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Chapter One

Saturday, June 18, five pm

“Please let ht in the corner of the ceiling The light blinked like a buoy beacon in the darkness, letting her know that the ca

That he atching

The only other light in the room was a red LED mounted by the door A bottle of water sat on the celowed red on the clear plastic As thirsty as she was, she couldn’t drink that water After all, that must have been how he’d abducted her Heinto her coffee Not that she remembered

Licking her dry lips, she shifted her position, drawing her knees up and hugging her legs In the corner of her cell, water puddled on the concrete, and the cinder block walls dripped Her body ached fro on damp cement—and from what he’d done to her

How long would it take for her to die of dehydration? Though Scarlet Falls was in the middle of a heat wave, her prison was cool The darkness, the daround

She could possibly survive for a few days without water

A few days

Hoould she bear it?

“You have a choice to make” The disembodied voice sounded from a speaker mounted next to the camera

He’d made her an offer This whole ordeal could be over quickly There would be no htht on her skin

She wasn’t even sure how long she’d been there What seemed like forever was probably a couple of days What was he planning next?

Fear drove her to her feet The cement scraped under her shoes She stretched her ar the heavy wooden beath of her prison, five strides forward, five strides back She reached her hands out at her sides, and her fingertips brushed the rough cinder blocks on both sides

At the end of her cell, she stopped and flattened her palainst the wooden door She knew froive to her pushes or kicks, not that she had any energy left for such efforts

The ca

So far, he’d been true to his word He’d kept every pro he’d said to her was that if she resisted, he would hurt her And so he had The h her bowels A sob rose into her throat and bubbled from her mouth Her bones trembled

Sinking back to the concrete, she crossed her legs and breathed, seeking calm, but it was no use Her skin itched with the need to escape

No matter what it cost

This could all be over Release was just a word away

Hope died inside her She had no illusions She would never return to the life she’d worked so hard to rebuild But in a way, knowing that there would be no le

Freeing

Just as he’d promised

She was tired of fighting Even before this, every day had been a battle He’d made her see that so clearly But it could end here and now Could she finally find real peace?

I always keep my promises

She sed, her throat raw from unanswered screams The hours of darkness werefrom her pores like sweat

Her h Missy was a coward Selfish Only concerned with herself He was right She didn’t deserve forgiveness or rede her with fear of the darkness Of the sound of the door unlocking Of the terror of what ht happen Of the horror of what had already happened

But once she answered, there would be no going back Her escape would be a one-way journey Who was she kidding? She’d gone to a place froht as well finish it

Nausea rose She bent forward, her body folding at the waist She rested her forehead against the cold, hard floor She was done

Her neck muscles ached as she lifted her head Her voice sounded raspy, foreign as she said, “Yes”

“I didn’t hear you Have you decided?” the voice asked

“Yes!” she shouted, weeping

“All right” The sadness, the sheer disappointment that emanated from the speaker, surprised her

“I thought this hat you wanted,” she said

“It’s not about what I want,” he answered “You need to be sure No ans”