Chapter 29
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Merritt
I rolled over with a groan, my skull pounding like it had been cracked in two. I blinked my eyes open and the sunlight coming in the widow felt like an ice pick in my brain.
I tried again, more carefully this time. When I was finally able to open them enough to take in my surroundings, nothing was familiar about the room I was in. My memory was hazy, and I felt like I had the world’s worst hangover, but that couldn’t have been the case. I didn’t remember drinking anything.
I thought back, trying to recall what had happened leading up to me waking up in this room. I remember going to see Lennix and the conversation we had about Raylan. I remember going to the grocery store afterward to pick up something for dinner before I had to get Levi.
Levi .
I shot up as my nephew’s name filled my head. My stomach revolted at the movement and my head grew woozy; I thought for a second I was going to be sick. I breathed deeply, in through my nose and out through my mouth, until the nausea abated. But the panic was still there. I was supposed to pick him up from school. But I hadn’t made it. Why hadn’t I—Oh god. Oh God no.
Memories came barreling back, whipping through my head like they were on fast forward, and with them, a racing heart and fear-induced tears.
The parking lot of Fresh Foods. Warren. The gun.
I remembered getting in his car, then it all just... stopped. He had to have knocked me out. Lifting a hand, I gingerly prodded at my left temple. There was a huge knot on the side of my head—the source of the headache and dizziness, no doubt, and when I pulled my fingers back, I saw blood.
His gun . I remembered he’d hit me in the side of the head with the butt of his gun.
My gaze darted around the space again as I tried my hardest to figure out where the hell I was. The room contained a single square table with two chairs and a twin-sized cot I was currently sitting on. That was it as far as furniture went. There was a tiny galley kitchenette in the back right corner with two countertops, a single row of three cabinets, a hot plate, a toaster oven, and a mini-fridge. There was an old cast iron wood-burning fireplace in the back left corner, and a single window with iron bars. The space was completely utilitarian, and from the dust and cobwebs everywhere, it looked like no one had been in it for several years.
I carefully stood, holding my arms out for balance as the world tilted. I knew for certain I had a concussion, and it was a bad one. But I couldn’t let it keep me from trying to figure out where I was, and more importantly, how to get the hell out.
I checked the window and saw that it had been painted shut at some point. Not that it mattered since there was no way I was getting through those bars. I tiptoed across the room and gripped the doorknob, holding my breath as I slowly tried giving it a turn, but it didn’t budge. It had been a long shot, hoping Warren hadn’t locked me in, but the disappointment still burned in my gut as I struggled to keep the panic attack at bay.
I had to figure this out.
The good news was he hadn’t tied me up. I knew how he thought, and I knew he hadn’t bothered because he assumed I was still the same weak, scared, obedient wife. His arrogance wouldn’t let him consider anything else. And I could use that to my advantage. I just had to figure out how.
I checked the kitchenette next, opening the cabinets quietly. There was a dusty plate covered in rat droppings and a glass with a dead bug in the bottom of it, but that was it. I grew disheartened as I moved to the two drawers. They were my last hope. The first one was empty, but in the second, there was an old, rusty Swiss Army knife. The blade had been broken off, but the cork screw was still attached. It would have to do.
I quickly popped out the curling piece of metal so it was ready to go when time came to use it, and stuffed it into my pocket.
Footsteps sounded somewhere outside the door, and I quickly raced back to the cot, ignoring the throb in my skull and my churning stomach. I sat down as the lock clicked and the door opened.
Warren stood in the frame. “Oh good. You’re awake.” He smiled in a way that sent a chill up my neck and made the little hairs on my arms stand on end. “Punishing you while you’re unconscious wouldn’t have been any fun.”
Tristan
I paced the stretch of asphalt behind Merritt’s car, raking my hands through my hair. It hadn’t taken long for a call to come in about an abandoned SUV in the parking lot of Fresh Foods. Harrison and I had raced out of the station, Hayes closely on our heels. When we got there, I spotted the vehicle immediately. The back hatch was opened, two plastic grocery bags sitting on the black carpeting, along with her purse. But the cart was still there with Merritt’s remaining bags inside. It was like she’d vanished into thin air in the middle of unloading her groceries.
There was no sign of her anywhere. No blood, no evidence of a struggle. And no one had seen a thing. She was just... gone. Her keys, phone, and wallet were with her purse, so I couldn’t track her location.
The only thing holding me together was my skin. Blythe had rushed to the school to get Levi, and she was keeping him entertained. I’d asked her not to tell him Merritt was missing yet. If the time came when he had to know, I wanted to be the one to tell him, and I wanted to be there in case he crumpled.
I’d put in calls to everyone I knew. The Hope Valley grapevine had been activated, and there were currently people searching all across town. Rhodes had split his guys into teams, some searching digitally, some with boots on the ground.
So far no one had turned up anything. I couldn’t accept that we might not find her. Couldn’t accept the thought of a life without her. Not when I just got her.
Patrol cars filled the lot. Police were canvassing, but every minute that passed where I didn’t hear from her felt like an eternity in hell.
“We’ll find her,” Hayes assured me, coming up and clapping me on the shoulder. “We’ve got the whole town lookin’, son. We’ll find her.”
Harrison came running up holding a tablet in his hand. “Got it!” he shouted as he ducked under the police tape that had been stretched out and rushed up to us. “I got the security footage.”
“Show me.”
He used his finger to rewind the digital image, then tapped play. No one said a word or breathed too loud as we watched Merritt open the back of her car and start loading bags in. She was totally unaware of the person climbing out of the car beside her until it was too late.
The figure in a dark hoodie moved in behind her, and my entire body stiffened at the same time Merritt’s image did. The two of them stayed like that for a few seconds before the man took two steps away, but it was enough space for the camera to catch the gun he had in his hand.
“Goddamn it,” I hissed as the scene continued to play out. There was no audio, so I didn’t know for certain what he’d said to get her into his car, but I could imagine. As soon as Merritt was in the passenger seat, the man rounded the hood of the car, scanning the parking lot as he went, providing the perfect angle to see his face.
“Fuckin’ knew it!” I growled. I’d known all along it was him, and now there was poof. I was going to make him pay.
My cell started buzzing in my back pocket, and I pulled it out to see Rhodes’s name flashing across the screen. It wasn’t too long ago he’d been in my shoes when Blythe had been taken, so if there was anyone I trusted to help me get my girl back, it was him.
“Just got video confirmation it was Bell. Tell me you got somethin’.”
I’d gone with my gut, and as Harrison drove us from the station to the grocery store earlier, I’d put in a call to Rhodes, telling him to dig up everything he could find on her ex, and to start with property records. He was spiraling, but he wasn’t stupid enough to take her back to his house. So he had to have another place in mind.
“There wasn’t anything in his name other than the house we already knew about. But I searched that shell corp like you asked, and I got a hit.”
“Where?”
“He bought the abandoned lumber mill up on Tolliver Mill Road. Place has been abandoned for years. It would be the perfect place to go.”
My feet started moving before he finished talking. “Heading that way now.”
“Meet you there, brother. And Tris, I know what this is doin’ to you right now. Keep it together, brother. We’re gonna get your girl back.”
Merritt
Everything hurt. Every cell. Every nerve. I’d witnessed Warren’s cruelty more times than I could count, but it had never been like this.
Each strike left behind its mark, and he’d hit and kicked me so many times I’d lost track of all my injuries. He’d split the skin at my cheekbone and my right eye was quickly swelling shut. My nose was bleeding, and I’d chipped a tooth. But other than my ribs, I didn’t think he’d broken anything.
At least not yet.
I fought to remain conscious, knowing I needed to be able to move when I saw my opening, but it was getting hard with every punch and kick.
He’d raged and screamed and cursed me as he inflicted his punishment.
“This is all your fucking fault!” he seethed as his fist slammed into my stomach, knocking the breath from my lungs. If you hadn’t spread your whore legs for that backwoods hick cop, he wouldn’t be investigating me!”
I didn’t know what he was talking about, but I couldn’t afford to focus any of my energy on that. Not when I needed every ounce of it to keep from passing out.
He yanked my hair back and got in my face, his lips curled back from his teeth as he seethed, “Did you have fun? Huh? Did you enjoy bein’ a whore for him? Did it feel good to act like a slut? Fuckin’ another man while you were married?”
I grunted as he tossed me to the floor, that goddamn loafer pulling back and slamming into my hip.
“To think, I wasted all that time on a dirty little slut like you. Should’ve known you were never worth it.” He bent down and grabbed my arm, yanking me back to my feet. I cried out as my bones and muscles protested. My entire body felt like one big, throbbing bruise, and I wasn’t sure how much more I could take. “Waste of my fuckin’ time, playing your brother the way I did. His ass should’ve died just like the rest of them, but that stupid little brat had to call for help and saved him.”
He must have seen the way my one good eye flared in shock, because he grinned evilly. “That’s right. It was me; I knew the only way you’d ever come back was if that fuckin’ kid needed you. Took almost no effort at all. Just showed up at your brother’s door and showed him what I had; he was all too eager to stick that needle in his arm.”
It was all his fault, I thought as burning tears fell from my good eye, the salt burning the cuts on my face.
Fisting the front of my shirt, Warren yanked me onto my toes, forcing my face closer to his. “Maybe I should do myself a favor and end you too. Rid myself of your pathetic, whiny, broken ass. I’ll put the needle in your arm myself. Do the world a favor. What do you say?”
This was it. This was the closest I was ever going to get. My opening was right in front of me, so I took it. Reaching into my pocket, I yanked out the cork screw and stabbed it right into his neck where it met his shoulder.
Warren let out a roar of pain as I ripped the twisted metal out and stabbed it back in again until he lost his hold on my shirt.
He bellowed in pain, releasing me to reach up and cup the gaping wound I’d created. It was a miracle I didn’t collapse when he released me. I didn’t know what kind of damaged I’d done, if I hit an artery or what, but I didn’t have time to stick around and find out.
I took off running as Warren’s other-worldly bellows echoed all around me. His footsteps were like shotgun blasts as he ran after me, screaming my name in a voice that would give me nightmares for a good, long while.
I heard him getting closer, but I couldn’t stop. I still didn’t know where I was. I didn’t have the first clue where I was going, but I knew I couldn’t let him get me again. I skidded around a corner, my feet slipping from under me, but I managed to stay upright and put on a burst of speed that was fed by pure adrenaline and the will to live.
I made Tristan a promise that if anything ever happened, and he wasn’t there to protect me, I would fight with everything I had. And that was exactly what I was doing.
I raced down a long hall and cut a sharp right when I reached the end. The sound of his gun going off made me jump as fragments of the wall near my head blew outward and scratched at my face. He’d just shot at me, the bullet missing by only inches.
I pushed myself impossibly faster, lifting my arms to shield my head when he fired again, the bullet lodging into the wall about two feet in front of me.
Each inhale felt like I was breathing fire into my lungs. I could barely see where I was going. But I didn’t stop. I cleared a large, open space, and nearly cried out in relief when I spotted a door.
Warren’s steps thundered after me, that demonic voice even closer now, still screaming my name as I reached for the knob.
What happened next seemed to happen in slow motion. My hand grasped the knob and turned. I yanked the door open and let my momentum carry me through, not realizing there would be people on the other side. Tristan’s face was the first one I saw. As soon as I crossed the threshold, he banded his arms around my waist, whipping me up and around right as another gunshot went off. I’d been moving so fast that my body didn’t stop when it collided with his. We both went down to the ground, Tristan on top of me, putting himself between me and the monster I’d been running from. A moment later, there were more. So many it sounded like there were multiple guns being fired.
I slapped my hands over my ears, slammed my eyes closed, and screamed until the noise around me stopped.
It could have been an eternity or only a handful of seconds, but when I felt Tristan’s fingers skate over my jaw, I opened my eyes and the first thing I saw was that beautiful sky blue.