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I suck in a breath as a chill blankets my skin, waiting for the laughter that always comes next but I’m met with silence. My chest aches and a tear falls from the corner of my eye. I peel open my eyes, hissing at the bright spotlight directly above me as pain ricochets around my brain. I try to cover my eyes but my hands won’t move and I glance up, holding back a scream when I see the white metal bedframe my hands are tied to. Biting my lip, I jerk on the rope and the bed rattles against the wall.

The high-pitched laughter that I know so well fills the room and my gaze snaps to the darkness surrounding me, searching for the source but it’s impossible to see past the harsh light above me. Light peeks through little slats in the wall and the smell of rotting wood fills my nose as I try to figure out where I am. It’s not much to go on but it’s something. Footsteps scrape along the floor and I suck in a breath as the room seems to close in on me and a figure steps out of the shadows. I gasp.

“Devlin?” I ask, scowling up at the man I’ve known for the past three years as he stalks toward me, victory filling his gaze. Images of his face appearing behind me in the bathroom mirror flit through my mind and I shake my head, my mind struggling to process what’s happening. “What are you doing?”

“Oh, sweet Tate,” he coos, stalking around the twin bed as he stares down at me. I glance down and realize that he got me down to my bra and panties before securing me to the bed and I jerk my arms again, wishing I could cover myself. “There’s just so much you don’t know yet but by the time we’re finished here, I promise you’ll never forget.”

“So you’re going to let me go?”

He smiles. “Eventually, but first I need your help.”

“Of course, Devlin,” I whisper, trying to reason with him. Once, when I was younger, Mom made Theo and me watch documentaries about what to do if you’re abducted. At the time, I thought it was stupid but now it’s all coming back to me and I’m thankful for it. “What can I do to help?”

“I’ve always liked you, Tate,” he muses, shaking his finger at me. “From the first moment I started watching you, I liked your spunk and resourcefulness. Of course when I finally met you in person, you were just as sweet as can be. It’s really a shame that things between us have to end like this.”

My mind spins with everything he just told me and I don’t know which comment to address first. I meet his gaze as my lips part. “You… You’ve been watching me?”

“Oh, yes. For many years now. I first arrived in Baton Rouge during your freshman year of high school.”

I shake my head, disappointed in myself for being so damn oblivious. “Why?”

“Because I work for your father, dear.”

Gasping, I tug on the ropes, trying to put space between us as he laughs and clamps a hand down on my leg.

“Don’t do that, Darling. We wouldn’t want you to get hurt.”

My heart races in my ear as I try to connect the unhinged man in front of me with the one I’ve gotten to know these past few years and it just doesn’t make sense.

“Why did he send you?”

He shrugs. “To keep tabs on you. He wanted to know who his children were and that they were okay and he entrusted me with that.”

“So then why are you doing this, Devlin?”

He smiles. “Ah, now there’s the million dollar question. Do you remember when I told you about the love of my life?”

“Claire?” I whisper and he nods.

“Yes, my sweet Claire. She was my everything.”

I nod. “She died, right?”

“Yes,” he hisses, rage twisting his features as he stares down at me. “But that was only part of the story. Would you like to hear the rest?”

“If I listen to your story, will you let me go?” I ask, hoping against hope that I can reason with him somehow. He chuckles.

“I’m afraid not, sweet girl. People have to pay for the pain they caused me and that’s why you’re here.”

“How did you get me here?”

He shrugs. “It wasn’t all that hard. Mia is easily distracted and once her attention was on something else, I slipped something in your coffee.”

“And how did you get me out of the diner?”

“Ah, now that was a little more difficult but I managed to get you out of the window and into my car.”

I nod, meeting his gaze as my stomach flips. “Will you tell me about Claire?”