Chapter 1
COURTNEY
A fter logging out of my banking app, I set my phone on the coffee table with a sigh.
Sabrina had really done a number on me when she disappeared out of nowhere a month ago, only a day before our rent was due.
My roommate had been acting a little off in the days leading up to when I last saw her.
I hadn’t thought much about it because she’d never been the most dependable person.
Sabrina and I had been living together for almost two years, and in that time, she’d gone through six jobs and seven boyfriends. She’d been late with her half of the rent more often than not, but usually only by a few days. She’d always somehow pulled through in the end. Until now.
I didn’t make a ton of money as a bank teller, but I was good about setting some aside every paycheck.
So I’d easily been able to cover her half last month.
Doing it again would take my savings account lower than I liked, but I just transferred the funds because it wasn’t as though I had a choice and had no way to contact Sabrina.
With that done, I stood and headed into the kitchen to make a mug of hot chocolate.
The weather was warm for April, but I didn’t care.
Topped with a swirl of whipped cream that I had pre-frozen with a sprinkle of broken candy canes that I had left over from Christmas, it was my guilty pleasure.
And with how bummed I was about the state of my bank account balance, I deserved something to cheer me up.
Unfortunately, the universe didn’t agree.
Someone pounded on my door just as I took my first sip of chocolatey deliciousness. Setting my mug on the kitchen counter, I was not happy.
I wasn’t expecting any visitors this morning, so whatever rude person thought it was okay to make so much noise this early in the day would get a piece of my mind. Only the words dried in my throat when I swung open the door and found three burly guys standing there.
Pressing my hand against my chest, I mumbled, “I think you’ve got the wrong apartment.”
“No, we don’t.” The tall, lanky man who pushed between two of them was the only one I recognized.
I hadn’t seen Sabrina’s boyfriend since about a week before she disappeared. I’d hoped that meant she and Jason broke up, which I’d been secretly rooting for because he was even worse than all of her other bad boyfriends. That was saying a lot since she had awful taste in men.
I glared up at him. “If you’re looking for Sabrina, she’s not here.”
“I know,” he growled, bumping past me to walk into the apartment.
The other guys followed him inside, and I had no desire to be behind closed doors with any of them.
I was in my pajamas without socks or shoes on, my phone was in the kitchen, and my purse was hanging on the wall about five feet away from me, but I seriously considered making a run for it.
My thoughts must’ve shown on my face because the man closest to me wrapped his hand around my upper arm and yanked me away from the door so he could close it.
I tried to pull my arm free from his grip, but he only tightened his hold on me until I stopped fighting. Wincing in pain, I muttered, “What do you want, Jason?”
“What Sabrina stole from me.”
My eyes widened as I gaped at him. My roommate was a lot of things, but I never would have thought she was the kind of person who’d rob someone, even a guy she was going to dump. “She took something from you? What?”
The biggest of the guys shot an angry look at Jason before answering my question. “Shit that belonged to our boss, not this idiot who shoulda known better than to mouth off to some chick.”
The man holding my arm nodded. “Yeah, the bitch wouldn’t have known there was anything to steal if you’d kept your trap shut.”
“It wasn’t my fault,” Jason whined, his shoulders slumping. “I never thought Sabrina would do me dirty like that. I thought she loved me, man.”
The third guy, who hadn’t spoken yet, shook his head. “How in the hell are you still talking about that damn girl? I woulda thought the beatdown we gave you because of the shit she pulled would’ve knocked some sense into you.”
My gaze darted toward Jason, and I finally noticed the split in his brow and the bruise forming on his jaw.
I’d been so distracted by the men with him when they pushed their way inside my apartment that I’d missed it before.
Knowing that he’d been beaten up over whatever Sabrina stole from him ratcheted up my fear several notches—which was saying a lot since I was already freaked all the way out.
About a million questions were running through my brain, but I didn’t ask any of them.
The last thing I wanted was to draw the men’s attention to me while they were focused on Jason.
Unfortunately, being quiet didn’t prevent that from happening because he proved to be as big of a jerk as I thought he was.
Pointing at me, he cried, “I’m not the one who can help you find Sabrina, she is!”
The guy holding my arm finally let go, but only to line up with the other two directly across from me. The bigger one was in the middle, and he growled, “Where is she?”
“Sabrina?” I squeaked, shaking my head. “I don’t know.”
He jerked his thumb toward Jason. “That’s not what he told us.
Said you’re the person who’s closest to her, and the way we asked, he was highly motivated to tell the truth.
So you’re the only lead we got since we wasted the past four weeks tracking his pathetic ass down, only to find he doesn’t have what the boss sent us looking for. ”
“And the guy we work for? We can’t go back to him empty-handed,” the grabby guy explained.
The third one nodded. “Which means we’re highly motivated to get your friend’s location outta you. The hard way or the easy way. The choice is up to you.”
“Roommate,” I whispered, my voice shaking.
The big guy’s brows drew together. “What?”
“Sabrina isn’t really my friend. She was my roommate, that’s it,” I explained with a wince, mentally kicking myself for correcting the description of who Sabrina was to me.
Considering the current situation, it didn’t really matter.
They seemed desperate to find her, and Jason had tossed me to the wolves to save his own butt.
“I don’t care if she’s your sister, best friend, roommate, or mortal enemy.
” The big guy took a step closer. I moved back but bumped into the wall behind me, and his lips curved into a satisfied sneer.
“You’re gonna help us find her, or I’m gonna be forced to do something I don’t enjoy—beat the shit out of a woman. ”
My gaze darted toward Jason, which made the guy who’d tugged on my arm laugh. “Don’t worry, he’ll get his ass kicked either way. Maybe worse, depending on if that bitch still has what she stole from him or not.”
“But you already?—”
Jason’s complaint broke off when the third man boxed the back of his head. “Shut the fuck up, or we’re gonna use you to show Courtney how hard we can hit.”
I shouldn’t have been surprised by his use of my name since Jason knew me, but it threw me off even more.
“Repeatedly,” the biggest one growled before turning his attention back to me. “You get that we’re serious about finding Sabrina?”
My mind was reeling, but I nodded and gulped down the giant lump in my throat. “Yes.”
“Good,” he grunted as the other two dragged Jason toward the door. “The bitch isn’t answering any of his calls, but you better hope like hell she’ll answer for you. We’ll be back in forty-eight hours, and I expect you to have some answers by then.”
Two days was nothing, especially when I already knew that Sabrina wasn’t taking my calls either. I had no hope of finding her in such a short time, which only gave me one option to get out of this mess.
Glancing over his shoulder as he neared the door, he warned, “And don’t try anything stupid, like going to the cops. We got eyes and ears everywhere, so we’d know that you tried to fuck us over like your roommate. Then our next visit would be a hell of a lot less friendly.”
The plan that had been forming in my brain flew out the window with his threat. Calling the police and getting the wrong person wasn’t worth the risk.
When the door finally shut behind them, I slumped against the hard surface, tears filling my eyes.
I could’ve used a stiff drink after that scary encounter, but I was only twenty, so I couldn’t go out and buy one.
And we didn’t have anything in the apartment because Sabrina drank her alcohol as quickly as she bought it.
If I made it out of this disaster, I needed to be much more careful when it came to picking my next roommate.
Or maybe I would look for a weekend job so I could afford the apartment on my own.
Anything would be better than going through something like this again.
Assuming I survived the mess Sabrina had left behind.