The extension cords. That was why she came in? I thought—
Shit! I wanted to help the other girl, but now Mr. Coleman has me. How the hell am I getting out of this?!
My nerve endings feel flayed from the dread choking me.
Was it a mistake to want to help? I didn’t have any other choice. A swollen lump lodges in my throat as I press my forehead to the door, breathing through the rush of emotions.
Princess.
Repulsion rushes over my body. How could I have thought that pet name made me feel special at fifteen? Now it only sends wave after wave of nausea through me. I’m trapped by my abuser. What will he do to me?
At least the other girl got away. That’s the only silver lining I can cling to right now. Mr. Coleman took me instead.
I’m sorry, Connor. I’m sorry I messed up so badly.
If I hadn’t shut down in denial, I wouldn’t be here right now.
I wish Connor were here. He has stepped in so many times, not trusting Mr. Coleman around me. But wishing for him won’t save me.
I have to save myself.
I’ll get out of this. I have to.
Be brave.
Thirty-Six
Connor
After cooling off by beating shit up with my bat at the abandoned quarry for a couple hours to give Thea space and get my thoughts off my major failure, I’m worn out but feeling less like I’m about to split apart.
The late afternoon sun dips low, creeping behind the ridgeline as dusk falls, casting long shadows across the weed-choked gravel lot. Thea asked me not to do anything stupid, so I came out here to work out my frustration rather than put more holes in the pool house wall.
With my head refocused, I’m ready to try talking to her again. I told her I’d let her come to me, but we don’t have the time. Two hours to calm down is long enough.
It was a mistake to ambush her with all the information at once, especially after she told me what Mom did to her. I should’ve come at it from a different angle, starting with Coleman. Keeping everything from her was killing me, so it poured out all at once.
Worse, I hated the panicked look on her face and the tears in her eyes as she left. I hate making her cry.
I sit in my Lexus GX with the door open and call her to find out what part of the holiday market she’s at. It goes to voicemail.
“Hi! You’ve reached Thea. I’m unavailable at the moment, probably because I’m up to my elbows in cake batter. Leave a message and I’ll call you back soon!”
I lift the phone away from my ear, scowling at it. I almost never get her voicemail when I call.
A bad feeling slices through me.
When my phone pings with a message, I relax. She’s fine, it must be loud at the market. Missed the call. That’s all.
But it’s not Thea when I open it. The text is from a contact in my phone I don’t remember putting in—the name blank except for a skull and crown emoji.
“Those crow bastards,” I grumble, opening the video clip.
As the CCTV footage plays, my heart stutters to a stop. Fuck.
It shows Thea following Coleman at the holiday market, then talking to him. He’s standing way too close to her for comfort. The last angle isn’t clear, but there’s a girl getting in Coleman’s car with him, driving off. She’s wearing the same wool jacket as Thea’s. My mind jumps to the worst.
Nothing else matters but getting her back.
“Goddamn it!” I pound my fist against the wheel, flying into motion. “This can not be happening right now.”
How can Thea be in the exact danger I was trying to protect her from? How could she get in a car and go anywhere with Coleman after what I tried to show her?
I should’ve followed her instead of cooling my head. My heart beats in double time as I fight off the sick sensation of failing her.
I can’t lose the girl I love.
We have so much ahead of us still, our entire future together.
I pull out of the quarry in a spray of dust and gravel. The tires skip over the road in a high-pitched squeal, and the lingering scent of burnt rubber tickles my nostrils. I push the gas harder, speeding toward my house. I need a weapon before I go save her from him.
And I will save her. She’s the most important person to me.
If I’m the storm tearing through everything, Thea is the sunlight that breaks through in my wake. A sun captured by the moon, eclipsed by love. She pierces through my darkness with her light.
Thea is it for me. She’s the girl I plan to marry. The only queen I want by my side. I’ll spend the rest of my life groveling for every mistake I’ve made if it means we make it out of this.
I’m close to breaking my teeth from grinding them so hard as I take corners too fast. The car screeches as I brake hard in the middle of the street, throwing it in park while I burst from the car to run across the lawn to my house.
Nothing registers but my goal: Dad’s gun safe.
It’s in his study on the first floor. The door hits the wall when I fling it open, but I don’t care. I go to the desk, open the bottom drawer, and punch in the access code. I looked over Dad’s shoulder when he was showing it to me before he took me to the gun range to learn how to shoot.
The 9mm Glock sits in the foam casing. Wasting no time, I take it and get bullets from where he keeps them.
Once I’m back outside with the gun tucked away so I don’t give the neighbors a heart attack, I get back in the SUV and floor it toward Coleman’s to rescue my girl. On the way, I call Devlin.
“Yo. What’s up?”
“Get the cops to Coleman’s,” I demand, speeding through a red light at an empty intersection. I need to make it there before I get pulled over for reckless driving. “Do whatever you have to. Call in a suspected shooting. Start a fire. I don’t care, just do it.”
“Whoa, slow down,” Devlin says. “The fuck are you on about?”
I smack the wheel. “He has Thea!”
“Shit. Okay, got it.”
I push the car faster, hoping I’m not too late.
Thirty-Seven
Thea
While I scramble in the darkness, searching the workbench for another weapon to defend myself, the basement door opens. My stomach lurches. A dim, flickering bulb blinks to life, casting the basement in sickly yellow light.
Oh god. He’s back.
“Kicking up all that fuss and not behaving. Tsk, tsk,” Mr. Coleman says in an eerie tone as he descends the rickety wooden steps. “I don’t know if you deserve this gift or not. But you’ve always been my special princess, haven’t you?”
Shoulders rigid with terror, I spin to face him with a strangled cry, my head throbbing with dull pain from the sudden movement.
Mr. Coleman stands between me and the exit. I feel blindly behind me and wrap my fingers around a small tool handle—tiny screwdriver, maybe? I don’t know. It feels like the kind used on computers. I can’t look, not willing to risk drawing his attention to it.
It won’t do a lot of damage, but it’s all I feel behind me without continuing my search.
He reaches the bottom step, presenting me with the same necklace from the file half-spilled out of my purse on the dingy floor. It’s a gold heart dangling from a dainty chain.