“Holy shit, I know where he’s taking her,” Spencer said.
“What are you talking about?” Duke tightened his grip on the phone as anxiety practically seeped from his pores.
“The woman who stopped to help your mom said she was rambling about being sky high. With the bump on her head, the woman thought your mom was just a bit incoherent and speaking nonsense. But Sky High Point is that way. Up on the cliff.”
The words hit him with the force of a grenade, knocking him off balance. He’d tried most of the trails in the area to orient himself to his new town. Sky High Point was a dangerous trail that led to a fifty foot drop off. A misstep at any mile of the trail could lead to a tragic accident.
Or at least what might look like one.
“We’ve got to go now,” Duke yelled. “If he gets her to the top, there’s no way he plans on bringing her back alive.”
“But why?” Heather demanded. “Why take Mom just to abandon her then grab Suzy? None of this makes any sense.”
Duke ground together his teeth as regret flooded over him. Chrissy’s lies had twisted him up, pushing him to the brink of madness. She might not have held his heart anymore, but when he was told she’d been assaulted, he’d snapped.
“I beat Carl up pretty bad. At the time, I thought it was justified. He was taken to the hospital, and although he recovered, his shoulder was messed up. He was forced to quit bull riding. He’d worked his whole life to make it on the circuit,and I took that all away from him because of Chrissy’s stupid lies.”
“So why would he work with Chrissy?”
His head spun as he tried to make heads or tails of all the information. “I don’t know. Maybe she twisted him up the same way she did me. It took me years to understand how she works. How she manipulates and spins things. It’s not hard to believe she did the same to him. Used him to get to me. That’s how she’s had an alibi. How she’s been able to get what she wants without getting her hands dirty.”
“And what is it that she wants?” Lane asked.
“To hurt me. To inflict pain. That’s what she always wants. She knew Carl would help her because I took away something he loved, now they’ll take away something I love.”
As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he knew they were true. He didn’t have a crush on Suzy, didn’t have a pile of feelings he didn’t understand. He was in love with her—had been for months.
And now he might lose her forever.
“I’ll be there in five minutes,” Spencer said, cutting in. “We’ll work out a plan when I get there.”
Duke locked eyes with Lane and knew they were on the same page. “We’re not waiting. We’re going now.”
He just prayed it wasn’t too late.
Twigs and branchesscraped against Suzy’s cheeks. Her feet struggled to keep up with her forward momentum as the fake deputy dragged her along.
She’d wanted to call for help, debated making some last-ditch effort at escape before her captor forced her from thehospital. But the warning he’d delivered rang loud and clear with each step. If the threat of his gun wasn’t enough to keep her quiet, one wrong move would end Dorthy’s life.
She couldn’t risk it. So she stayed silent and focused on where they headed. A trapped breath of fear released when they’d moved toward the tree line and not the parking lot. It’d be tougher to escape from a moving vehicle.
But the forest? She knew every inch of this town. Especially a trail she’d hiked since she was a teenager.
The man held a tight grip on her elbow and yanked her deeper under the cover of trees. The bare limbs blocked out the sunlight, making the temperature even colder. Her teeth chattered and her mind spun. Every few steps, she dragged her foot across the ground and prayed like hell to leave some kind of discernable mark on the soft ground.
The shrill ringing of a phone echoed across the sky. A black bird cawed and flew from its nest, irritated by the intrusion.
The man yanked out his phone. “What?”
Suzy tuned her ears to try and hear what was said on the other end but couldn’t distinguish any words.
“Why would you do that? She was our insurance policy.”
Oh God, Dorthy. Nausea pitched high in Suzy’s stomach. Had they hurt Dorthy? Killed her? She fought the urge to squeeze her eyes shut and block out the world. She needed to pay attention to where they were going. Not give in to tears and fear.
“You’re going to ruin this for me. I knew I should have done this alone.” A beat of silence passed, and he stopped moving. He grabbed the gun from his waistband and pointed it at Suzy to pin her in place.
Her heart rate tripled and she stood paralyzed in terror. The barrel was pointed at her, but the man’s attention was divided between her and whoever was on the other end of the call.
