.”
Sam released a cold chuckle. “Now I’ve got what I needed I’ll make sure she gets home. If she’s wise, she’ll forget this ever happened.”
“I’ll make sure she does,” Lacey promised.
“Now get back home. Your job is done.” Without waiting for her to say anything else, Sam hung up, leaving Lacey alone with her regret.
Fuck. How had this happened? Guilt swept through her like a surging tsunami, slamming into her gut as the tears fell down the contours of her cheeks. Tossing the phone to the ground, she grabbed fistfuls of dark hair in her hands and yanked.
She’d just sent Karis to a fate worse than death.
Then she stopped, her own practical side coming to the forefront.
Sam was still in Washington. It would take him a day to get there, maybe a little more. She still had enough time to warn Mason about Sam.
The thought of admitting her role in this sickened her but she’d take the hatred in his eyes if that meant saving him and his sister.
Breathing in a shaky, shallow breath, Lacey turned and stepped towards the line of trees.
She could do this. She could make this right. Hopefully.
Then a searing pain erupted throughout the back of her head and the world descended into blackness.
