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Ethan
“Grayson,isittrueyou’ve split from your label? Are you leaving the band? Is this an announcement about your split?” a reporter called out and I watched Gray's shoulders drop. I knew he hated these things. Stuck in a room with a hundred or so members of the press. Flashes going off, cameras filming and people asking him questions he had nowhere to hide from. I gripped his hand under the table, feeling him slip into Cosmic God mode.
“Guys, thank you all for being here today and we do have some exciting announcements about the Gods and the direction we’re going. But rest assured we are not splitting up, and you can take that as a direct quote. Today I need you to help me out with something more personal. You might have heard some rumors that I got married a while ago. To a man and a woman. I denied it and claimed it was all a hoax, but that wasn’t true. I did marry two people. Now you can judge me, talk about me while you are down the pub later, or even hate what I did, but I did what I did because I was… because Iamin love. And now my wife is missing. This is Ivy.” A photo flashed up on the screen behind us, starting the presentation of different shots of Ivy that I’d created earlier today, making us both cry when I’d shown it to him.
“Ivy is amazing. The light in the darkness, the flame anyone who knows her is drawn to. She went for a walk early in the day on Wednesday and she’s not been seen since. We think someone has taken her. Kidnapped her. And we want her back. I’m here today to ask you to help.” Gray paused while conversations broke out around the room. “We need your help. Not to write stories about the state of our marriage or whether our marriage is right or wrong. Not to dig up stories from old boyfriends or childhood friends. I… we want our wife back. I want to ask whoever has Ivy to let her come home. We love her and we miss her. As you can see, she’s beautiful, but those red curls make her pretty distinctive. Someone must have seen her. Someone must know where she is. The press is a powerful tool, so we are begging you to help us find her. Can you share her story, post her picture, show the world her beautiful face and help us bring her home?”
“Can you give us a line or two that we can play out on the news, Gray? Something that speaks to the kidnapper?” a woman in the collected press called out.
Addi pointed to a camera, and he looked right down the lens. “Please. If you have Ivy, let her come home. Whatever reason you took her doesn’t matter. What matters is that we get her back. She’s part of us and without her, we’re lost.”
I moved behind him, leaning towards the camera as well. “And if you’re listening, princess. Keep fighting. We’re coming for you, I promise. We will find you.”
Chapter 33
Ivy
Idon’tknowhowlong he drove with me in the trunk of the car. Every time we slowed, I tried to scream, but the noise of the road drowned me out. Eventually, the car stopped. I heard footsteps before I was blinded by the bright light as he lifted the trunk lid.
“Out,” he yelled.
My legs were numb from being in the same position for a while and my already sore body meant I couldn’t move very fast. Amos took offense, digging his fingers into my forearms, dragging me out, and letting me fall to the floor.
“Get up. She’s waiting.”
“Amos, you don’t have to do this. You could let me go. I won’t tell anyone about you being involved.”
He bent down, yanking on my hair again until my eyes watered, and I cried out.
Leaning into my ear, he spoke, his voice flat and emotionless. “You have no idea, Ivy. Ihaveto do this. This is my purpose. It’s why I’m here. Don’t think I’m weak because I’m young. I’m a soldier fighting the sin of the world. Starting with you.”
My heart raced, and my body trembled with a mixture of pain and fear. This was the end. I could feel it in every fiber of my body. I was never going to see Ethan and Grayson again.
Using his grip on my hair, he pulled me from the floor; the adrenaline pumping through my veins temporarily numbed the pain in my body. He maneuvered me to the front door of a house, which I presumed it would be in the middle of nowhere, but it was in a busy street of townhouses. I thought about screaming to get someone’s attention. But before I could, the door opened.
Amos shoved me violently forward, sending me crashing to the floor, the pain in my hip worsening from the impact.
And then there she was, towering over me.Hazel.
“Oh dear, Ivy. Not so perfect now, are you? I wonder what yourhusbandswould think if they could see and smell you right now. Not their pretty little whore anymore, are you? Do you see how fast false gods fall? How quickly the evil surfaces when we strip back the camouflage? When the world finally finds you, they will see the devil in you. Those two men will see you for what you are. A disgusting whore.”
“Amos, deal with her now. I want this over. Did you send the package?”
“I did. Where do you want me to do it? Killing her here will be harder to clean up.”
Hazel tutted as if my messy death was an inconvenience to her. “Which is why you should have done it there. You will learn to follow orders, or you will be punished.”
“Sorry, Mum. I won’t disappoint you again.”
“Take her to the—”
A loud knock at the door stopped her mid-sentence. I opened my mouth to scream, but Amos slammed his hand over my mouth and nose, restricting the air to my lungs, silencing me.
“Be quiet or I’ll shoot you here,” he hissed quietly against my ear as he pressed a gun, I didn’t know he had, against my head.
He dragged me to the back of the house, closing the door behind us, pinning me by the throat to the closed door, so he could hear who was on the other side.
“Hazel Dowling? I’m sorry to bother you, but we’re looking for a missing woman. We understand you’ve had some dealings with her husband and wondered if you had any information on her. Ivy Allen? Or you might know her as her married name—Ivy Tate-Hill. She’s been missing for almost a week now. We’re just checking to see if you’ve heard from her or seen her recently?”
