Chapter 32
KANE
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I knock the phone out of Amy’s hand and grab her upper arm to stop her from running away. She makes no attempt to fight me.
With my scalp and side throbbing, I yell for Nolene. “She’s here!”
When Nolene and I failed to locate Amy outside, we assumed she somehow discovered a way out of the property. I was on the verge of climbing into the Land Rover to look for her when an odd feeling propelled me to check inside the house again.
That’s when I found her trying to call someone.
Nolene comes running into the kitchen. Although the ski mask hides her face, I have no trouble picturing the enraged expression stamped across it.
“What kind of game are you playing here?” she demands.
Amy’s face is pale. “I’m not playing a game.”
“What do you call this?”
“I tried to escape, but I heard you talking about the dogs and the electric fence.”
“Where were you hiding?” Nolene snaps.
“Under the dining room table.”
Nolene shakes her head in disbelief.
I keep my attention on Amy, not bothering with a ski mask since she’s seen my face.
“Who were you trying to call?” I ask.
“Nine-one-one,” she replies in a small voice.
I know I interrupted her before she could get through, but something’s still wrong. She’s too composed.
A new tension works its way into my shoulders.
And then I see it, a crack in Amy’s facade, the nervous flick of a glance in my direction.
My skin prickles. I’m silent for a beat while I try to figure it out. Then it hits me. “You called someone else before trying nine-one-one,” I say slowly. “Who did you call?”
“I—I didn’t call anyone.”
My gaze locks on her face. “I believe you did.”
Nolene rounds on Amy. “Who did you contact?”
Pinned by our gazes, Amy shakes her head, her eyes huge in her face.
My jaw sets in frustration. “Don’t make me do this.”
She remains silent.
The cords in my neck tighten. Amy ran because she’s a prisoner trying to escape her captors, but I wonder if she also fled to escape the attraction that flared so unexpectedly between us.
Irrationally, I blame her. Why doesn’t she stay true to character and remain the vain, selfish creature I find so easy to hold in contempt? Why does she have to show spunk?
I eye her coldly. “Last chance.”
She doesn’t respond.
Nolene releases an impatient sigh and pulls out her .22 from the waistband of her jeans. She points it at Amy’s head. “Still feeling tongue-tied, princess?”
Amy doesn’t move, her eyes riveted on the weapon.
“Put it away,” I instruct Nolene. “I have a better plan. We’ll put her in the storeroom.”
A storeroom with no windows and a light switch on the outside. I haven’t forgotten breaking into Amy’s house and seeing the lights she’d left on in the middle of the day, picking up on the wisp of a phobia.
Judging by the stricken look on her face, Amy understands all too well what my intentions are.
When Nolene catches sight of Amy’s expression, a smile forms and she puts away her weapon.
It takes the combined strength of both of us to drag Amy into the storeroom.
She fights us the entire way, lashing out so desperately she manages to open up my cuts and land a glancing blow to Nolene’s cheekbone.
Finally, we get her into the half-empty storeroom, locking the door, cutting off her screams.
I gave her a chance, I think, hardening my heart against the frantic pounding and muffled cries on the other side. This is all on her.
Nolene pulls off her ski mask. “Guess she really does have a phobia about the dark.”
“Start packing,” I order grimly. “We have to leave.”