My dad sighs. He picks up the knife and holds it out to me. “Why must you be so stubborn? Every cut you refuse to make, I will give to your sister. Would you rather that?”
I think of Angelica down in the basement. Of how blank she looked the last time I cleaned up our wounds. I’m fifteen now andI’mnot blind to what’s happening. Every cut takes pieces of her away from me. Makes her more like him.
I take the knife.
I don’t know how long I’m lost. When the cutting stops, sweat coats my skin and my stomach is slick with blood.
“That’s better,” my sister says. “Now we’re the same again.”
“Why did he punish you so much?” I ask once I’m able to form words again. After we hit our teens, it was usually me getting us punished. By that point, Angelica enjoyed doing the things our father wanted us to do.
“He’s mad at me because I won’t kill anyone. I do everything else, everything up to that point but I- I just can’t.”
Despite the pain I’m in, relief floods my body. I’ve spent the past six years hoping and praying she hadn’t crossed that line. “That’s a good thing, Angelica.”
“No!” She backhands me. “No, it’s not. I’m supposed to kill. I’m nothing to him if I can’t kill.”
I work my jaw and turn back to face her. “I can get you out,” I say. “We can leave, right now, both of us and you never have to see Dad again.”
She shakes her head. “I don’t need you to solve my problems anymore. You got me into this mess. You made me promise not to kill anyone, but if you’re dead, my promise dies with you.”
My body goes cold. “That’s not how promises work,” I say.
Angelica shrugs. She smiles sadly and rounds the table till she’s standing behind my head. “I guess we’ll find out.”
The knife, still slick with my blood, rests against my neck and I realize this might actually be it. Even in the midst of being tortured I think a part of me believed that the guys would find me. That somehow with River’s bossy ways, Jude’s genius, and Eli’s pure determination, they’d get here in time, and everything would be fine.
They’ll find me. I’m sure they will. I just might not be alive when they do.
CHAPTER FIFTY
River
THE FIRE FIGHTERS get the last of the flames extinguished and reel in their hoses.
I stand with my feet rooted to the dead grass. I’m clinging onto my professionalism by my fingertips right now. The emotions I’m suppressing tie themselves into knots in my stomach as I stare at the carnage.
Oz’s SUV has been reduced to a burnt-out shell. The front half of the roof and the windscreen are missing, and the leather seats are charred to a crisp. The smell of smoke and the fire’s lingering heat still clogs the air.
One of the local cops walks on up to us and sticks out her hand. “Officer Whitely. I take it you’re the SCU agents?” Officer Whitley is short, with a blonde bob sitting under her hat.
I dip my head, detaching myself further from the pain as I take her hand. “Special Agent River Park, these are my colleagues Special Agents March and Elroy.”
Denise shakes hands with Eli and Jude before turning back to me. “Someone saw smoke from the highway. Fire brigade realized the number plate matched your BOLO and called it in.” She hooks her thumbs in her belt and shakes her head at the smoking SUV. “I’m just glad no one was inside.”
So were we. The car was abandoned just off the side of the highway in the middle of an expanse of dry land. Unfortunately,the location doesn’t give much away. It’s not near a parking lot or a gas station which means whoever took Oz probably had a car waiting for them at this spot.
I pull my gaze away from the burnt SUV and get my head in gear. “Eli, talk to our press contacts, put a call out for witnesses who might have seen anything that could help us.” Eli nods and takes out his phone.
“Jude, check it’s safe with the fire brigade then bring forensics in to access the scene. I’m going to talk to Ramsey.”
Jude doesn’t move. He just keeps staring at the car. I can almost see the horrors he’s imagining reflected in his eyes.
“Jude,” I snap, bringing his attention back to me.
He blinks a few times then screws up his face. “Shit, sorry.”
I put my hand round the back of his neck and squeeze. The ADHD makes Jude feel everything so much more intensely. I’m usually better at grounding him but all I’ve been able to think about is Oz and Freya. “I know. I know, Jude. We’ll find them,” I say.
