So close. I was so close.
We enter a dark room, and I’m tossed down into the chair. The man secures my wrists, and I glare up at Brenda as she steps into my line of sight.
With sharp, red nails, she reaches up and brushes the hair from my face. “Did you really think you would get anywhere, Tessa?” she asks. “If Zane couldn’t escape, what makes you think you could?” She clicks her tongue. “Less than a day from now, this will all be over, and you’ll be little more than a headline.”
As she turns away and leaves the room, followed by the guy who brought me here, I’m plunged into complete darkness. There’s not even a sliver of light beneath the doorway to allow me any chance of finding something around me to help. That is, if I could even get up off the chair.
My muscles scream in agony, and my head pounds like an anvil has just been dropped onto it. And as I sit here in the dark, it’s all I can do not to spiral.
So I go to that place in my mind again.
Not the one where I store my pain, but the place where I hide when things get hard.
My happy place.
Sitting with Zane on his dad’s boat, two young teenagers with their entire lives ahead of them.
Here, real life can’t touch me.
Here, I’ll be forever safe.
Chapter 29
Zane
“Zane!” Anastasia rushes forward and throws her arms around me. I’d sent Sawyer, Weston, and Ryker ahead to get showered, changed, and to check in on my mom and sister, while I’d remained at the hospital.
Riley Hunt came and relieved me, though, offering to stay and keep an eye on Garrison until I can get back. Bradyn is with his service dog, Bravo, back at Garrison’s apartment. They’re trying to pick up on Tessa’s scent to see if we can get a direction she was taken out.
My mom comes out of the kitchen and wraps both arms around Anastasia and me. “Honey, I am so glad you’re okay. Come on, get a shower, and I’ll get you some food.” She and my sister pull away.
Weston and Ryker are sitting at the dining room table, barely-touched sandwiches sitting in front of them. Sawyer is on the couch, seated in front of his open laptop.
“I will, Mom, thanks.”
“Are you okay?” she asks.
“I will be once we find Tessa.”
“Sawyer told us what happened.” Anastasia’s eyes fill as she crosses her arms. “I can’t believe it. Garrison—” She trails off and covers her mouth with a shaking hand.
“He’ll be okay, Anastasia.” Aside from us, the Hunts, and Leopold, Anastasia and my mom are the only ones who know Garrison is alive. Even when the neighbor who found them came to check on him, she was given the news that he hadn’t survived his injuries.
It has to be this way until we get Tessa back and figure out who is trying to kill us. Though my money is on Brenda. That’s where all signs are pointing. I just can’t figure out what her motives would be.
Was this truly triggered by Tessa’s arrival?
Or was this the plan all along?
Someone knocks on the door, and everyone stills. The room falls completely silent until my mom looks up at me. “Do I answer it?” she whispers.
Withdrawing my handgun, I peer out through the peephole. Agent Weathers. What are you doing here? Because I don’t think he’d have warned me about Brenda having it out for Tessa if he were a part of this, I take a risk and open the door myself.
He arches a brow and looks me up and down. “You look rough.”
“A building fell on me earlier today.”
“So you were in that Savannah mess?” I nod. “Everyone thinks you’re dead,” he adds.
