Another hit to her shoulder. “I’m not fucking around. Get up before I shoot you in the hand.”
The aggression in the woman’s voice made it all come back to her. Nel standing at Polly’s car. The familiar scent of her bodywash. Maggie’s tablet in her bag. Then the gun.
Her eyes flashed open, the light behind Nel temporarily blinding her.
“I’m doing it, Maggie. I’m shooting you in the hand.”
Nel shifted the muzzle to Maggie’s hand, making fear lurch in her throat. “I’m getting up! I just…I need a sec.”
She pushed up into a seated position. It was hard with bound hands, and her head swirled at the movement. Two concussionsin such short succession couldn’t be good. But that was the least of her problems right now.
She groaned, finally upright.
“Now get out,” Nel growled.
Who the hell was this woman? The Nel she’d interacted with in school had been sweet and soft-spoken.
She swung her legs out of the trunk, testing her feet with a little bit of weight before rising. She wasn’t steady, but she could hold herself.
She scanned the trees around her and slowly realized where they were.
Her heart thumped, but not in a good way. “What are we doing here, Nel?”
“Weare not here, Maggie.Youare.” Nel shut the trunk. “Walk.”
“This is near where my mother died,” Maggie whispered, steps slow and cautious as she moved into the forest toward the bank of the river.
“Correct. Near where your mothersupposedlykilled herself because she couldn’t handleyou. Where your life with an aunt who hated you began.”
Maggie frowned. “Did Lilith tell you that?”
“That woman’s toldeveryoneyou killed your mother. She actually talks about you a lot. It’s why I decided to look you up over a year ago. I found your travel page. And your life looked so beautiful andpicture perfect.”
Maggie’s foot hit a rock and she stumbled, barely managing to catch herself before hitting the ground. “So you’re the person who’s been messaging me and commenting on my posts?”
“I just wanted a small taste of your life. And it was good. I would stay up late and wait for your stories and posts. I watched and re-watched everything you shared.”
“Social media only shows a small portion of people’s lives. The good parts. You didn’t see how lonely I was or how much I missed Polly and Ethan.”
“Typical. So ungrateful for what you had. I pieced together where you lived. It took a while, but you posted your local café a few times. I found that, then studied every photo you posted inside your home, and spenthoursresearching real-estate sites—but I did it. Even found your spare key in the garden gnome and made a copy.”
A shudder rolled down Maggie’s spine. “You used my shower.”
“And slept in your bed. Wore your clothes and tried on your makeup. I loved your peach bodywash. While you were away, I could almost convince myself I wasyou.”
She felt so…violated.
“Back here in Deep River, I asked Ethan out on a date. And he actually said yes! We went on two, and they were magical.”
Maggie swallowed. “You really liked him?”
“I liked feeling powerful and confident and beautiful, like you.”
Nel actually thought she was all those things? She had no idea that Maggie had needed to claw her way out the pit of worthlessness.
“But then you moved back.” Nel shoved the gun into Maggie’s back again, making her stumble a second time. It didn’t help that the trees still spun around her.
She was so dizzy. And the closer they got to the river, the more her belly twisted and turned.
