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Douglas shifts the car intoPark, then looks to the side, and as I follow his gaze to the door of the building, I watch as it opens. A man I don’t recognize steps out. He makes his way toward the car, and I hold my breath.
I don’t know why, but breathing seems like it would be drawing attention to me right now. The other girls must feel the same way because I’m pretty sure we’ve all stopped inhaling air.
Instead, we wait.
The mystery man stands beside the driver’s door, and I watch as Douglas pushes said door open and steps out to greet him. They shake hands and murmur something, likely a greeting, but I can’t make the words out.
“What is happening?” Piper whispers.
“I have no idea,” I respond immediately.
I strain to hear what they’re talking about, but they turn their backs to the car and face the opposite direction. I couldn’t hear them even if I wanted to at this point. I know the women are scared.Terrified. They have to be. If they feel even an ounce of what I’m feeling right now, they’re on the verge of losing it.
“We’re going to be okay,” Henli mutters from behind me.
I don’t turn around to look at her. My gaze is fixated on this stranger, this man who stands beside Douglas. I don’t know who he is, but that doesn’t mean I don’t recognize the type of man he is, even without a word spoken.
This man is tall, he’s muscular, but those muscles were built in a gym. His hands haven’t seen a hard day’s work in his entire life. But that doesn’t mean he is weak. Beneath his black suit, his shoulders are broad, his hair clipped short and worn neat and tidy.
This is a person who commands. He may be even more powerful than Douglas. I can’t quite tell. Even just standing a few feet away, I can tell there is an air about him. He’s a stranger, but he’s familiar at the same time.
I don’t like this at all.
Kiplyn’s hand touches my shoulder from behind me in the back seat. I turn my head slightly, making sure to keep the stranger and Douglas in my peripheral vision. “It’s going to be okay,” I say, trying to sound confident.
“No, it’s not,” she exhales.
“But it is. This isn’t about any of you. I don’t know what this is about anymore, but your men will come for you.”
“And you?” Kiplyn asks. “Agony won’t come for you?”
Rolling my lips together, I try to think of something that isn’t going to scare the absolute shit out of her. But I can’t. Instead, I release my lips and rest back, a sigh escaping before I turn back around to face the windshield of the car.
“Douglas won’t let him have me, not after he’s found me again. Not after he’s got me in his grasp.”
“The baby,” Henli exhales.
“What will be, will be,” I lie.
It is not what will be, will be. It is what you make of it, what you accept, what you nurture, what you survive. It is not simply what will be. It is what will happen if you allow it to. And although I would do anything to get away from Douglas, I will probably have to die to make that happen.
Douglas wrenches open the door and bends slightly, sticking his head into the car. His eyes flick between all of us, then find mine before he smiles.
“Everyone out,” he barks.
We don’t wait. We don’t even think about it. We all reach for the handles of the doors and push them open before we stumble out of the car. The desert is dark and hot, the world around us almost silent and far too still.
“Come,” the stranger’s voice calls out before he turns and walks toward the building.
I don’t move, watching as he stands by the door. He opens it, holding it for us, and I feel very much like this is some kind of death march. If I walk through that door, I’m dead. I’ll never make my way back out.
Douglas marches up to me, wraps his fingers around my bicep, then drags me toward the open door. I don’t look back at the other women. I continue forward and am thrust into the middle of the room.
Pressing my lips together, I look around the space, only to find it a completely empty shell. I open my mouth to tell Douglas and this stranger that I do not understand what’s happening, to ask them what the hell is going on, but no words come out.
The stranger speaks instead.
ChapterThirty
