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“There’s no way to know where their cameras are located,” he said. “We have to stay low and stick to the sides of the hedges and then run for it through the open garden area to where the basement is. I textedmy chief our location and why we’re here, but he hasn’t responded, so I don’t know what he’s going to do, if anything.” He sighed. “Are you ready?”
“Yes.” Her Xanax from earlier was wearing off, and panic poked its fingers at her brain again, but she had to believe she’d find Lily. “Let’s get these fuckers.”
Dayton leaned over and kissed her hard on the lips. “We stick together at all times.”
Walking through the thick woods as the sun descended was nowhere near as frightening as all the thoughts going through Rae’s head. She couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened to Cierra Martin, how she was raped, her body beaten before being tossed like trash. Rae barely registered the small brush and tree limbs scraping against her jeans as they carefully headed in the direction of the mansion.
Rae realized how nervous Dayton was by how much he was whisper-chatting as they walked. He kept talking about his family like he wasn’t going to see them again and wanted the woods to hold on to his memories. He told her about hispokni, his grandmother who had passed away the year before, and how he used to cook with her and his mother when he was younger, making fry bread andtanchi labona, which he said was a traditional Choctaw dish made with hominy and pork. He talked about how hard it was to get the indigenous youth, including Carli, to learn about the traditions and carry them on.
“I was only twenty-three when Carli came to live with me,” he said as they moved closer, toward the tall hedges of the garden. “I had no idea what I was doing, but at least I had my mom and mypokni. I don’t know how you did it at nineteen on your own.”
“It was hard, but Angel tried to help as much as she could after Lily was born.” Rae recalled how much she’d looked forward to getting Lily down at night so she and Angel could relax and talk while sipping warm apple cider during the winter months when Lily was tiny. “She was a busy college student at the time, so I found my own place as soonas I could. And then I had the idea about the dominatrix business, and Angel had the brains to make it happen.”
“You’re lucky to have her as a friend,” he said. “You know what she told me when we were all at the club?”
“No.”
“‘If you hurt her, I’ll cut your cock off.’ Then she handed me a dollar for the go-go dancer.”
Rae grinned. “She’s always had my back.” And she hoped she would get to see her best friend—her sister—again and hug her.
Dayton took her hand and stopped walking as they saw the lights of the mansion above the tall garden hedges. He turned to her, and she pushed up on the balls of her feet to kiss him, hopeful this wasn’t the last time she’d feel his lips on hers.
“Okay,” he said. “We stay close to the edges and make our way that direction.” He pointed toward the east side of the massive estate.
It started to feel real, the danger they were walking into. Goose bumps rose on her body, although it was warm out. They pressed themselves against the hedges, moving to the southeast corner of the mansion. It took forever since they had to constantly pause, listening for any signs of people. Finally, they came to the end of the hedges and faced the wide-open area of the garden, which was as beautiful as Rae remembered it. Beautiful, but terrifying since they’d have to cross it without being seen.
Dayton took her hand again and squeezed it. They looked around, making sure they were in the clear, and he gave the go ahead to run. Rae’s lungs burned as she pounded across the manicured lawn to the side of the mansion, Lily’s face in her mind.I’m coming, honey.
They made it to the other side, and Rae saw the entrance to the basement. It wasn’t like the typical exterior basement entrance a normal home would have with a bulkhead and a metal latch. This door was thick metal with a dead bolt, definitely not original to the old mansion. She didn’t know how they’d get inside.
Rae tugged on Dayton’s arm, silently pointing to a high window nearby. It was the kind that could be pushed out to allow air in, and it was slightly ajar. He frowned at her. It was too tall for them to reach. She made a motion for him to lift her up onto his shoulders so she could get inside, but she could tell by his face he didn’t like the option. She had to get in, though, and she could find a way to let him inside once she got her bearings. She made the motion again, and Dayton shook his head, but then he held out his hands to lift her up.
Once she got onto his shoulders, she listened for any sounds coming from the window and heard nothing. It was difficult to keep her balance while trying to yank the window open enough to let her through, but she managed. She had a better look now and saw the window opened to a storage room of some sort. If she were careful, she could lower herself onto what looked like cases of canned goods.
She gave Dayton the go ahead to push her up more, and he struggled to keep a hold of her feet as she shimmied her way through the tight space. As she turned her body to get through, her handgun fell from the back of her jeans to the ground outside.
She heard Dayton grunt below. She stopped herself from cussing and kept inching herself inside because it was too late for her to get back down for her gun. She’d have to get it from Dayton once she found a way to let him in. She tore her T-shirt as she slid through the other side, but she made it.
Rae scanned the storage room and saw two doors, one larger and another smaller and narrower with a padlock. Something told her to go to the smaller one, which was wooden and appeared as old as the estate. She pressed her ear to the door and heard hushed mutters. The voices sounded feminine, and Rae’s blood rushed to her head.
“Lily? Are you in there?” Rae whispered, but the murmurs stopped.
She had to get inside, and she searched the space for anything she could use to break the lock. There was nothing but the stored food. Shetook a large can of tomato sauce and slammed it against the padlock. Panicked sounds came from the other side of the door.
“Stop it, Rae!” a voice hissed. “She’s not in here, and they’ll hear you.”
“Devon?” She was so happy to hear her friend’s voice she wanted to cry. “I’m going to get you out of here, but I have to find Lily first. Do you know where they took her?”
“I don’t, but I heard they were having a special party tonight when they took her from here earlier.” She heard someone crying. “There are three other women in here with me. Please, get us out. One woman’s badly injured, and she’s been unconscious for a while.”
“I will.”
Rae texted Dayton’s phone to say what she’d found, but the service was crap, and the message failed. She re-sent it and hoped it would get through. She had to find a way to get him inside, which meant going through the other door and facing the unknown.
She cracked the door and saw it opened to a long hallway stretching on either side. She thought about where she was in relation to where the party had been held when she was there before, and she went right. She found a marble staircase at the end of the hall and listened for any footsteps before climbing them to the next floor. She tried to remember which floor the party had been on, but she wasn’t sure, so she decided to keep moving, staying close to the wall as she searched for some kind of exit she could use to let Dayton inside. But she didn’t find one, so she went back in the other direction. Nothing. Her anxiety began to cloud her thoughts as her breathing increased. She was lost, and she didn’t know which way to go.
She checked her phone, and her text message showed as failed again. She’d have to do this alone and hope Dayton would find a way inside.Okay, you got this,she chanted to herself. She moved away from the wall and went deeper into the mansion until she came to a huge library with floor-to-ceiling windows, the lights from the garden twinkling outside.She now knew she was on the right floor because she remembered seeing the edge of the garden from the ballroom area where the party had been held.
