Page 109 of Never Fall Again

“I’ve got you. You’ll be safe now.” The face was Cal’s. The voice was wrong.

She tried to speak, but her mouth wouldn’t move. She couldn’t even tell if her eyes were open or closed, but either way, she couldn’t see anything. Her mind tried to hang on, but everything had slowed.

No one could get on the property without alerting Mo. He was home, and he’d see...

The man who wasn’t Cal touched her arm. She screamed, but no sound came out. “Don’t worry, my sweet angel. I won’t hurtyou. No one will ever hurt you again. I’ve grabbed a few of Eliza’s toys. I already have everything you’ll need in our new home. If you want something from your place, we’ll get it later.”

Landry’s brain continued to fight against the temptation to rest. He planned to get Eliza too? He wouldn’t be able to. No one who wasn’t on the list could pick her up.

“Just so you know, I’ve taken care of Callum Shaw. He’ll never bother you again. We’ll be able to be the family we always wanted to be. It’s going to be glorious, darling.”

The last flicker of hope died. What had he done to Cal?

“Mommy. Wake up. Please, Mommy. Please wake up.” Eliza’s pleading voice penetrated the swirling fog in Landry’s brain. She tried to open her eyes, but all she managed was to crack them enough for a tiny bit of light to filter through. She tried again, and this time she could make out the blurry shape of Eliza’s face. A few more blinks, each one easier than the one before, and the room came into focus.

She cleared her throat. “Eliza?” Her voice worked again.

“Mommy, where are we?”

“I don’t know, sweetheart. We’ll figure it out, okay?”

Her mind screamed warnings. She had to wake up. Had to think. Had to move. She forced herself to sit up. A wave of dizziness rushed over her as she ran her hands over Eliza’s face. “Are you hurt? How’d you get here?”

“I thought he was Cal. He was in Cal’s truck. And you were asleep in the truck. I got in, and we drove away. And then I don’t remember anything else after that until I woke up a little while ago.” Eliza’s voice trembled. “He looks like Cal, but he’s not Cal.”

The room refused to be still, so Landry lay back down. It wasn’tlike she could rescue them in her current condition. “How do you know he isn’t Cal?”

“His voice is wrong. And he said my name wrong.”

How could anyone mess upEliza? It was a straightforward name. “How did he say it?”

“He said it like everyone else says it. But not like Cal says it.”

Landry couldn’t process that. She swallowed, thankful that her mouth and arms were working again. She tested her legs. She could move them, but she wasn’t sure they could be trusted to hold her up. “Where is he now?”

“I’m right here, sweetheart.”

Landry opened her eyes.

The mask was gone.

“You!”

Thirty-One

Cal lay still. Something was wrong, but he couldn’t remember ... anything.

His thoughts were sluggish, but eventually he realized that he couldn’t move. His brain was sending the signals, but his body wasn’t responding.

Cal wasn’t sure how long it took him to get his eyes open, but wherever he was, it was pitch black.

What happened?

He tested his body again. He could blink. He could move his head a small amount. But his arms and legs weren’t responding right.

He fought the panic creeping around the edges of his mind by trying to remember how he’d wound up here. Wherever here was.

All he could remember was getting up and going to Meredith’s place to have breakfast with Landry and Eliza. Everything after that was blank.

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