Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 99500 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 498(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99500 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 498(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
The world spins, but I take off running around the side of the house to the gate. It stands wide-open. Screeching of tires on asphalt can be heard as I run across the grass and out the gate.
I pray she’ll be standing on the driveway, a pretty smile on her face, ready to tease me for falling for their prank.
Except, this isn’t a prank.
It’s horrific and my reality.
A white sedan hauls ass down our road and then peels out onto the main road.
Keys.
I need my keys.
Bolting back inside, I scramble to find where I dropped my keys last. Where the fuck are they? Panic swells inside me, seeping into every cell of my body. I can hear the girls yelling and talking over each other as they make their way into the house. I also hear Dad’s voice and Dempsey’s.
I’m focused on one thing.
Getting my girl back.
Aubrey
Don’t panic. Don’t panic. Don’t panic.
I rub at my head where some guy pistol-whipped me in front of his open trunk. I’d blacked out for what felt like an eternity and am just coming to. My body rolls hard, slamming against one side of the trunk as the guy takes a turn too fast.
Bile rises up in my throat and I gag. Between the painful hit to the head, the terror of my situation, and the nauseating scent of chemicals, I’m seconds from puking.
Why does it smell this way?
Bleach?
My kidnapper is a serial killer who uses bleach to wash away his victims’ blood. I’m never going home. I’m in the captivity of a professional.
Is this random or orchestrated by my father?
I can’t help the dreadful feeling in my gut that Dad hates me so much he hired someone to kill me. How horrible would that be?
At least it’s not Spencer.
A sob breaks free as I slam into the other side of the trunk. I’d been so eager to blame someone for all the terrible things that have been happening that Spencer made the perfect target. It was easier to see him as responsible for all the pain in my life.
God, I’m so stupid.
Spencer loves me. Yes, he loves to torment me, but he was never truly evil. Not like this monster who’s taken me.
Tears spill out and I hastily swipe them away. I don’t have time to feel sorry for myself. My captor didn’t bind my hands or feet—just coldcocked me and tossed me in his trunk. I need to be ready to fight the second he opens the trunk. I feel around, looking for some sort of weapon. Nothing but dusty crumbles of what’s responsible for the scent.
I give up on my weapon search and start looking for a way to pull the carpet away from the back panel. I’d seen on TikTok once how to escape being trapped in the back of a trunk. I thought it was silly at the time and seemed so easy to bust out the back taillight in order to wave to other drivers.
TikTok didn’t tell me you had to be strong or in a certain model car.
I sob in frustration, yanking and tugging on the edges of the carpet that seems superglued into place. Since I can’t bust out the taillight, I try placing my bare feet on the top of the trunk and pushing. I even try taking turns beating my feet against the metal. It doesn’t budge.
“Think, Aubrey,” I say shakily. “Think.”
I start to fumble around the part of the trunk that leads to the car. In Dad’s car, back in LA, it had a hidey-hole that offered access to the trunk. If this car had one, I could shimmy through and escape through the back door.
Of course, this model doesn’t have such a hidden door.
“No!” I scream in frustration.
I’m completely drenched in sweat now because of my efforts and the airless trunk. I start to gasp for air that doesn’t exist.
I’m going to suffocate.
Oh my God, I’m going to die from lack of oxygen long before this psycho gets to carry out his perverse deeds.
My breaths are coming out and back in, sharp and laborious. I am becoming dizzier with each passing second. I gag and gag again.
“I can’t breathe!” I bellow. “Please help me!”
It’s not like my captor can hear me as he’s too busy driving like a bat out of hell.
Hugo will catch up. He has to. He’s not going to let this monster get away with taking me. And when Spencer finds out what happened, he’ll turn the entire town upside down to find me.
They’re coming for me.
They won’t leave me.
But your mother went missing, too, and they don’t seem to care…
I shove away those toxic thoughts. Thinking they’ll abandon me will only make my situation worse. I have to believe they’ll be here to save me soon.
I can’t breathe.
I’m going to pass out.