Page 43 of Be My Traitor

There was a knock on the classroom door and I looked up to see Lucas smiling at me.

“Hey. I thought I’d come and see if you fancied a coffee while we wait for Amber to come back?”

I felt like someone had stabbed me in the gut and was twisting the knife when he said our daughter’s name, but the kidnappers had told me to tell no one, so I did my best to pretend nothing was wrong.

“That was Kym from nursery,” I told Lucas, waving my phone at him. “Apparently there’s been a bit of a delay, so it might be a while before they’re back.”

“Is that right?” Lucas moved towards me, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. “Well, I can think of a good way to kill the time while we wait.”

Sex was the last thing on my mind and I knew I wasn’t going to fake enthusiasm, so I was glad when my phone beeped with a text, giving me an excuse to keep Lucas at arm’s length. I stepped back, holding up a finger to let him know I would just be a moment while I read the text.

The last warehouse on the right. Dauphin Trading Estate. Twenty minutes. Come alone and don’t be late.

Once again, the number was blocked, but this had to be where they had Amber.

“Everything all right?”

I quickly tucked my phone away so Lucas wouldn’t see the message.

“Fine, fine. But I’m going to have to go. Rain check?”

“Where are you going? I’ll come with you.”

I thought quickly to come up with an excuse to stop him. I couldn’t risk anything happening to Amber because Lucas had tagged along. He might be Amber’s father, but until the kidnappers told me I could involve him, I wasn’t taking any chances.

“It’s Ivy,” I said. “She needs to talk to me about something. It sounds serious.”

“I hope everything’s okay.”

“So do I.” I didn’t need to fake the worry in my voice.

“Well, I’m not going to come between two friends when there’s a crisis. Tell you what. I’ll pick up Amber from the nursery and meet you back at yours if you like.”

“Yeah, that would be great.” I knew full well he wasn’t going to be able to do that. I could only hope that he’d forgive me when he discovered what had happened.

I drove to the trading estate as fast as I dared, pushing the speed limit but not so much I’d attract any unwanted police attention. I could pull rank as Knight heir, but then they’d start asking awkward questions and I didn’t have any time to spare if I was going to get to the warehouse within twenty minutes. I didn’t even want to think about what would happen if I was late.

I took the turn off into the trading estate. I didn’t know what types of business Romy’s family housed here, but it was quiet. Too quiet.

I slowly drove through the estate, looking out for the warehouse I needed. I followed the road to its end and on the right was a large warehouse which didn’t look like it was being used for anything. The lights were out, there were no vehicles parked outside and I couldn’t see any sign of human activity.

Still, if I had the right building, there was something going on here all right. Some evil bastard had my daughter held captive and I was going to get her back, no matter what.

I parked in front of the warehouse and hurried inside to the reception area.

“Hello?”

My voice echoed back to me, but there was no reply. There was a desk opposite me, but it was unmanned. There was a door behind it and I went through to find had my child.

My phone beeped with another text.

You’re getting warmer…

“So you like to play games, do you?” I muttered. “This is one game you’re never going to win.” I raised my voice. “Where’s my daughter? Come out and show yourself!”

I heard a crash off in the distance and I ran in the direction of the sound. Corridors and rooms blended into one as I frantically searched for my baby. As I raced past a door, I heard another crash coming from behind it. I yanked the door open and went in.

The door slammed behind me, plunging the room into darkness. I whirled round, fumbling for the handle. When I found it, I tried to open the door again, but it was jammed shut. I was trapped!

---