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“They’ll realize I’m missing.” Angela practically brims with hubris. Oh, sweet summer child...

“Where were you and Tanner going when you got taken?” I ask, trying to keep my tone casual. She has to be smart enough to figure this out.

She laughs. “We were heading to a closet to...”

Her sentence drops off.

“So you were going to fuck, and you think someone will think it’s odd that you aren’t around?” I shake my head. There’s a possibility that Harper will notice I’m not there, and probably Penny too. But Harper will be busy with coronation.

“Well, someone will want to know where I am.” Angela’s words tremble at the end. She’s not as confident as she was.

“Most of our parents won’t expect us home until late.” Will sounds resigned. “And most won’t wait up for us. So it may be morning before anyone sounds the alarm. The night of a dance, they may not really expect us home until the following day sometime.”

Penny lets out a shaky breath like she’s about to cry.

I’m not too far off from crying. Even a prank wouldn’t have chains bolted into the floor. Or use drugs to subdue us. This is felony-level shit. Right now, it doesn’t feel like we’re going to get a happy ending.

Caden

My fingers drum on the armrest as we follow the directions to the farmhouse. A thud comes from the trunk. Yeah, Alex better hope he told us the correct way to where they’re taking Harper. If he did, then I hope he enjoys the ride. If not, I’ll help him remember.

“Left at the dirt road.” I point it out to Eli.

He nods and turns. Everyone’s been quiet. Focused. Those assholes dared to take Harper and Jack from us. They’ll be lucky to make it out of there alive. If she so much as has a bruise, I don’t know what I’ll do. Definitely not let the assholes return to our school.

Inside the gym, I felt under control, but we had her. She was protected.

Now... fuck. My gut clenches thinking of Zach having her under his control. All those times we made it to her in time and this time he outsmarted us. My mind keeps spinning around the possibilities. The things I might not have seen or overlooked that could have prevented this. Because how does this even work in his favor?

We knew he had a plan. We knew he was coming for her. And he knew that.

How could we have let him get to her? What did we miss?

He took Jack. Is this revenge? Or opportunity? How do you reason with this level of insanity?

“You going to tell us what that was back there with Darius Turner?” Luke glances my way.

Surprised it took him this long before asking. But yeah, this one is important.

“Doesn’t leave this car.” I wait a second. Not because I think they’ll run off and tell people, but I promised Jack.

“Of course.” Luke leans forward.

“He’s DEA. That’s all I know so far. Jack knows more.” I keep it quiet so shithead in the trunk won’t hear and glance out the window at the fields that fly by in the dark.

“He’s sending help?” Nico asks.

“Yeah.”

“Good.”

I draw in a breath and release it. There’s one thing that’s been bothering me more than anything else. This kind of thing won’t be easy to pass off as some kind of joke.

“The bonfire stunt was a lot but could be written off as a prank gone wrong. Game night was worse, and he still got off with a slap on the wrist. Tonight, he endangered students on school grounds. How does Zach plan to get out of this?”

He’s not stupid. He had to have a plan. But my brain is too focused on Harper and Jack to think of it.

Eli scoffs. “Maybe he didn’t. Maybe this is his end game. Start back up the family business in the trafficking trade without William Foster heading it.”