Page 3 of Save Me

He was raising his fist when Lainie heard her mother cry out—and then everything went blank.

SEEING HER DAUGHTER unconscious on the floor, and now bleeding from her nose and her mouth, sent Tina into hysterics. She began hammering her fists on her husband’s back and head.

“What have you done? What’s the matter with you?” Tina screamed.

“I don’t want...”

She slapped him. “If you ever lay a hand on our daughter again, I will kill you myself. I don’t want her to have this baby, but we’re going about this all wrong. She needs time away from Hunter, and time to think about her future. I’m taking her to Mother’s old place outside of Baton Rouge. We’ll tell friends we’re going to Europe. We may be looking at having her take a gap year and give the baby up later for adoption.”

“Dammit it, Tina, you know what—”

“Just shut up, get her off the floor, then go get some ice. We’re leaving now.”

“But the storm—”

“You should have thought of that before you coldcocked your own child,” Tina snapped. “Now go do what I said. I need to pack a few things.”

LAINIE AWAKENED IN the back seat of her father’s Lexus, with her head in her mother’s lap, and something cold on the side of her face. For a moment she couldn’t figure out what was happening, and then she remembered.

She sat up with a jerk, shoved the cold pack onto the floor and scooted to the other side of the seat. The silence within the car was as horrifying as the situation she was in. She’d been kidnapped by her own parents.

Tina reached for her. “Lainie, honey, I—”

She yanked away from her mother’s grasp. “Don’t talk to me. Don’t touch me. Either of you. I will never forgive you for this.”

Tina started crying. Her father cursed.

She turned her face to the window. There was nothing to see beyond the darkness except the rain hammering on the windows, but she was already thinking about how to escape them.

I will find a way to call Hunt. I will find a way to get away.

THE THUNDERSTORM DIDN’T let up, and even after Hunt finally sent Lainie a text, she didn’t respond. He didn’t know what that meant. She always answered, so he kept trying. He finally gave up messaging in the wee hours of the morning, and when it was daylight, he got in his old truck and drove straight to her house. Even if he had to fight his way in, he needed to know she was okay.

There were cars in the driveway, but her father’s Lexus was missing, which was a relief. At least he wouldn’t have to face him, Hunt thought, and got out. He rang the doorbell, then waited, and waited, then rang it again. He was about to walk away when the housekeeper opened the door. She was a tiny little sprite of a woman, with a wreath of curls-gone-astray around her face, and she liked Hunter Gray.

“Morning, Miss Millie,” Hunt said. “I know it’s early, but I would like to speak to Lainie. Is she awake?”

“There’s no one here but me,” Millie said. “Apparently, they left last night. I got a call this morning that they won’t be back. They’re taking Lainie to Europe. Some kind of holiday before she goes away to college, they said.”

Hunt’s gut knotted. “She never mentioned that to me.”

“I didn’t know anything about it, either,” Millie said.

Hunt shoved his hands in his pockets. “Well, thank you, anyway,” he said, and started to walk away when something hit him. “Uh, I know this is a lot to ask, but I was wondering how long they would be gone. Would you know by looking in their closets if they’d packed a lot of clothes?”

Millie sighed. She knew about the war between Chuck Gray and Greg Mayes, and knew Hunt and Lainie were caught in the middle. “I might,” she said. “If you don’t mind waiting, I’ll take a look. It’ll take a few minutes.”

“I don’t mind a bit, and thank you. I really appreciate this,” he said.

Millie closed the door while Hunt walked over to a concrete bench beside the front flower beds, and sat down to wait. Within minutes, Millie came out of the house and headed toward him, and he could tell by the look on her face that something was wrong. He stood up.

“What?”

Millie clasped her hands together, then took a quick breath. “Their traveling luggage is still here. I’d guess they took a few things, but not anything worth a trip to Europe, and there’s blood on the floor in Lainie’s bedroom. Somebody tried to clean it up, but it’s a mess.”

Hunt groaned. “Oh, Jesus. Was her daddy physically abusing her? She never mentioned it to me.”

“I can’t say,” Millie said. “But for the past two years they have fought something terrible. All three of them. Just don’t say I told you. I don’t want to lose my job. I know they love her. But—”

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