Page 84 of Happenstance
Why would Lillianna take Riley? What purpose did that serve, beyond attracting more attention? Lord knows what she told Parker…Oh my god, Parker!He must be going out of his mind right now. I had to get back to him.
Forcing my heavy body off the ground–which was not at all easy when you were over seven months pregnant with twins–I waddled over to the opposite wall. We might be trapped in here, but that didn’t mean I had to be useless. If there was a way in, there had to be a way out, right?
“Lana, you shouldn’t be up…”
“I’m fine.”
“But…”
“Seriously, Riley,” I glanced over and gave her a stern look, “I’m fine.”
Her mouth pursed, but she nodded. “Okay. Look for something sharp.”
“Like a weapon,” I asked, gliding my hands over the wall.
“Exactly. Something I could stab these assholes with.”
Assholes? “What about Lillianna?”
“Oh, she’ll get hers too,” Riley promised, “But right now I’m more interested in the two pricks that brought us here.”
I thought back to the mystery car and didn’t know what was scarier. Lillianna being bold enough to take not only me, but Riley too, while Micha and Parker were a few feet away? Or that she was prepared with backup to do it? Nan was right, Parker’s mother was evil. I felt so stupid for falling for her shit. Quietly sniffing back a shuddered gasp, I quickly brushed away the tear trickling down my face. If I had just listened to Nan…
“Don’t do that,” Riley placed her hand on her cocked hip, “This shit is not your fault.”
I couldn’t help but snicker. Leave it to Riley to give me the ‘don’t blame yourself’ speech in the middle of a hostage situation. “You sound like you’ve done this before.”
I was joking of course. Riley had never been kidnapped.
“Yeah, well,” she returned to inspecting her wall, “Last time there was more stabby shit to use.”
Or, maybe she had?
“Um… okay?” I wasn’t quite sure what to say to that. There were a million questions swimming through my head right now. Like where, when, and by who, but I suppose we had more important things to do. My first priority was getting back into my husband’s arms, and getting Riley back to Micha. On the upside, she was the Sheriff’s daughter. Which meant the Ashen Springs police force was probably scouring the town right now.If we were still even in town?
After who knows how long, we gave up and sat by the far wall. There was absolutely nothing in this metal room. No sticks, no bars, not even a grain of sand. It was disturbingly clean. As bad as that was, Riley’s plans were even worse.
Plan A consisted of her charging the first person to come through the door, while I ran. Great, if she weighed more than ninety pounds soaking wet, and if I could see my feet. Not to mention, I’d never leave her behind.
Plan B wasn’t much better. That one called for me faking labor. Considering the people who took us had no problem kidnapping a pregnant woman ready to pop, I highly doubted they’d give a shit if I went into labor. Plan C was simply titled, let’s wing it. Once again, I had to point out to her that speed was not my strong suit right now.
We were halfway through preparations for Plan C, which was more of an argument, when the door creaked open and we were blinded by the sudden appearance of light. I swore and threw my hand up. Riley swore too, but not because of the light.
“You son of a bitch.”
I squinted and peeked over my arm at the guy smirking back at her. His brown hair flopped over a diagonal scar in his forehead. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say someone had cut the letter L into his skin.
“Hey, Riley. How’s the new school?” The smirk on his face grew, “Evan says the library’s top notch.”
I could feel the hate radiating off her as, Riley glared back at him and quietly growled, “Noah Torres.”
Chapter 29
Parker
Fear was one emotion I had never understood. I knew how to fake it. Make my eyes big, put a quiver in my voice, sweat a little. That shit was easy. The comprehension of how to handle the cold shiver shooting through my veins was not. Everyone was here, the Kings were off somewhere digging up information, and the Knights, standing in my kitchen with me, arguing over what to do.
I could see them. The wisps of smoke coming out of Logan’s mouth, Micha’s booming voice, and the scent of tobacco coming off my brother. All of it was there. All of it real, but none of it broke through the spikes of panic crawling up my spine. My wife and my children were out there somewhere. Alone and scared. And I had no idea how to find them.
