“Then let’s go now. He’s passed out, but we don’t have long.” He straightens and starts shoving things into my backpack. All I can do is sit there and watch him. Is this really it? The last time I will stand in this room?
I get to my feet and sway, but a hand on the dresser keeps me standing as I open the top drawer and reach to the bottom to pull out a small floral brooch. My grandmother gave it to me just before she passed away.
She was the only family I ever knew who had a tender hand.
It was after she passed that my dad really lost himself in the liquor. He turned into the man who raised him, giving in to the pain of losing his mother and taking it out on me. That’s the only reason I’ve struggled to stay. Because I thought that maybe, somewhere deep down inside the monster…was my dad.
But that was only the foolish dream of a child.
I shove the brooch into my pocket right as Zane finishes cramming what he can into my backpack.
“Okay, baby. Let’s go.” He takes my hand and tugs me toward the door. After peering out into the hallway, he steps out.
My dad’s drunken snoring carries toward us from the living room, and as we step inside, the adrenaline surges through my veins.
What if he wakes up?
What will he do to Zane?
I keep my eyes on him the entire time, watching him like one might watch an approaching predator. When he doesn’t wake even as we open the door and step out onto the rickety porch, the freedom I’d been so afraid to hope for surges through my veins.
Zane shoulders my backpack, then lifts me into his arms and rushes down the porch. He moves quickly even as he holds me, the only sound our mixed breathing and the gravel crunching beneath his boots.
About half a mile down, he sets me down beside his truck, then unlocks the door and helps me climb inside. It’s not until he’s behind the wheel and we’re headed toward his house that I let out the breath I’ve been holding.
My body begins to tremble, the adrenaline leaving me in a rush.
“It’s okay, baby.” Zane reaches for me, so I slide into the center of his bench seat and curl against his body. He presses a kiss to the top of my head. “You’re safe now. I’ll always keep you safe, Tessa. Always.”
“She’s waking up.” A putrid stench beneath my nose rips me from the dream. My vision hazy, I come awake in the main office space of Southeast Environmental Commission. “There you are, sweetheart. How nice to see you again.”
He smiles, and even through the drowsiness of just coming to consciousness, his face isn’t one I’ll forget. Dark brows, short hair, a scar right on the tip of his chin, he’s unmistakable. “You. You lied to me.”
The man who hired me in that diner, what feels like lifetimes ago, leans back against the counter behind him and crosses his arms. “Don’t beat yourself up. You were so desperate for any kind of attention; you would have fallen for anything.” He looks past me. “Do we have confirmation yet?”
“Not yet,” another man replies.
“Confirmation of what? Why am I here? What is happening?”
He shifts his attention back to me. “Oh, my bad. Here, you’ll want to see this.” He spins the office chair I’m bound to, my wrists zip-tied behind my back, until I’m facing a TV screen.
It takes me a moment to realize what it is I’m looking at. The news is on with coverage of a building collapse in Savannah on the screen. The thing looks nothing like a building anymore, just a pile of rubble. Concrete and steel beams alike. Dust is still settling, and emergency responders are moving through the rubble with search and rescue dogs.
“We’re told that there were four men inside when the building came down. It’s unknown if they worked there or were seeking shelter for the night.” The footage transitions to a newsroom where a woman with curly blonde hair is sitting behind a desk, a mask of sadness on her face. “No survivors have been recovered, and at this point, it’s looking more like a recovery.”
Four bodies. Downtown Savannah.
No.
“What is this?” I demand, tears already in my eyes because I know enough to piece together what I’m looking at.
“I can see all over your face that you know.” He grins. “You know what? People said it would be impossible to get rid of them, but I found that forty thousand tons of concrete will crush even the sturdiest bugs. It also happens to be exactly what you need to rid the world of four former Navy SEALs who should have died a long time ago. And the fifth? Well, you know what happened to him.”
“What? No!” I scream and fight against the bindings holding me. I have to get free. Have to find Zane. He survived. He had to survive.
Horror twists in my gut as the TV screen shifts back to the damage downtown. There’s no way they survived that. If they were in there, they’re gone.
And then my abductor’s words hit me. “He’ll be dead soon. Just like the rest of them.” They killed them all.
