Page 36 of The Lair

“Red, but she currently has a thing for leopard print. Reminds her of her young days.”

That… was true. All of it, even the leopard print thing—she had just ordered a new leopard coat online two days ago.

“I know you’re worried, but I promise it’ll be all right.” Claudia’s smile was reassuring as her hand landed on my arm again. Her fingers held me a little tighter. “Just come with me.”

My throat worked a swallow on its own. “I-I should call my parents.”

“You have a phone on you?” Claudia asked. When I nodded, she gave me another patient smile. “You can call them in the car. But we should really be on our way, Allison. It’s very urgent. Johnny was very badly injured. He might not make it.”

The voice at the back of my head telling me something about this wasn’t right, telling me to run, got drowned by her last words.

He might not make it.

Claudia led me to the back seat with a hand on my backpack before sliding it off my shoulders when I sat down on the sticky leather.

“Is your phone inside your backpack?” she asked softly.

I gave her another nod.

“Very well.”

She shut the door with a little more force than I expected, making me flinch. I watched through the tinted windows how she rounded the car, threw my backpack in the trunk, and climbed onto the driver’s seat.

Claudia wasn’t smiling anymore. She adjusted the rearview mirror, touched a few buttons on her console, and suddenly a partition appeared between the front and the back seat. It looked like one of those plastic screens I’d seen in limousines in movies. Why did she have one?

Soon after she started the car, a male voice boomed through the speakers.

“You got her?” an angry, mean voice asked.

It didn’t sound like my dad.

“Yes. I’m on my way,” Claudia replied in a cold tone so different from the calm, patient one she’d used with me just a moment ago.

Despite my throat feeling like I had nails stuck in it, I managed to ask, “Are you talking to my parents?”

I knew the answer. Not so deep down, I knew this woman had lied to me. I knew I was in more danger than I could ever imagine. But a part of me wanted to believe it was all in my head. That the male voice belonged to my dad, but somehow the car speakers made it sound a little different.

And then Claudia chuckled.

“Oh, sweetie. You made it so easy.”

My heart took a dive. “You’re taking me to the hospital?”

“Nah.”

Tears started brimming in my eyes, and I held on to the door handle. As if it would lead to safety. As if we weren’t speeding down a highway. As if I could get out.

“L-Let me go,” I stammered, yanking the door handle to no avail.

Her eyes met mine through the rearview mirror, all traces of friendliness gone from them.

“Should’ve thought twice about getting in the car with a stranger, little girl.”

This couldn’t be happening. Not to me. This only happened in the news and in movies. This couldn’t be real life.

“Let me go!” I screamed to no one, because no one was there to help me.

Kidnapped. I was being kidnapped.

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