Page 71 of Unravel You

Just in case, I gave the doorknob a jiggle. Of course, it was locked. Bridget hadn’t hesitated to throw me in here. She didn’t even tell Alex this was where she wanted me. He already knew. The basement was their plan B to keep me contained.

It annoyed the hell out of me that they both thought they could keep me in the upstairs bedroom and I wouldn’t try to escape. I went down the steps to survey the area. Maybe there was a door down here that led to the outside. One that didn’t require a keypad. Had those keypads come with the house, or did Bridget and Alex install them just for me? I shuddered at the thought.

Small windows with steel bars lined the wall. I stood on my tiptoes to peer out, but everything on the other side was pitch black. I glanced down at my watch. The sun would be up in a couple of hours. My eyes itched from the lack of sleep, but looking around the place, I couldn’t imagine relaxing enough to fall asleep. Shit. I stuffed my hands in my hair.

I returned to the stairs and sat near the landing. In the morning, I’d try my luck with the windows again. Maybe if I broke one of them, I could get someone's attention. All I needed was a phone. One phone call to Derek would fix the mess I’d made when I left the house without telling him. Did I regret it? Yes. Would I do it again if Max’s life was in danger? Hell yes.

Leaning my head against the sheet-rocked wall, I let my eyes close. My body weighed a ton as I sat there, half dreaming, half awake. When I opened them again, it was bright daylight outside, and the sunrays touched every corner in the small room.

And then I saw it, a white metal box hanging next to the shelving unit. My mouth felt dry from thirst, and the pounding on the side of my face had turned into a full-on headache. I took a deep, calming breath and forced myself to get up and look inside the case.

I sobbed when I removed the cover and found the cellular system the alarm used to alert the call center of any intrusions. Either Alex and Bridget didn’t know this box was here, or they completely forgot I had programming experience. Writing code and wiring weren’t the same thing at all, but I’d worked at Derek’s company long enough to understand how the two fed into each other.

Could I rig this box to call for help? Even if I could, I couldn’t send out an alarm to the call center. They would call the owner of the house. For all I knew, that could be Bridget.

Derek had mentioned Savannah to me before. The day he took me out on a picnic and fed me brie cheese topped with Savannah honey. He mentioned his mom had sent him that stuff because she knew he loved it. Jesus. Was this Derek’s house?

I grabbed a box off the shelving unit and dumped the contents on the cement floor. There were textbooks, trophies, and a bunch of golf magazines. I flipped through the books, but nothing in them showed they belonged to Derek. Sitting on my haunches, I rested my head on my hands, then looked up at the tall unit in front of me and the number of boxes.

My stomach rumbled. I swallowed to ease the dryness in my throat. Had food and water played into their planning at all? I had not think about how hungry and thirsty I was and focus on finding out who owned this house instead. I only had one shot with the box. If the police came for a distress call, Bridget and Alex would know I did something. Where would they put me after this? Did they have a contingency plan to their basement backup plan?

I shoved the thought to the side. Whatever it was, I didn’t want to find out. The second box contained more trophies with no names on them. This entire place was filled with random things the owner simply didn’t feel like throwing away. I opened a plastic tote that had “Christmas Decorations” written on the lid. Maybe Derek made one of those DIY ornaments with his picture on it. I was really reaching here.

At the top of the steps, the deadbolt clicked. With my heart thudding, I replaced the lid on the tote and shelved it before darting to the bottom of the stairs to sit.

Bridget descended the steps with a bottle of water. She tossed me the bottle and took a picture of me with it. “I don’t have time to play the maid with you. I’m losing patience. Pray that Derek comes up with the money in the next thirty-six hours. I’m already tired of seeing your face.”

“I’d like to get out of this dress and clean up.” I ran a hand over my hair.

She glared at me as if I’d asked her for a million dollars. “If you behave. I’ll think about it.”

At least, she hadn’t said no. When she locked the door behind her, I took a long swig from the bottle of water. I drank half of it and saved the rest for later.

I went back to the boxes and continued my search. After clearing two shelves of boxes, I hit the jackpot—a family album that didn’t include Derek or Bridget. We were in a fucking rental. I kicked the box, and a cloud of dust puffed out of it.

That settled it for me. If I sent a distress signal, the call center would automatically dispatch a cop. All I’d have to do when the officer showed up would be to make a big ruckus down here. I picked up a trophy from one of the boxes and banged it on the iron rods covering the small basement windows. That could work.

I stood in front of the cellular system and moved some cables around to see how they were connected. The brown one stood out to me. I had to splice that one with the red. It wasn’t like in the movies, where there was always a green or red cable to cut. I had to be careful not to do that.

On the other side of the small windows, the sun moved across the sky. The lower it fell, the more shadows crept around the basement. I stood in the middle of the room. What would happen if Derek didn’t come up with the money on time? Would Bridget hurt me to make her point? Alex would do that just for fun. That much I knew.

I walked to the tool chest on the opposite end of the wall and scoured through it, looking for something sharp to cut the wax cover off the cables. My choices were a serrated knife or an ice pick. I went with the knife. By the time I returned to the metal box, the basement was dimly lit by the single bulb halfway down the steps.

Dammit. I might have to wait another night.

Chapter20

Yeah, I Was Losing My Shit

Derek

“It’s been a whole day. I’ve received two texts from them. If they’re on the network, we can track them down. Find them.” I hit the End button on my phone. An entire IT company, and no one could get a trace on Bridget and Alex.

I plopped myself on the office chair in the library, where I’d spent the better part of the last twenty-four hours, and swiveled around to face the window. Sleep had been impossible, or rather closing my eyes and not seeing them kissing had been impossible. I glanced down on my screen, where a picture of Valentina and Alex taunted me. Alex and Bridget had no idea what they’d done. There would be no second chances for them.

Last night after we confirmed Valentina had left the house to go after Alex, I received two messages. One with just a picture. Bridget had waited a whole hour to send me the next text with her demands. For that entire time, my stomach had been in knots. Several scenarios ran through my head. Valentina would have been pissed at me if she had been able to read my thoughts during those minutes. The mind was a tricky thing. I was past all that. Now I needed answers. I needed a plan to get her back.

“Mr. Cole?” Anabelle’s driver walked into the library. “I was told you wanted to see me.”

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