I shove the button repeatedly with my aching fist as I glance over my shoulder in time to see Tanner fall. He tries to catch himself, and there’s a sickening crack as his head slams into the metal handrail.
Tanner lands in a heap on the floor, eyelids closed. He’s clearly unconscious, but the subtle rise and fall of his back tells me this reprieve is only momentary.
But re-pressing the emergency stop button is doing nothing.
I switch to the call button, slamming my fist against it. The feeble intercom sends staticky waves that make hope soar in my chest.
“Hello?” I shout. “Can someone hear me?”
Static waffles from the speakers before dying out. A muffled voice replaces it, but I can’t make out any intelligible words. I press the emergency stop button again and again.
“Please, help me,” I cry. “I’m trapped.”
Hot tears of desperation blur my vision, but I pound my fists against the mirrored elevator door.
A groan sounds from the floor behind me, and I whirl. I’m about to launch another attack at him as the floor beneath us lurches. Belts and pulleys whirring, the elevator screeches as it descends into the basement.
Tanner heaves into a sitting position, eyes pinched closed as he rubs his forehead.
My heartbeat slams against my throat, and I make a quick mental map of where the nearest stairwell is.
But the elevator is going too slowly.
Acid rises in my stomach, and I claw desperately at the doors to open. Even after the elevator bottoms out, the doors won’t budge.
I pound on them again, screaming, although I know it’s futile.
Tanner’s voice is groggy, his eyes pinched closed. “Kate, what happen?—”
I’m about to aim a kick to his head as a hiss emits from the door behind me. A sliver of light slices through my terror like hopeful sunshine. I don’t wait for the doors to fully open before I wedge myself through.
I bolt down the hall, but I don’t get far.
fifty-one
PRESENT DAY
KATE
Islam into a firm chest that smells like home, and I crumple. Brandon clutches me tightly, supporting most, if not all, of my weight. Sobs rack my body.
“I’m here,” he says, voice tight. “I never sent that text, Kate. Tanner took my phone, and?—”
“I know,” I cry. “I realized that. You wouldn’t do that to me.”
I’m vaguely aware of a small crowd surrounding us. A man in an industrial jumpsuit, a security guard with a radio pressed to his mouth, Rick, Val, and even Camilla’s husband, Daniel, stand nearby. A pair of cuffs dangle from Daniel’s hand, glinting in the weak basement light.
Amantha puffs up short beside us, gray eyes horrified.
“Are you okay?” She pats down my dress as if searching for a gunshot wound, then yanks me into a hug. I wince where her arms squeeze what I’m sure is a bruised line across my shoulder blades.
Brandon notices, eyes darkening into a fathomless black.
Tanner fully awakens just in time to watch six men storm into the elevator. A blossoming bruise already shadows his jaw where I struck him.
Brandon and Val waste no time hauling Tanner to his feet, but Brandon pins him against the wall with a corded forearm.
I don’t need to be close to know there’s murder in his expression.
