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My eyes snap open. I’m leaning drunkenly against the taxi’s window, mouth open as I struggle for breath. “Yeah,” I croak, fumbling to open the door.
Fuck it, I don’t care what Emily thinks. I’m going to scoop her up and hold her tight and tell her how much I love her. I’m going to sob into her hair and say the thousand things I’ve been holding back, tiny sentimentalities that seemed too silly in the moment.
Tooweak.
The door’s unlocked. I pause, struggling to remember if I’d already unlocked it, but then I shove away the thought.
“Emily, baby!” I wince when I hear my loud voice. She’s going to pissed if I wake up Lizzy.
Where’s Arrow? She’s usually first at the door to greet me. My glazed eyes scan the entryway, and immediately fixate on something out of place. I bend over, frowning at the business card in my hand.
Daniel Geller. A sales consultant for Safeguard Assurance, our insurance company. What is this doing lying on the floor? What is this doing here at all?
“Emily?”
Arrow lets out a single, piercing bark, the loudest I’ve ever heard the puppy make. The sound sends a rush of ice through my veins. I’m running, stumbling, bouncing off the wall as I scramble up the stairs. So many fucking stairs. We had to buy those stupid baby gates and put them up everywhere when Lizzy was born. Then I took them down when she was out of diapers, and had to put them back up again when baby Arrow started exploring her new home.
Took them down what feels like yesterday, but they’ll have to up again soon. Lizzy’s baby brother is on the way, and—
My legs are moving through tar, as if the friction in the air is enough to prevent me from reaching my family. I hear a muffled sound, and I realize it’s my daughter’s voice. A sob, but stifled, as if someone has a hand over her mouth.
Hackles rising, I surge forward, my teeth already in a snarl.
Someone’s hurting my angel.
2
CHARLOTTE
Iturn over in my sleep, and start to wake when my hand bumps into something hard. Blinking open eyes that feel like they’re full of burning sand, I stare muzzily at the pink wall a couple of feet away. I swallow, frowning at the sensation of something restrictive around my throat as I reach up to figure out what the hell is going on.
My fingers brush warm, supple leather. A collar.
I scramble up with a panicked whimper. My hands shoot to the back of my neck, where I feel the first few links of a long, cool, metal chain. I kick back, my eyes feverishly trailing the chain to where it’s bolted into the wall, a few feet above the bed.
Terror slashes through me.
No.
No, no, no!
Not this. Anything but this!
As if in an attempt to defy reality, my eyes dart around the room, taking in every detail. It takes less than a second, because there’s not much in this tiny room to begin with.
Pink wallpaper.
No windows.
A door that blends so well into the wall that it disappears when I blur my eyes.
There’s no handle on this side. I already know when it swings open it’ll be at least a foot thick. I might as well be inside the safe at the national bank.
I turn, staring blankly at the plush toys gathered against one wall. Bunnies, teddies, elephants, dogs, cats…I recognize them all, but I swear I’ve never seen them before in my life.
This can’t be happening.
My lungs start closing, crushed by the thought of how little air I have in here. My already shallow breaths almost falter completely as I grab the front of the collar and try to pull it away from my skin.
