Beside me, Liam groans in a long, low way.
His head is moving slowly as he comes back to consciousness.
‘Liam,’ I say, hope welling as he wakes.
When I look back, Sam is watching us.
His expression has changed from that of a boy mourning the past to that of a man intent on enacting his revenge.
‘Kat, you’re okay,’ Liam croaks, before tugging at his chains and letting out an enraged. ‘What the fuck?’
Then he zones in on Sam.
‘The coffee fucker?’he breathes.
‘Hello to you, too,’ Sam says.
Sam turns back to me and says. ‘I need you to understand that I’m not a monster. You did this. You made me do this.’
‘We were kids,’ Liam says.
‘I know,’ Sam says again. ‘You more than anyone should have known the life you were leaving us others in. You felt the grief and pain, the embarrassment and hate. Our bodies hold the same scars, except I’d never choose to leave a kid in that situation. No matter what. So it doesn’t change what happens next.’
The shadows dance as Sam turns and walks away, leaving Liam and me chained in the cold, damp building.
I crawl to him, and he meets me in the middle, our chains long enough to let him cradle me in his arms.
And again, I find myself in tears against his chest.
THIRTY-FIVE
LIAM
I’ve triedto pick the lock.
I’ve pulled at the shackles until my wrists bleed.
I’ve crawled as far as the chains will allow to see if I can find anything to use as a weapon.
He’s taken our phones, and we’re left sitting there on the cold ground. Well, I am. I gathered Kat into my lap as soon as I could to warm her up.
And there’s nothing. The hours wear on in whispered apologies and tears.
Until Sam comes back.
His whistling precedes his footsteps on the wet floor. When he comes into view, he’s twirling the hunting knife in his hand.
‘Thanks for keeping this safe for me. After I kill the two of you, I’m going to go kill my dad. This is myfavourite knife—I stole it from him—and I’m going to sink it into his fucking throat.’
He holds it loosely as he drags the metal chair closer to us, turning it and sitting backwards with his knife-filled hands leaning over the backrest.
Kat shivers in my arms with the way he looks at us.
‘Don’t you think it was kind of me to leave you enough chain to hold each other? I’d like to say that it’s because I’m not completely tapped.’ He taps the side of his head with the knife. ‘But that would be a lie.’
‘Let her go,’ I demand. ‘It was my dad. My cottage. She just stumbled into our story.’
Sam laughs, and the sound is deeply unhinged. I have no idea how Ellie fell for this fucker.God, Ellie.
