24
ERICA
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When I wake up, there’s nobody there.
I slept so hard, which is crazy considering this is the most tension and drama I’ve ever experienced in my life.
Usually, I would be a sucker for things like this, the intensity, the high stakes, but I never expected to run into a situation where I was actually going to lose my life at the hands of the very person who previously saved it.
All of this is just too fucking crazy to wrap my head around.
I start looking around the room, my heart sinking as I realize the bed, painted with our dried blood, is empty.
"King?" I call out.
My voice sounds small in the vastness of the master suite.
I get up, my body aching in places I didn't even know could hurt, and I start wandering through the big house.
I can feel the phantom pressure of his hands on my neck, the sting of the bite he left on my shoulder.
My womb feels like a bomb went off in it and I double over, wincing in pain.
"King!" I say again through the pain.
His name echoes through the hollow hallways and reaches back to me unanswered.
The silence that greets me is heavy. I run to the window and look out at the driveway. My stomach drops. His truck is gone.
"Oh no," I whisper, the panic rising in my throat all over again.
I still have my phone, so I dial King’s number immediately, but it’s the same story; straight to voicemail. As the screen fades, I notice the mountain of notifications I’ve been ignoring. Several missed calls from Caleb and Sister Paula, but it’s Caleb’s text that makes my blood run cold.
Caleb:
I'm worried nobody can find Zosha. No one knows where she is.
Are you with King? Did you find him because he did something to her!
Maybe that's why he disappeared or something. I thought he probably had nothing to do with it because I hadn't seen him and Zoe was fine and now she's gone.
Erica, you need to talk to me because I don't know what the fuck is going on.
My hands start to shake.
Zoe?
Gone?
I check my messages and see one from Halina, Zoe's mom. Her voice on the recording is thin and brittle, like she’s trying to hold back a breakdown.
"Hi, sweetie. Have you seen Zoe? Please just say she's with you or something.
It's not like her to just get up and leave.
No one has seen her since the 3rd. I'm really worried.
M-maybe you guys went to a rave or a vacation or something.
Maybe she's rebelling a little bit. She's been kind of sad. I'm v-very worried."
There are more messages from Caleb, even one from Miss Margo. I don’t even know how Margo got my number. Then I remember the youth camp. They had all our info for emergencies. Sister Paula called too, though she didn’t leave a message.
What am I supposed to tell these people? That the man they think is a saint just tried to put my head through a wood saw? That I'm in a stolen mansion in New York while Zoe is missing back in Tennessee?
I need to ground myself. I call home. My mom answers on the second ring.
"Erica? Hey, is everything okay?" she asks.
"Yeah, Mom, everything’s fine," I say, forcing my voice to sound casual. "I’m actually on vacation right now. So if you don't reach me for a while... you know, I'm not ignoring you or anything."
"Why would you ignore me, though?"
"Mom, I just said I’m not ignoring you. I just need time away from everything."
"Is everything okay?" she presses, her mother-radar pinging. "Your dad has been kind of agitated lately, and he's worried about you."
"Why is he worried about me?" I ask, defensive.
I scroll down my call log while she talks and, sure enough, there are three missed calls from my father.
"I don't know," Mom says. "He’s just been worried. He said he’s been trying to call."
"Tell him I'm fine," I snap.
"Are you sure? Because your dad had a really bad nightmare... he said he saw you calling out for help."
I cut her off before she can finish. "Mom, I’m fine! Tell Dad I’m okay. I’m just dealing with something right now, and it’s nothing bad. It’s just... the church people. They drove me incredibly nuts, and I know you can relate. You’ve been to churches where they drove you crazy."
This is the right move. My mom starts into a lecture about faith and trials, which is perfect because it means she thinks everything is normal.
"Mom, I don't want to hear it," I groan. "I just told you church people were driving me nuts, and now you’re trying to lecture me about Christ? That is the last thing I want to hear right now, which is why I told you I need a break from you, too."
"Erica—"
"I love you, Mom. I’ll talk to you when I talk to you, but I’m fine."
I hang up. I feel like a bitch for being so short with her, but I have to make this look believable.
If I sound annoyed and rebellious, they’ll stay away.
If I sound scared, they’ll come looking.
My only hope is that she doesn't try to pull a "surprise visit" to Brackenridge and find my apartment empty.
A moment later, a text pings from her.
Mom:
Is King okay? Is everything between you guys okay? If you're having issues, talk to him. He's a good friend. Even when you can't talk to me, I know that you're safe with him. So don't cave in on yourself, talk to someone.
I feel like crying. I’m standing in this empty mansion with no way of reaching King, and he’s left me here.
Wait a minute.
I pull up the timeline on my phone and trace back my route to see where I came from.
My battery is at 10%.
Nearly dead, but it should be enough to call a ride out of here.
And then, what?
Am I really going to run up and down New York looking for him?
I have no idea how to help him. I don’t even have Yvonne’s number. I try to search for "Yvonne" in Brackenridge, but there are too many results.
I scroll through my photos, looking at pictures of me and Zoe, King and Angelo, Zoe’s mom. I’m so worried about her. Why is everyone calling me asking where she is?
Why would Zoe just disappear? It doesn't make any sense. I take a breath and call Sister Paula back.
"Hey, Sister Paula," I say when she answers.
"Hey, did you see anything on King?" she asks immediately.
"I did see him," I admit, but follow it up with a lie. "But I didn't get to talk to him. Can you just pray for him? I think he’s going through a bad time and he’s trying to deal with it on his own."
"Could you get him to come back?" she asks, her voice full of concern.
"I don't know. I think he’s just really going through it, Sister Paula. But he’s okay, in case anybody was wondering. He’s fine." I swallow hard, my throat tight. "But Sister Paula, where is Zoe? Everyone is asking me where she is."
"Actually, that’s what I wanted to ask you, too," Sister Paula tells me. "No one has seen her. It’s not like her to not show up for work, and her mom is frantic. Sister Madysen claimed that something happened between her and Caleb. There’s a missing person’s report now.
They were even questioning Caleb because apparently, he was the last one seen with her. "
"Caleb?"
"After Sister Madysen talked to her, Zosha claimed there was something going on," Paula continues. "That maybe she was afraid she was pregnant or something. She seemed concerned."
"What?" I gasp in shock.
"Zoe? Pregnant? I don't understand."
"Honestly, Sister Erica, I have no idea. I talked to Sister Madysen, but the police talked to Caleb. They held him for a while. There was a big search for her, but no one can find her. It’s like she just up and left, just like King did.
Maybe she went where Brother King is? You said you haven't seen them together? "
"No," I say firmly. "Zoe is not with King. If I had seen her with King, I would have definitely asked her what she was doing here. Is it possible she could have gone back to Poland?"
"I don't know," Sister Paula replies.
"Okay. Well, keep me posted, and I’ll keep you posted."
"Thank you, dear," she tells me, and we hang up.
Why would Zoe just up and leave?
It’s not like her at all. And talking to Sister Madysen about a baby... Zoe, of all people?
Did she have sex with Caleb?
Caleb has been trying to reach me, too. I quickly order my ride before my phone dies completely, and as I wait, I dial Caleb’s number.
"Hello," Caleb picks up on the first ring, his voice sounding frazzled.
"Hey, Caleb," I say, my own voice trembling. "What the hell is going on right now?"
Caleb lets out a shaky breath. "Erica, I don't know what the fuck is actually happening. Zoe is just—where the fuck are you right now?"
"I told you, I'm away in New York," I reply.
"Have you found King?" he asks, his tone turning rough. "I think he did something to her."
"King didn't do anything to Zoe," I state, trying to sound sure even as my heart pommels. "It’s not like that."
"How the fuck do you know that?" Caleb screams into the phone. "He raped her, Erica!"
My blood runs cold. Ty’s voice, the warning about women disappearing around King, echoes in my head like a death knell. I try to find my breath.
This can’t be true.
It can't.
"I don't know," I say, trying to keep calm. "I just got off the phone with Sister Paula. She claimed that Madysen said she was pregnant."
"Madysen is pregnant?" Caleb asks, sounding confused.
"No, Zoe was pregnant. Apparently."
Caleb goes dead quiet. The silence on the other end is telling.
"Wait," I say, breaking the quiet. "Why do you think King raped Zoe? What are you talking about? King wouldn't do something like that."
Even as the words leave my mouth, I know I'm lying to myself. After everything I just saw, after he tried to push my head into a saw blade and treated me like a stranger, it is completely possible that he snapped.
Earlier, I would have called it a blatant lie, but now? Now I have no idea who that man is.
"You didn't see how I found her after he fucked her and left her there," Caleb tells me. "She was all bloody, and her clothes were off, and she was crying."
"Where was this?" I ask, my voice barely a whisper.
"In her fucking cafe!" Caleb screams. "I came and found her on the fucking floor, Erica!"
He sounds manic, and a chill races down my spine.
"And she told you King did this?"
"Aren't you supposed to be her best friend?
" Caleb asks with a sneer. "What, you don't believe her?
I know you have the hots for King, but take your head out of his ass for a minute and think!
Nobody knows anything about that fucking dude.
He has no social media. Nobody can find him.
He's like a fucking ghost, and you don't think that's weird? "
I close my eyes tight. "There has to be more to the story—"
"I don't care whatever the fuck you say!
" Caleb cuts me off. "All I know is that Zoe is missing.
She was in distress because King took advantage of her and now she's fucking missing!
That's what I know, and you need to get your fucking ass back here and help find her if you have any love for her at all! "
He hangs up the phone, and I can tell he was crying.
I’m standing in this empty mansion feeling like the world is collapsing. None of this makes sense.
King left Brackenridge while Zoe was still there.
He’s been in New York, and she was in Tennessee.
Unless he doubled back just to kill her, there’s no way he could be involved in her disappearance.
But I know how people think. They’ll think he got rid of her to cover up what he did.
But why would King do that?
And Zoe, of all people?
I look at my phone.
Should I call the cops?
Should I ruin his life?
He did this to himself, but I feel responsible somehow.
If there's a way I can help him before he ends up back in jail, I want to try. There’s no hard evidence yet. Yes, he tried to kill me, but he was on some really fucked up drugs. Drugs he seemed to be coming down from, only to head out and find more.
I can’t believe I’m even considering this, but maybe I need to preach the God back into him.
It seems like faith was the only thing keeping whatever this monster is inside of him at bay. I wish I could go back in time and erase every mocking word I said to him about his religion.
Whether it was real or fake to the rest of the world didn't matter, it was real to him, and I took that hope away. If I can try to give it back, maybe... I don't know.
My ride pulls up, and I quickly get in, watching the city blur past as we head back toward the heart of New York.
While I’m scrolling through my phone, I find the pictures I took of the addresses on King’s mail. I didn't know why I did it at the time, maybe just instinct, but I'm so glad I did.
I see the addresses from Ironvale, but then I find the others.
From Virginia.
Ashford, Virginia.
King’s voice echoes in my mind from that day at the diner, clear as a bell.
"Ashford. It’s 27 miles southwest of Richmond."
There’s no way of knowing for sure if he’s there, but if he has family in Ashford... maybe they can help. Before I even think about getting the cops involved and ruining his life more than I already have, I need to talk to his people. If anyone can reach the real King, it would be them.
"Change of plans," I tell the driver, my heart racing. "Take me to the airport."
I’m blowing through every cent I have, but I don’t care.