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There was a pause while Hazel cleared her throat. “No officer, I haven’t, although she seemed the flighty type. Maybe she just ran.”
“Can we come in and look around?”
“Now isn’t really convenient.”
“We can be back within the hour with a warrant.”
She sighed loudly. “Fine, come in. I have nothing to hide.”
Amos panicked and dragged me to the back door, his hand still firmly over my mouth and nose. Desperate to do something to save myself, I bit down on his hand, listening as a strangled cry escaped his lips. I wasn’t sure it was enough for them to hear, but I needed to try.
“You’ll regret that, bitch. Move. Now” he hissed in my ear, opening the back door silently and rushing us back to the car, throwing me in the trunk before he quietly closed me back into the darkness, where I began screaming at the top of my lungs, hoping the police officers heard.
As he drove, the darkness of the trunk and my fear started to overwhelm me, claustrophobia stealing the air from my lungs. I tried to distract myself by filling my mind with memories. The first time I met Eth, our first date, first kiss, the night in the club with him and Gray, nights watching movies, laughing at Gray’s love of the worst films. Out of nowhere, I remembered one in particular where a woman was kidnapped by the nanny, so she could steal her husband. She locked her in the trunk and pushed the car off a cliff. Amazingly, the woman survived the fall and escaped from the boot by hammering out one of the lights at the back of the car and waving until a hiker spotted her.
It was the worst film.
“That’s it. Thank God for crappy films,” I called out, feeling elated and panicked in equal measure, knowing deep down that this was my last chance to be rescued. If this didn’t work, I’d be dead soon.
I pulled hard on the thin panel that covered the car’s taillights. It came free easily, and I rolled to shift it behind me, trying to make room to do what I needed to do, screaming out in pain as I did. Struggling to reach down, I pulled off my sneaker, putting my fist inside. I hit the brake light closest to my face, trying to knock it out, without making too much noise and alerting Amos. It didn’t work. Not eating or drinking for days had left me weak and exhausted.
It didn’t look this hard in the film.
I bent my legs upwards towards my stomach, deciding to move my focus to the lights nearest my feet—hoping my legs had more strength. It was awkward and an inferno of pain tore through me, but I felt it in my gut… it was now or never. The ultimate fight or flight. This would be my last chance to help myself. My hip roared in protest as I hammered my foot against the light. I hit it again and again, but still nothing. I let out an almighty scream, not caring about being caught anymore, and slammed the heel of my foot down, crying out as the light popped out, letting in a tiny amount of the world and bringing me a sliver of hope.
I twisted my body in the small space, not caring about the pain until I was able to squeeze my hand through the gap, touching the fresh air outside. I sobbed feeling freedom, no matter how small it was. I waved my hand frantically, hoping another car would see me, while I closed my eyes and prayed.
Grayson
“Tellme…Well,that’stoo weird to be a coincidence. Find out more. And do it quickly. And the sighting… really? Send me the details. Tell me what they said… right. Can you give me a postcode for the nearest location? I’m getting in the car now. Thank you.” Thomas ended his call, slipping his phone away before he turned to us, not a hint of what had been said on his face. “Gray, Ethan, we need to move. Now. I'll explain on the way.”
Thomas arrived last night after our press conference, which, of course, brought out a whole heap of crazy, including lots of haters and angry fans. We followed him without question when he demanded we move because the man was terrifying. He dominated the room and commanded blind obedience. We just hoped his specialist skills brought us Ivy.
We climbed into the car with him, his driver knowing where we needed to go without Thomas saying a word.
“As you know, we’ve had a whole heap ofhelpfulinformation since your interview, but last night someone called in, saying that they thought they saw Ivy being pushed around by a man. They assumed it was a couple having a row, so didn’t think anything of it, which in itself is fucked up, but then they remembered her red hair. Later last night, we had a call from the police saying they'd gone to check out a person of interest from the list I’d given them. While they were there, they thought they heard an altercation, but when they searched the house, there was no one else there and no sign of a struggle. The interesting thing was that the first call was three houses down from the person of interest and the person of interest was Hazel Dowling.
Ethan grabbed my hand as I lost all the restraint I’d fought hard to keep hold off for the last few days, and I spiraled.
This is my fault. She's in danger because of me.
“Gray, don’t you dare go where I know you’re going in your head. Hazel is fucked up and she hates what all three of us are doing. This isn’t because of you. This is because of what we have. She’s fucked up. Look at me.”
I looked at Ethan, unable to breathe. Thomas noticed my struggle and opened the car window, the cold air hitting me like a slap to the face, bringing me back to the moment, because I needed to hear what else he had to say.
“It doesn’t end there. About fifteen minutes ago, there were multiple calls to the emergency services about a car with an arm poking out of the back of it.”
“What?” Ethan questioned.
“It sounds like someone was in the trunk of a car and had kicked through a light, trying to attract attention. One car claimed the arm had a colorful tattoo on its wrist. Now, it might not be Ivy, but we are going to assume it is until we know otherwise.”
“Someone has her in their trunk?” I asked, my voice sounding strained.
“I don’t know, but this is all too much to be unrelated. The police are on route, and we’re not far behind. You have one brave woman there. Now let’s go get her.”
Chapter 34
Ivy
