Page 43 of Vicious King

I didn’t risk leaving my safe haven for hours. When the faint orange glow of dawn began to creep into the hollow, I crept out and glanced around. There wasn’t anyone or anything nearby except trees and bushes, and there hadn’t been a sound for hours. Wherever the men were searching, it wasn’t anywhere near here.

I tentatively headed in the direction I’d originally been running in. After what felt like three hours or so, I spotted a wooden fence. My heart leapt at the sight beyond it. A road.

I crouched low, just in case the Lodge guards had cars out looking for me. Then I waited.

Fifteen minutes later, I spied a white RV in the distance. I stayed down, waiting for it to get close enough for me to assess if it was a threat. As it passed, I saw two people in the front. A middle-aged couple. The license plate wasn’t local, and an enormous, colorful Dixie sticker took up a large portion of the side.

Definitely not Crown and Dagger affiliated.

I ran out onto the road and waved my hands, praying they’d spot me in their mirrors. Thankfully, the RV screeched to a stop a few seconds later. I hurried toward the passenger side.

“Please!” I said to the confused couple as they put the window down. “Help me!”

“What happened, hon?” the woman said, wide green eyes searching my tearstained face for answers.

I was too choked with emotion to speak for several seconds. For the first time in months, freedom was a real option for me, and it was hard to believe it wasn’t all a cruel dream. “They… they… I was kidnapped,” I finally stammered. “They’re still after me. Please, you have to help me! Please!”

The gray-haired man got out and headed to the back of the RV. He returned with a blanket. His wife got out too, bundling me up in the thick fabric, and then she helped me into the back. “We’ll get you to the nearest town, okay? You’re not hurt, are you?” she asked, forehead wrinkled with worry.

Only mentally and emotionally,I said to myself. “I’m okay,” I said. “I just need the police.”

“Honey, can you look it up on the GPS?” she asked, glancing over at her husband. She looked back at me. “Or can you guide us?”

I shook my head. “I don’t even know where we are.”

“Oh, sweetie…” She shook her head. “Don’t worry. You’re safe now.”

She kindly sat in the back with me, holding my hand. Twenty minutes later, we pulled up at a police station in a picturesque town. The couple came inside with me and demanded to speak to whomever was in charge.

“We found this poor mite on the edge of the road,” the woman said sharply when a tall man with a chief’s badge appeared. “She says she was kidnapped and she’s shaking like a darn leaf. I just watched a documentary about a serial killer yesterday, so I know damn well that this stuff happens all the time. Even here. You better take this seriously!”

The chief nodded politely. “Don’t worry, ma’am, we’ll do everything we can,” he said, holding up a stern but placating hand. “I’ll need you two to go with Officer Stanley so he can take your statements.” He waved his hand toward a younger man in uniform, then glanced at me. “Would you like to follow me, Miss? I’ll have someone make you a cup of coffee, and then I’ll take your statement.”

I looked at the couple. “Thank you so much,” I murmured tearfully. The woman patted me on the shoulder before following the officer with her husband.

I watched them enter a room down the hall, and then I trailed after the chief and headed into a room on the opposite end. After I‘d taken a seat at the table, the chief smiled and gently informed me that he’d be back in a moment.

When he returned, he had a steaming mug of coffee. He set it in front of me. “There you go. Can you tell me your name?

“Tatum Marris.”

“Can you tell me what happened? Just in simple terms for now.”

I was silent for a moment. How could I put any of what had happened to me in simple terms?

“I… I was kidnapped by a group of men,” I finally said. “They’re from a secret society.”

He frowned. “What?”

“They’re called Crown and Dagger. They drugged me and took me to an island. It’s called…” I racked my brain for a second. “Oh, Albemarle Island! And after that they—”

He cut me off. “Miss, are you feeling all right?” he asked in the sort of tone one might normally reserve for small children or the mentally unstable.

“I know how it sounds. Totally crazy. But it’s true. They kidnap women and keep them all in this giant mansion to serve the men. There’s still at least a hundred of them there. All prisoners. You have to get them out!”

The chief almost certainly thought I was a babbling lunatic, but he had to listen to my story. He had to investigate it. Right?

He let out a deep sigh. “Look, why don’t you finish your coffee before we get into the details?” He pushed his notepad aside and leaned forward. “You should take a few minutes to get yourself a little more centered.”

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