“What?” Caleb said.
Wes pushed the accelerator harder. “Caleb, I think that’s Vince’s pattern. I think that’s what he’s been doing to Rowan.”
“We’ve got to get in touch with her,” Naomi said.
“I know.” Wes kept his eyes on the road.
“We’re turning around and heading to my mom’s house now.” Caleb’s voice had gone quiet.
“I’m already on my way.” He ended the call and drove faster, the mountains pressing in on either side as the road wound deeper toward Ruby’s house.
Please let me get there in time.
The prayer rose up from somewhere beneath the urgency and the fear and the tactical part of his mind that was already running through what he might find when he arrived.
Please, God. Just let me get there in time.
Before Rowan and Lauren could talk anymore, a creak sounded in the distance.
They both froze.
Lauren’s eyes snapped toward the hallway. “You heard that too?”
Rowan nodded, and she peered around the corner.
“Stay here,” she whispered.
“Rowan—”
“I know this house.” She kept her voice steady even though her pulse had begun climbing in a way that was hard to ignore. “Every creak and corner of it. Just stay put.”
She stepped into the hallway.
The bathroom door stood open, exactly as she’d left it. Her mom’s bedroom sat dark at the far end, undisturbed. The closet door was shut. The staircase stood empty.
Nothing.
She exhaled slowly and stood still for a moment, listening.
The house gave nothing back.
Old houses settled. That was all this was. Rowan was wound too tight after everything, hearing threats in ordinary sounds.
She turned back toward the kitchen.
That’s when she froze.
The back door stood wide open.
It took her brain a half second too long to process what she was seeing. The door that had been closed and locked when she arrived now hanging ajar, afternoon light cutting a thin line across the kitchen floor.
The next instant, a hand closed around her arm and yanked her sideways.
Her shoulder hit the wall, and pain flared white and immediate.
A forearm pressed across her collarbone, pinning her back against a hard chest before she could do anything but gasp.
“Don’t.” The man’s voice was quiet and completely unhurried. “Just don’t.”
