Chapter 79
LILY
The warehouse sits on the edge of town like something abandoned by God years ago.
Corrugated metal. Broken windows. Rust streaking down the siding. One dim exterior light flickering over the loading dock.
I kill the engine but keep my hands on the wheel.
Think.
My pulse pounds so hard I have trouble hearing my thoughts over it. I press my thumbnail into the tip of my finger as I scan the property through the windshield. No visible vehicles. No movement. No guards.
Which means they’re inside, waiting.
I touch my phone, in my pocket. Mason’s coming. That thought steadies me enough to reach for the knife strapped against my ankle. I slip it free and tuck it into the back waistband of my jeans before climbing out of the truck.
Cold wind whips across the empty lot. Every instinct in my body screams at me to leave.
But then I think about Mandy—how I couldn’t help her thirteen years ago, but maybe now I can—and I move toward the warehouse.
The massive sliding door hangs partially open, darkness yawning beyond it. The smell hits hard—dust, oil, old grain, mildew.
“Mandy?” My voice echoes too loudly.
Nothing.
I step inside slowly, my boots crunching over gravel and broken glass.
Too quiet.
My hand drifts toward the knife at my back. “Turner?”
Still nothing.
I hear a soft sound behind me and I spin—
Too slow.
Something slams hard into the side of my head.
Pain explodes white-hot across my vision as the world tilts violently sideways. I stagger, reaching for the knife, but a hand catches my wrist and smashes it against the concrete wall hard enough to make my fingers go numb.
“Easy now,” a man says near my ear, almost amused.
I know that voice—it’s Kelly.
Panic makes me move. I drive my elbow backward blindly, connecting with ribs. He grunts, grip loosening just enough for me to wrench free and stumble forward.
Run.
I make it three steps before he grabs a fistful of my hair and yanks me backward hard enough to tear a scream out of my throat.
My knees hit concrete.
Kelly leans over, his face filling my vision, his smile chilling. Then his hands are running over my body.
I struggle, and it earns me a backhand that jars my brain. Slumped in his hold, I shake my head, trying to get my bearings.
His hand moves over my jacket, pausing at my pocket before pulling out my phone. Gasping, I grab for it.
Laughing, he holds it out of my reach. “Oh, sweetie, you really thought I’d let you keep this?”
He drops my phone on the ground and stomps it a couple times until it’s splintered and obviously useless. I stare at it, willing it to work, knowing that’s pointless.
It’s okay. I told Mason where I was going.
Kelly pulls me up by my hair, and I scream.
“Shut up.” He hits me again before he starts to drag me out of the building.
“No.” I drag my feet, fighting against the memory of being abducted. If he takes me someplace else, Mason won’t be able to find me. I won’t let myself be taken again—I won’t.
I whirl around and bite his arm.
“Fucking bitch.” He punches me in the solar plexus, and for a long moment I can’t breathe. He lifts me by the hair, glaring in my face. “If you don’t shut up, you won’t see your sister. You want to see her or what?”
I freeze, ice flooding my veins.
Then I stop struggling and let him take me.