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It was Hugo’s day off, so I hadn’t gone to the shelter. I had some calls to make later in the day, but I’d decided to have a lazy morning and was relaxing by the pool with a good book when my cell phone started vibrating on the table beside me. I glanced at the screen and saw it was Lucy calling. She had my number and she texted me often, but she’d never called me before.
I pressed the phone to my ear. ‘Hello?’
‘Alana,’ she sobbed quietly. ‘I need your help.’
I felt my heart lurch into my throat. I still hadn’t had a chance to speak to Kristen about what I’d discovered or figured out a way to help Lucy out of the mess she was in yet.
‘What is it, sweetheart? Where are you?’ I asked as she sobbed down the phone.
‘I’m not sure. I’m near to the shelter. It’s Blake. He’s found me,’ she whispered.
I knew that Blake was her ex-boyfriend. ‘Lucy. How far from the shelter are you? Can you get back there?’
‘No,’ she sniffed. ‘He’ll be watching for me coming back. He’s in a car. He’ll take me away. And I can’t put any of the other girls in danger, Alana. Please. Can you bring Hugo and come get me?’
‘It’s Hugo’s day off, sweetheart. He’s visiting his mom in hospital. I won’t even be able to get hold of him,’ I was thinking out loud more than talking to her now as I tried to figure out the quickest way to get to her.
‘Alana, what am I going to do?’ she pleaded.
‘I’m coming for you. Stay where you are, and stay out of sight. Does Blake have you your phone details?’
‘What?’
‘Your cell. Does he have the number?’
‘No,’ she cried.
‘Good. Then drop a pin and I’ll come find you. I’ll be there are soon as I can, sweetheart. Okay?’
‘Okay. Please hurry.’
I ended the call and ran into the house. Jacob had taken the car for a maintenance check. Alejandro had a garage full of cars, but he didn’t keep the keys in there with them.
Damn! I had no idea where he kept the keys. Hank would probably drive me, but then I’d have to explain to him in minute detail what was going on and I didn’t have time for that.
I could get a cab. But I would have to sneak past the guards or I’d get the third degree about where I was going and that would delay me getting to Lucy too.
I dialed a cab as my heart hammered in my chest. I asked them to pick me up down the street and then I ran back into the garden and round to the front of the house before sneaking out of the gate. The guards were more concerned checking for people getting in than they were getting out, and fortunately nobody saw me.
A few minutes later, I was in the back of a cab, my palms sweaty and my blood thundering in my ears as I made my way to Lucy’s location.
ALANA
‘Can you wait here while I find my friend?’ I asked the cab driver as we pulled up near Lucy’s location.
He rolled his eyes but he nodded his agreement.
‘Thank you. I’ll be back as soon as I find her,’ I said as I handed him a fifty.
That seemed to satisfy him and he smiled. ‘I’ll be right here.’
I grabbed my purse and jumped out of the cab as I looked up and down the street for any sign of Lucy.
I dialed her cell but it went to voicemail. The neighborhood wasn’t a great one. The street was full of boarded up storefronts. I saw an alleyway and ducked inside it. If she was here, then she’d be hiding. Then I heard a scream. I ran in the direction of the sound until I found her, pressed up against the wall by a huge man with his hand around her throat. I saw her phone in pieces on the floor beside her.
‘Hey!’ I shouted. ‘Get your hands off her!’
He turned and glared at me and I ran towards him, the adrenaline coursing through my body. He slapped Lucy across the face with the back of his hand and threw her to the ground.
