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“Let’s proceed,” he said, standing in the center of the stage. Luis nodded and called out a few items to the rest of the crew and to the audience as well. Amira and Oswald joined Hunter’s side, and Hunter gave him a nod. Luis counted down from five, leaving off the final two numbers, and Hunter straightened.
“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Hunter Bradley, and I am the owner of Heartthrob Magazine and have been behind the scenes overseeing the production of Heartthrob's Most Wanted. I’m afraid this concluding episode has taken a turn for the worst. Not only are we faced with cutting the show short by at least a month, but we have a terrible update. I suppose the show is aptly namedMost Wantedbecause our Heartthrob, Snow Hendricks, has gone missing.”
The audience released several apropos gasps.
“Many of you know threats have been sent here, both to us behind the scenes running the show as well as to Snow herself. You may have already seen the episode where Snow was brutally attacked and shoved into a swimming pool with the knowledge of her inability to swim.
“We considered canceling the show after that, but Snow insisted on continuing in the hopes of discovering the identity of her attacker. That is our hope as well. She was taken a few hours ago, as was my eight-year-old daughter, Kassie Bradley.” Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the images of Snow and Kassie appear on the screen behind him.
“If any of you have an idea of either of their whereabouts, we encourage you to call in immediately. Call the police, let us know. I can’t emphasize how much your help in this matter would be appreciated.
“Thank you for your continued support of our beloved Heartthrob and goodnight.” Hunter held his solemn gaze toward the camera for a few moments longer before Luis called out, “Cut. That’s it.”
Amira turned and placed a hand on Hunter’s arm. Oswald offered a consoling gesture as well. Hunter acknowledged them each in turn, expecting to find Eloise approaching too, but she was nowhere in sight. Strange.
“That was flawless,” Amira said. “I thought the show would be attacked during it. But nothing happened.”
“Maybe they didn’t do anything because they didn’t have enough time,” one of the bachelors said. Hunter wasn’t sure which one—he was still searching the set.
“Has anyone seen Eloise?” he asked.
Amira’s mouth curled down. She and Oswald looked to one another. “Not since before Snow arrived,” Oswald said.
Hunter swore. As head producer of the show, it wasn’t like Eloise to be absent from a production. “Don’t tell me she’s gone missing too.” Were they all going to be picked off one by one?
“Unless she’s the one who did it,” Preston said.
“What?” Hunter pivoted to face him. He didn’t mean for the question to sound so abrasive, but the thought struck his heart in an unprecedented way.
Preston shrugged. He had one hand tucked into his pocket. “Just the way I used to see her interact with Snow. She always seemed so fake to me.” He lifted his hands. “Don’t arrest me for saying as much.”
Hunter rubbed his jaw. He and Eloise hadn’t seen eye to eye about Snow from the start, but she wouldn’t go far enough to attack her—or his daughter, for that matter. Then again, if he’d learned anything from his time in the military and bodyguarding others, it was that you could never fully know the truth about someone.
He pulled out his phone. Nothing from Kassie. Nothing from Snow. Just a text from his parents to ask if anything new had developed. He tapped Eloise’s number and held the phone to his ear.
Her call went straight to voicemail.
He lowered the phone again. “Where the heck is she?”
24
Snow and Kassie’s attempt at getting someone to come to the door had failed. They’d knocked and shouted. They’d kicked at the door and pounded their fists, but no one had answered.
The sun had set—the room’s single window located near the ceiling had darkened completely. Kassie hid a yawn behind her hand and sank back onto the couch. “I wish they would come back and let us out.”
“Me too,” Snow said, sitting next to her. She felt as though the entire place was crawling with bugs, like she would be contaminated if she let herself settle in too much. How could they sit here? What more could they do? Kassie hadn’t touched the video game since Snow had asked her to search for scissors, but the paused game was still on the screen. The little girl stared at it blankly.
Snow nudged her knee. “How are you doing, Kassie?”
“I’m scared,” she said, her lower lip trembling. “I don’t want them to hurt my daddy.”
“They won’t. They’re not doing this to get back at your dad.”
“Then why are they doing it?”
“I don’t know,” Snow said honestly. “I’m the one they attacked. They wanted me out of the picture.” Snow still couldn’t figure out why. What was so wrong with her that they would attack her personally?
“They stopped me while I was riding my bike,” Kassie said, beginning to whimper. “They said they were nice and just wanted to help my daddy. But what if—” Her question choked off.
