Page 120 of Reclaimed

The entire pan clatters loudly in front of him, and I scurry back against the wall.

He sighs. “Thank you.”

Vomit rushes up my throat. I cover my mouth to hold it at bay as he takes the first bite. I feel the blood drain from my face. Sweat dots my forehead. I might actually pass out. This is so fucked up.

My legs shake, and for a minute, I’m afraid they’re going to give out. I’m weak from adrenaline and hunger. I’m tired. Dehydrated. Nothing about this is good for the baby, but I’m notabout to eat expired, burnt meat. I’m not about to eat anything offered to me from this monster.

My best chance at escaping is when he goes to sleep. The chain on the bed is a challenge to overcome, but he had a key for the cuffs in his pocket. I’d be willing to bet he has a key for the rest in there too.

The question is how far am I willing to go to retrieve them? Could I touch him? Put my hand in his pocket?

Henry doesn’t question my lack of appetite. He chews the dried-out slabs as if they were prepared by a world renowned chef. I pray for food poisoning to incapacitate him. When he’s finished, he announces it’s time for bed, despite the evening light still lingering outside.

“Wouldn’t want you to run again.” He smiles, locking the chain on the headboard around my shackles.

33

Aiden

“Talk to me,”I bark into my cell phone.

“We’re coming up on where the device location stopped tracking. I’m warning the two of you now, stay back or I’ll cuff you both and put you in a squad car headed back to town.” Sutton wastes no time getting right into it.

“I just need to know if she’s there or not. Don’t make me wait.” A current of anxiety zips beneath my skin. When the line went dead, we knew one of two things happened.

One: He got rid of her phone.

Two: He got rid of her phoneandher.

“I won’t,” Sutton promises. “Pull over and I’ll call you right back.”

Lee moves the truck steadily onto the shoulder. “Done,” he says loud enough for Sutton to hear over the speaker.

“Hang tight,” Sutton says before the line cuts off.

“You know if you weren’t here, I wouldn’t have stopped,” I mutter. I feel like I’m coming out of my skin.

“Yep,” Lee replies.

“And if it were Juniper, you wouldn’t have stopped either.”

“Yep.” He cuts me a glance, shifting the truck back into drive and easing down the side of the road. “We wait for his call and then we’ll get moving quickly again.”

He keeps us traveling north, just at a slower speed. The two of us have no way of knowing exactly where Isla’s phone cut off since Silas had Juniper’s phone with the GPS. All we know is the cops have moved far enough ahead that we can hardly see their flashing lights.

“Sutton’s going to be pissed you didn’t stay at his command.”

“We’re just going far enough to keep them in our sights.”

A second later, my phone rings again. I stab the button and put it on speaker.

“We’ve located her phone. She isn’t here.” Sutton’s voice is clear in the cab.

“You’re sure?” I ask.

“A team is going to stay behind and comb the area, but we were pretty close to this location. He wouldn’t have had time to bring her off the main road and get out of here before we showed up.”

“That isn’t exactly comforting.”

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