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“I just switched to the tracker in her bag and it’s not anywhere near her car. It’s deep in the forest off to the left. What the fuck?”
“Maybe she had to walk to the—” but before Dino could finish, thunder boomed overhead and brilliant lightning lit up the dark woods surrounding them.
“Shit, that lightning was right in front of us?” Joey cried. “Holy crap, we could’ve been fried.”
“Micheal, we need to go!” Dino shouted. “And I mean now!”
“Yeah, I think you’re right,” Michael said hastily. “Joey, turn around. We’ll come back as soon as this fucking storm passes.”
But with the noise of the thrashing trees and pummeling rain, none of them heard the loud crack of a breaking branch directly overhead. Just as Joey nervously put his foot on the accelerator, it crashed into the car.
Screaming in terror, Michael buried his head in his arms.
Time stood still.
He could hear frightening creaking sounds.
His heart hammering in his chest, he slowly peered around—and caught his breath. The car was in a cave of branches, some flapping in the savage gale. Though the windshield was miraculously intact, Joey’s window resembled a glass mosaic, and the young man was slumped over, his forehead on the steering wheel.
“Michael…are you okay?”
Dino’s voice was a husky rasp.
“Fuck…yeah, I think so. You?”
“Yeah, what about Joey?”
“Not sure,” Michael muttered.
“Try and wake him.”
“Hey, Joey,” Michael said, reaching out and shaking him.
The young man groaned, slowly opened his eyes, and let out a sharp cry.
“My head…fuck…it slammed into the steering wheel.”
“We’re alive. Don’t panic, you’ll be okay,”
“B-but we’re t-trapped,” Joey stammered, staring through the windshield.
“Yeah, Joey, we’re trapped,” Michael retorted, finding his phone on the floor in front of him. “But only until we can get help. Fuck. No service. I guess the storm knocked out the cells.”
“We have another problem,” Dino groaned. “Look. It’s starting to snow.”
* * *
Standing at the window in her hotel suite, Bethany watched the storm vent its fury. The luxury accommodation offered a view of the landscaped gardens leading to the river, and though night was falling, she could see the heavy rain in the lights around the grounds.
It had been an odd afternoon. She’d tried calling Tom twice, but his phone had gone straight to voicemail, and she still hadn’t heard from Michael. Just thinking about him made her cringe.
Moving across to the minibar and finding a bottle of bourbon, she poured it into a glass and carried it across to the couch. Flopping down, she turned on the television and tuned into the latest weather report.
But her mind was on other things. She was determined to set herself free from her controlling boss.
She’d escaped a bastard once in her life, and she could do it again.
Her father had been a raging, violent alcoholic. When she’d graduated from high school, her mother, a kind, sweet, but weak woman, had handed her a fistful of bills and told her to disappear. When Bethany had protested, her mother had said,
