Chapter 60
The front door is right there. You’d be stupid not to go out that way. Even if somebody is waiting for you, all you have to do is get to your car, which you parked right next to the house.
“Listen,” you say to Avery, “I’m going out the front. It will be fine.”
“But Sloan—”
You’re not listening, though. Given that there are cannibals on your tail, the last thing you want is to stand around debating how to get out of this house. You’re going out the front door, and that’s all there is to it.
You hurry toward the door, Avery following close behind, still protesting. You pull the door open, you step outside, and…
Nothing.
Nobody is lying in wait with a knife or gun. Nobody is ready to pounce. It doesn’t look like there’s anyone here at all. The night is completely quiet.
“See?” you say triumphantly to Avery. “There’s nobody here.”
She opens her mouth as if to object, but before she can, a figure emerges from the shadows. You watch in horror as the intruder slams a rock down against Avery’s skull. Her legs give out, and she falls to the ground, unconscious, a drop of blood trickling down her temple.
You raise your eyes to confront Avery’s assailant, and you nearly choke when you see who is standing before you. It’s Carson, the butler.
Oh God, Avery was right. Mr. Wentworth did send a henchman out here to wait for you. Now Avery is unconscious, and Carson is going to kill you and bring you back for dinner. If only you had made a different choice.
You turn around, ready to flee, but before you can, Carson reaches out and wraps his fingers around your arm. His grip is like a vise.
“Sloan!” he says. “Wait!”
“Let me go!” you shout, trying desperately to shake him off.
“I’m not going to hurt you. I swear.”
Is he serious? He just knocked your friend unconscious with a rock, and now he’s telling you he’s not going to hurt you? He must think you are the dumbest person on the planet.
“Listen to me,” he pleads. “I only knocked Avery out because she was leading you to Mr. Wentworth. I was trying to warn you about her—about all of them.”
Something in his voice makes you stop struggling.
Is there any chance he could be telling the truth?
Avery is a good friend, but everything that has happened here tonight has been really sketchy, especially when she didn’t want you to go out the front door.
It doesn’t seem completely out of the question that she was in on it the whole time.
After all, she knew how desperate you were for money. She also knows that you don’t have many friends or family and would be unlikely to be missed. If she were trying to think of the perfect person to offer up to a bunch of cannibals, it’s hard to imagine your name wouldn’t have topped the list.
“Wentworth paid her to get you to come here,” he says, confirming your fears. “I’m sure he offered her a bundle.”
Avery’s body is lying crumpled on the ground. You’re still not sure if you believe him.
“Did you know what was going on?” you ask Carson.
He rubs his jaw. He looks so handsome in the moonlight. Nobody that good-looking could be evil. Could they?
“I had my suspicions,” he admits. “But I didn’t know for sure. Not until tonight.”
“I see…”
“We’ve got to get out of here.” His gaze darts over to your car, which is less than fifty feet away. You’re sure you could span the distance in a few seconds. “But not in your car.”
“Why not?”
“You need to get through the gates,” he explains. “But they’re not going to just open them and let you leave.”
He makes a good point. You’ll never be able to drive out of here if nobody opens the gate for you. “So how do we get out of here?”
“I’ve been checking the perimeter. Looking for imperfections. I found a place where one of the bars was loose, and I managed to work it free. We can sneak out through there.”
“Where?”
He points to an area on the estate that is almost consumed by branches and shrubbery. It looks like exactly the kind of place that would be perfect to murder somebody.
“Um,” you say, “I don’t know…”
“Sloan.” His eyes are big and serious. You can’t help but think he has unfairly long eyelashes for a man.
“Mr. Wentworth is likely guarding the controls for the gate, so unless he’s dead, this is the only way out of the estate right now.
If you don’t come with me, you won’t leave here alive. You have to trust me.”
Except… can you trust him? You only met this man tonight, and he’s already knocked your friend unconscious. That does not bode well for what will happen if you follow him into the woods.
Then again, if he wanted to attack you, he had his chance. And he’s the only person in the house who warned you about the danger you were facing.
To follow Carson, turn to Chapter 64 (page 163)
To go to your car, turn to Chapter 61 (page 155)