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I’m close to breaking my teeth from grinding them so hard as I take corners too fast. The car screeches as I brake hard in the middle of the street, throwing it in park while I burst from the car to run across the lawn to my house.
Nothing registers but my goal: Dad’s gun safe.
It’s in his study on the first floor. The door hits the wall when I fling it open, but I don’t care. I go to the desk, open the bottom drawer, and punch in the access code. I looked over Dad’s shoulder when he was showing it to me before he took me to the gun range to learn how to shoot.
The 9mm Glock sits in the foam casing. Wasting no time, I take it and get bullets from where he keeps them.
Once I’m back outside with the gun tucked away so I don’t give the neighbors a heart attack, I get back in the SUV and floor it toward Coleman’s to rescue my girl. On the way, I call Devlin.
“Yo. What’s up?”
“Get the cops to Coleman’s,” I demand, speeding through a red light at an empty intersection. I need to make it there before I get pulled over for reckless driving. “Do whatever you have to. Call in a suspected shooting. Start a fire. I don’t care, just do it.”
“Whoa, slow down,” Devlin says. “The fuck are you on about?”
I smack the wheel. “He has Thea!”
“Shit. Okay, got it.”
I push the car faster, hoping I’m not too late.
Thirty-Seven
Thea
While I scramble in the darkness, searching the workbench for another weapon to defend myself, the basement door opens. My stomach lurches. A dim, flickering bulb blinks to life, casting the basement in sickly yellow light.
Oh god. He’s back.
“Kicking up all that fuss and not behaving. Tsk, tsk,” Mr. Coleman says in an eerie tone as he descends the rickety wooden steps. “I don’t know if you deserve this gift or not. But you’ve always been my special princess, haven’t you?”
Shoulders rigid with terror, I spin to face him with a strangled cry, my head throbbing with dull pain from the sudden movement.
Mr. Coleman stands between me and the exit. I feel blindly behind me and wrap my fingers around a small tool handle—tiny screwdriver, maybe? I don’t know. It feels like the kind used on computers. I can’t look, not willing to risk drawing his attention to it.
It won’t do a lot of damage, but it’s all I feel behind me without continuing my search.
He reaches the bottom step, presenting me with the same necklace from the file half-spilled out of my purse on the dingy floor. It’s a gold heart dangling from a dainty chain.
“Mr. Coleman,” I try, my tongue sluggish. Maybe I can talk my way out in order to escape from this monster. “Why are you doing this?”
Ignoring my question, he glides across the floor. “I didn’t want to say anything earlier, but your eyes are all swollen and bloodshot. I know the result of crying when I see it. I’ll make it all better.” He speaks in a soft, reverent tone. “Princess, are you ready to take my hand?”
Fuck, what can I do? He has me cornered. He’s too far away to stab without losing the element of surprise, and too strong if I run without diverting him first. I need to get to those stairs.
“The other girl,” I whisper.
“Hmm, yes. I thought about keeping her, but then you came right to me. I’d much rather have my prize instead. I knew you couldn’t stay away forever. You don’t have to be jealous of the others.”
He’s not just manic—he’s delusional. He thinks I want him. A fierce wave of nausea upsets my stomach.
I need something to distract him. There’s a paint can on a bench next to the worktable, just out of reach while his attention is on me. An old rolling chair sits at the edge of the pool of yellow light. Maybe I can knock him off balance?
While I’m searching for something else to use against him, Mr. Coleman steps closer. I jump aside in revolt, but he traps me with a terrifying chuckle, his chest touching me as I lean back against the worktable until it digs into my back.
“Where do you think you’re going, pet?”
Another panicked noise catches in my throat as I try to edge away. My nails dig into my palm around the screwdriver’s handle.
