My stomach roils, and I hurry down the hall looking for her.
Okay, where would she be?
Bathroom or kitchen would be the most logical options.Seeing as the bathroom door is shut, but the light is off, I’m going to guess the kitchen.
Shit.
Or maybe the downstairs bathroom.
Grimacing, I realize I didn’t give her a proper tour upstairs, and well, logically, she probably wandered back downstairs to use the facilities.It’s the only bathroom she saw, and the doors upstairs were all closed.
I try to quietly hurry down the stairs to the bathroom near the back wing of the house.The door is open, the toilet is still running, which tells me it hasn’t been long since she was in there.
Where is she now?
The kitchen is just ahead, but there are no lights spilling from its vicinity.
The basement door is right beside the bathroom, and I momentarily hold my breath.No, she’d have no reason to wander down there.
I haven’t stepped foot down the basement in years, since I watched a man be tortured and executed under my father’s orders.He didn’t so much as flinch as it happened.No, he beamed with pride, like he was made for this job.
The worst part.
I threw up in front of him, violently.I couldn’t even hide the disgust from him, and he grabbed me by the lapels and told me I ought to grow a stomach for it because I would follow in his footsteps.
The hell I would.
I did everything in my power to not become him.I stayed away from my father, his men, the evil that he brought into the home, until today.
The basement door flings open, and Harper comes running out, nearly knocking into me with a child following behind.The boy is small, dirty, and wearing pajamas.He can’t be much older than eight.He looks like he was snatched from his bed in the middle of the night.
Fuck.
“We have to go, now!”I tell her, grabbing her arm and dragging her down the hallway and to the back door.It’s the closest exit to the house.I punch in the alarm code to disable it before pulling the door open and gesturing for Harper and the child to head outside before closing it.I grab my jacket hanging on the hook by the door and my tennis shoes.I toss my tennis shoes at her.
“Put these on.”I know they’re too big, but they’re better than her bare feet or the heels she wore that will slow us down.
She slips the shoes on while I pull my coat around the little boy, zipping it up to keep him warm.I dig my hand into the jacket pocket, retrieving my keys.
“It’s okay,” I tell him, although nothing is okay at the moment.“She’s going to keep you safe.”
Men will be on us in seconds if we’re not quick.“There are cameras everywhere.Someone is always watching.We have only a few seconds, maybe minutes, if we’re lucky.”
I point to the forest where I procured wood earlier for the bonfire.“You have to run to the edge of the forest, get over the fence.Then run to the road and get help.”
“What about you?”Harper asks.“You’re not coming with us?”
“I’m going to grab the car.I’ll be the diversion you both need to get to safety.Once you’re over the fence, find a house, someone who will help.Call the police.Whatever you do, don’t come looking for me.”
It takes everything in me not to chase after her, protect her, keep her safe.But her best odds are with me here and her and the boy as far away as possible.
I can give her time to get to safety.
It’s the best choice when the odds are stacked against us.
She grabs me and kisses me in a blaze of heated passion.The world around me melts, and while my feet are freezing, as are my extremities from the biting cold, all I feel is warmth from the taste of her lips surrounding all of my senses.
“If we survive this—” Harper says, and I cut her off.
