Page 78 of He Will Come for Me

“Do you need help?” he asks.

Do I? It seems he knows the Stone name. Could I possibly stay here until I figure out what to do next?My ring catches my eye.Maybe I can sell it and use the money to travel somewhere else.

“McKenzie?”

I lift my eyes to look at him. “I don’t know.”

“You're safe here.”

“If you don’t come with me I’ll kill you, but first I’ll kill Phoenix and I’ll make you watch.” Fear settles in my mind at the thought of something happening to Phoenix.

“I knew you loved him.” I glare at Phoenix’s mom. She’s right and I hate it.

“Come with me and nothing will happen to him.”

“What did he ever do to you? He’s been looking for you for years.”

Her smile is deadly.“If I wanted to be found, he would have found me. Now, don’t make me tell you again. Get in the boat.” With one last glance up at the house, I climb into the boat.

She leans close to me as one of her men starts the engine and begins to navigate away from the dock.

“Let’s see if he’ll come for you.”

I glare at her.“He will come for me. He always comes for me.”

Chapter 37

Phoenix

Eleven Years Ago

Iball my hands into fists when the place we just finished searching comes up empty. She’s nowhere. My dad punches the wall, his knuckles coming back bloody.

“We’ll keep looking, dad,” I promise him. He shakes his head and sits on the concrete steps in front of the building we know some of the girls for the auction were being held.

“She’s gone, son. That son of a bitch has probably already sold her.” I grit my teeth, wishing I had more power to do everything that’s running through my head. Marcus Knight kidnapped my mother and sold her at one of his auctions.

“What about his wife? I thought he was married.”

Dad scoffs as he pushes himself up.“He killed her. She hated his lifestyle, so he did away with her.” We look at the building one last time before leaving. I don’t want to believe she’s gone. We’ll find her and if we don’t, I’ll make sure Marcus Knight suffers.

Three Months Later

“Marcus Knight’s daughter will be at Brighton,” Dad tells me as I grab my bag off the conveyor belt at the airport. I pause.

“Will she?” I ask. We’ve learned things over the past three months. Many of the original members of The Society pledged their first-born daughters to be sold at an auction. So, he’ll have to sell her. Eventually. I’ll be there when he does it. I’ll destroy his world like he destroyed ours.

“I’ll get to know her,” I promise him before I hang up. I’ll make her love me. Then I’ll break her.

The first day of school I look for her. She doesn’t have social media, and I wasn’t successful in finding a picture of her another way. So, I signed up to be her tour guide since this is her first year. I went to Brighton Junior High last year, so I know the campus pretty well already.

A girl walks toward the flagpole I’m standing at. She pushes her silver hair behind her ear. I wait for her to notice me. When she finally does, her brown eyes find my ice-cold eyes, and a part of me thaws. What the fuck?

“Phoenix?” she asks.

“That’s me. McKenzie?” She nods as she adjusts her backpack. She’s gorgeous. Too bad I’m going to break her.

Sitting in my office in downtown Savannah, an uneasy feeling settles in the pit of my stomach. I pack my things so I can go home and check on McKenzie. She seemed to be feeling a little better yesterday. It’s the only reason I came to town. There were some things I had to take care of for the fight I plan on taking her to this weekend.

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