Page 77 of Sutton's Shadow

Lia:Overheard: selling product tonight.

Lia:“She” should fetch a good price.

Lia:Oh god, I think they’re selling people.

Lia:The person locked in the basement.

Bethany:Calm down. We don’t know anything for sure.

Lia:Bring your camera. We can get proof.

Bethany:Proof of what?

Lia:That someone is locked in the basement at least.

Bethany:I don’t know, Lia.

Lia:Please. Can’t do without you.

This seemed like a crazy idea. And if what Lia imagined was true and they were selling people... Bethany had heard enough about human traffickers on the news to know it was big money for the bad guys. When that type of money was involved, people could get nasty to keep it coming. This could be dangerous.

But then she remembered what Sutton had told her. It was the right thing to do. She could help bring justice for anyone they’d hurt. And she wasn’t alone.

Bethany:I’ll see you at 11:30

Bethany’s nerves were all over the place as the night wore on. Her stomach churned too much to eat. There were plenty of worried glances from Wyatt and Sutton, but she ignored them. After dinner, she made an excuse and locked herself in her room.

Wyatt’s heart, the stuffed toy he had given her years ago, sat on her bed. She reached for it, clutching it in her palm as she waited, watching the minutes tick by. Her skin crawled with anticipation and trepidation.

When eleven rolled around, she left her room and crept down the hall. The house remained quiet and dark. Her knees were shaky. If she was caught sneaking out dressed in her all-black attire, there would be a lot of questions.

She pushed the sliding glass door open an inch at a time, hoping for as little noise as possible. When it opened wide enough to slip out, she squeezed her body past the glass and quietly closed it. She took a deep breath, a little surprised she’d made it out without alerting her brother, the former Ranger. He must be distracted with Sutton. That thought would have made her smile if she wasn’t so scared of what she was doing.

As soon as she left the yard, she took her phone out and wrote out a text before disabling the location indicator. She didn’t want Wyatt finding her before she was ready.

She wasn’t completely stupid, though. She had to let someone know where she went, but she scheduled the text for eight the next morning, just in case. If all went well, she’d be back in bed before anyone knew she was gone and could cancel the text.

She prayed everything would go well.

She made it to the house she’d hoped to never see again, spotting Hugo and Daniella through the front window. She snapped a picture of them and the men that sat around the table before heading around to the back. Lia let her in and gestured to the basement stairs next to the kitchen.

With camera in hand, she crept down the stairs into the dark, dank, unfinished basement. She wrinkled her nose at the stench.

A padlocked door was at the far side of the room. She took a few photos of it, not really knowing what she was doing, but she did it, anyway. Then she knocked on the door.

“Hello? Anyone in there?” she asked, shocked when she received a reply.

“H-hello? Who’s there?”

“My name is Bethany. What’s yours?”

“Bethany? It’s Kaitlyn. Can you get me out of here?”

Kaitlyn. Bethany stood frozen. Kaitlyn had disappeared over a week ago. Had she been here all this time? Oh my God, these people had kidnapped her. Was Lia right? Were they going to sell her?

If she was caught down here... she shivered. She didn’t even want to think about what would happen to her then.

“Bethany? Are you still there?” The tremor in Kaitlyn’s voice twisted her gut. She couldn’t run away from this. Sutton wouldn’t. She’d find a way to help.

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