Page 76 of Unforgotten

“No. Bethanne, you listen to me.” Candace now sounded almost mean. “We are not going to just sit here in this dirty, dark, stupid shack. We are not going to give up hope or start thinking the worst. When that guy gets back, we’re going to be ready.”

Candace’s rah-rah speech was all well and good, but the reality was that they were held captive, and no one had any idea where they were. And they had no idea where Scott, if that really was his name, was. “Candace, lower your voice. He could be standing outside. He’s probably laughing at us.”

“Let him. I don’t care where he is. We are going to get through this, Bethanne. You didnotsurvive just to die in some shack. Now, come on. Let’s scoot toward that nail.”

“I didn’t know you could be so mean.”

“If we get through this, you can call me mean all day.”

Just imagining that made Bethanne smile, and she’dstarted to think that she’d never have anything to smile about again. “One, two, three, Meanie. Go.”

Bethanne didn’t have any idea what was going to happen next, but God did. Until she found out His plan, she was going to fight to survive.

And then fight some more.

“Ready?” Candace said.

Because she had no choice, Bethanne nodded. “Let’s do it.”

25

Candace didn’t know if she would ever be able to forgive herself. It was her fault they’d been taken, her fault they were tied up together, and it would be her fault if something unforgiveable happened to Bethanne. Why hadn’t she taken Scott’s obsession with her more seriously? If she had, she could’ve stayed away from Bethanne. Stayed in her house.

Complained more to Ryan. Told her parents earlier.

Done anything she could to get Scott arrested and put away.

Instead, she hadn’t wanted to give Scott any more of her life than he’d already taken from her. She’d pretended that his fixation on her wasn’t as scary as it was.

Sometimes she’d even told herself that Ryan wanted to accompany her mainly because he felt the same attraction that she felt. She’d fooled herself into thinking that they were falling in love.

Now Scott was going to come back any minute, see them attempting to get the stupid rope off their wrists, and freak out. What would he do? She couldn’t think about that now. And Bethanne—she knew he’d only taken Bethanne to keepCandace biddable, but he didn’t want her around. Since it wasn’t like he could just tell Bethanne to leave, he’d probably kill her.

Even thinking about such a thing made her chest hurt. How would she ever be able to look at Lott and Aunt Martha and Uncle John again? They would probably hate her, and it was no less than she deserved.

If she survived.

“Candace, what are you doing?” Bethanne said. “I just counted to three. Come on.”

She shook her head. “Maybe this was a foolish idea, Bethy. Maybe we should go back to where Scott stuck us.”

“What? Nee!”

“But he could get really mad.”

“He could do a lot of things worse than yell at us, Candace. What’s wrong with you?”

“I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

“It’s too late to worry about that, ain’t so? You have to know that.”

“You’re right. I’m—”

“No! Nee! Stop telling me you’re sorry. Now, focus.”

“Wow, Bethy.” Candace could practically feel the anger radiating from her cousin’s body.

“Stop thinking negatively and do what I say,” Bethanne ordered. Without waiting for Candace to comment, she raised her voice. “On the count of three, move. One. Two. Three.”

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