Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
Darkness swallowed the SUV whole—thick, absolute, the kind that erased the world beyond the windows.
No streetlights. No moon. No landmarks to indicate where they were taking her.
Just an endless black void rushing past, punctuated by the occasional blur of trees that materialized then vanished like ghosts.
Inside, every vibration of the road jolted through Fallon's bones. The zip tie bit into her wrists with each bump, each turn into that suffocating nothingness.
The confinement sank into her bones, grinding against joints she couldn’t shift.
Linda trembled beside her, frail and folded in on herself, her wrists purpling against her cuffs. Her staggered breaths whistled through the gag covering her mouth. Fallon nudged her shoulder gently, solidarity in the dark.
“It’s okay,” Fallon whispered, even though nothing about this was okay. “I’m here.”
EJ’s eyes flicked to her through the rearview— amused, curious, like she was a puzzle he already knew the ending to.
“You don’t need to bother comforting her,” he said. “She won’t matter much longer.”
Fallon swallowed the urge to scream. It wouldn’t help or solve anything. “Where are you taking us?” Her pulse spiked with something icy and brutal, as she waited for a response she wasn’t sure she wanted to hear.
“That depends,” EJ said casually, as if discussing a scenic detour. “On whether your hero understands simple instructions.”
Her jaw tightened. This was an impossible situation with no good outcome. “Why us? Why Buddy? Why this?” A million more questions rattled her brain, but she doubted EJ would even answer these.
The driver chuckled under his breath.
EJ didn’t. He watched her instead, gaze sharpening with interest—like she’d finally stepped onto the exact mental square he wanted.
“Still thinking small,” he murmured. “Still thinking this is about tonight.” He shifted slightly, turning just enough that she caught the shadow of his smile.
“What do you mean, small?”
He tapped his temple. “Use your brain. I know you have one. I’ve been watching you for a while now, and you’re smart. Maybe even smarter than that boyfriend of yours.”
Her heart raced. Her mind rattled. “Watching? For how long?”
“Honestly? On and off for years.” He licked his lips like she was a meal about to be devoured. “I never anticipated you and Buddy. That wasn’t originally part of the plan. Hell, you weren’t part of my plan to get back at Buddy for what he did, but you just landed there nice and neat.”
“That doesn’t make any sense if you’ve been watching for years. It doesn’t explain why me? Why Linda?”
EJ waved his hand as if he were swatting a fly. “The old woman? She’s collateral damage. An easy mark. Someone you care about. Someone the community cares about. Someone who would give me insurance on walking out of that fundraiser with you on my arm.”
Linda moaned.
Fallon tried to scoot closer. “That’s cruel.”
“It’s business,” EJ said sharply. “Buddy destroyed a large portion of my pipeline, and he cost me millions. It’s time for him to pay. You just made it even easier for me. And you gave me the chance to redeem myself for a mistake made years ago.”
“What does that mean?”
“Here’s a piece of truth you can choke on,” EJ said.
Fallon straightened despite the restraints.
“Why you?” EJ repeated softly. “Because you were chosen.”
Her blood iced.
“Years ago,” EJ went on. “Pretty little thing living in a pretty little house. A father who traveled. A mother who left routines like breadcrumbs. Predictable. Ideal. Your buyer called you a rare find. He was the kind of client who paid top dollar for a certain kind of girl, and I couldn’t let just any thug come and get you. ”
“My buyer?
“I came to Calusa Cove with one of my top people. We came just for you,” EJ said.
“Who?” she asked with her heart in her throat.
“The who isn’t important,” EJ said. “All you need to know was that he was willing to pay a hefty sum for you. So, I introduced myself to your father. I told him I worked for a company he was dying to do business with. We had a drink. Walked the halls of your home.” His eyes glittered in the mirror.
“My client was right. You were a rare find. All fire and ice. The kind of girl that would be fun to break.”
Fallon’s heart stumbled—hard, painful, once. “No,” she breathed.
“Yes,” EJ said simply. “But fate pulled a fast one. You didn’t work that next night at the Crab Shack.”
Her stomach bottomed out. “Tessa took my place.”
“At first, we thought she was you—same color hair. And you lent her that damn jacket,” EJ replied.
“We left it behind. I wanted to send a message. It’s been fun watching you honor your friend when deep down, I suspect, you know it was always supposed to be you snatched in the night.
Sadly, my client didn’t want Tessa, but she still had value.
” He shrugged. “I sold her quick enough.”
Fallon’s vision blurred. Sold. Fucking sold. Somewhere Fallon couldn’t reach. Somewhere Tessa could never be found.
“I wanted to come back for you,” EJ said softly, as if he’d been robbed of something precious.
“But the heat was everywhere, and by the time it really calmed down, it was too late—you’d made too much noise about finding Tessa.
About starting the Tessa Project. I had to let it go—had to let you go. But I’ve watched you.”
The words crawled over her skin like something living. Watched. He'd been watching her grieve, watching her search, watching her build the Tessa Project from nothing—and he'd done it from safety. From shadows.
“So, after Buddy fucked me over, and I learned you two were friends… then an item… damn. I nearly lost it.”
A sound tore from Fallon’s throat, part inhale, part sob, part disbelieving horror. “Where’s Tessa? Where’s my friend?”
“I’m not a keeper,” EJ said with a shrug. “I move product, I don’t track it. She could be alive. Or dead. Or wishing she were. But wherever she is, she’s long gone.”
The world swerved—not the SUV, her world—and for one horrifying beat, Fallon couldn’t draw breath. It felt like hands were around her throat. Tessa’s hands. Reaching. Pleading.
Linda whimpered beside her, muffled and high, and Fallon forced her body to move—leaning in, pressing her temple to the older woman’s shoulder.
“I’m here,” Fallon whispered, raw. “Please hang on. Please.”
Linda’s tears slid silently down her face.
EJ studied them like they were a fascinating wildlife documentary.
“You see,” he said, conversational again, “you became a neat little loose end. And Buddy? Well, he’s made a career of tripping over loose ends.”
Fallon’s heart crashed against her ribs. “Buddy didn’t even know me then.”
“No,” EJ said, “but he knows you now. And that’s even better. A hero with a weakness is far more entertaining than a missing teenager.”
Fallon grinded her teeth. “You’re using me to hurt him.”
“Of course I am,” EJ said brightly. “Simon failed me in that regard. I fully intend to correct that.”
Her breath stuttered.
Simon.
The name hit harder now, like the last puzzle piece she didn’t want to recognize. Buddy had nightmares carved into his bones because of that man—because of who he couldn’t save.
And EJ…
EJ was the root that fed the whole damn thing.
Fallon’s voice shook, but she didn’t back down. “You don’t get to break him. Or me.”
EJ smiled. It was wide. Big. Happy, even. “I already have.”
Her wrists throbbed. Her ribs hurt. Grief swelled so big inside her she almost couldn’t speak.
“How many girls?” Fallon whispered.
“So many,” EJ said with boredom. “And thirty more waiting, right now. Neatly packaged. Ready to move. My ex-wife is moving them in an hour.”
“Wait. You told Buddy—”
EJ laughed. Hard. “He can’t save them. They’re already locked up in a shipping container. He’ll never find them. He thinks he has a choice. And my guess is, he’ll choose you and the old lady. As for the girls? It won’t matter.”
“And if he chooses the girls?”
“That’s the fun part of this game, because no matter who he chooses, everyone still dies.
” He turned away. “Sorry. But it’s my playbook.
My rules. And Buddy has to suffer the consequences of his actions.
” He lifted his phone. “So predictable.” He sighed.
“He’s already called off his other drivers and they will, no doubt, be racing toward our direction.
But my team will follow, and there are more along the way.
They’ll get cut off at the pass. Buddy can’t win no matter what he does.
This time, he won’t be able to save anyone. ”
Fallon swallowed salt and fire. “You won’t get away with this.”
EJ chuckled. “Sweetheart, I already have.”
Something shifted in the SUV—subtle as a breath, sharp as a blade slipping between ribs.
Fallon couldn’t name it, but she felt it, a wrongness coiling under the floorboards, vibrating up the zip ties cutting her skin.
EJ straightened in the front seat, not alert, not tense—satisfied, like he’d just reached the chapter of a story he’d been dying to tell.
The road grew quieter, narrower, darker, and c dread crawled up Fallon’s spine with cold, certain fingers.
Whatever was coming next wasn’t negotiation.
It wasn’t posturing. It was the moment everything tilted—and every instinct she owned screamed that Buddy was about to walk straight into something designed to break him.
Flagler’s number lit Buddy’s phone like a flare in the dark.
He answered before the second ring. “Tell me you’ve got something.”
Flagler didn’t waste breath. “We’ve got confirmation. A tanker under Quinn Bellows’ manifest is scheduled to leave Miami in an hour. Containers loaded. Coast Guard has been authorized to lock it down. If those girls are on that ship, they’re not going anywhere.”
Relief didn’t come. Not even close. Too much could still go wrong.
“You won’t be there in time,” Buddy said.