Page 66 of Safe
I was almost clear, but as I stood up, my hand knocked something into the sink, putting an abrupt end to my stealth.
“What are you doing in here?” Landon growled, already suspicious. There was only one way to make this believable.
“I just thought,” I started, but Landon cut me off before I could finish.
“You thought what, Danielle?” His impatience exploded as he waited for an explanation.
“I just thought that I could join you in the shower.” I waited for him to answer. For a moment, he just stared right through me, searching my mind for whatever game he thought I might be playing. After a quick thought, he gave me that mischievous grin that I used to love.
Now, it sickened me.
“Get the fuck in here then.”
Despite the turmoil of my actions, knowing I'd sent the message made undressing and stepping into the shower almost bearable. I let the steaming hot water numb me while I avoided making eye contact with Landon. For ten minutes, I allowed my mind to drift to a different place, momentarily escaping the reality that Landon was once again burying his cock where it didn’t belong, until I heard the water shut off. Landon left theshower, grabbing a towel without a word, returning to his room with his clothes in his hand.
I lingered in front of the foggy mirror, staring at my reflection. Would Alex and Cody find me? Would I die here? Could I maintain this charade with Landon?
Out of the silence, the sound of hurried footsteps barreled down the hallway, heading straight for me. Before I could react, the door burst open, crashing against the wall. Raw terror took over as I tried to retreat to the far corner of the bathroom, but it was too late.
"Landon..." He charged at me just as I realized my mistake—I hadn’t deleted the text I had sent to Alex.
"You stupid FUCKING bitch!" His words punctuated the air as his fist collided with my face, sending me backward, headfirst into the ledge of the tub.
The last thing I remembered before embracing death was the taste of blood in my mouth.
33. CODY
We were nearing the Motor Speedway, but my heart felt like it had reached its limit. Each hour spent searching brought us closer to the dreadful possibility of finding Danielle dead. We awaited the list of places to check in nearby when Alex's phone vibrated in the car's center cup holder.
"Could you check that? It might be the captain with the list we're waiting on," Alex asked. His focus never shifted from the road ahead, not even for a second.
I picked up the phone and checked his messages. "Nothing. Just a blank text from an unsaved number," I reported.
It was dead silent for another minute or two until Alex slammed on the brakes without warning, causing me to damn near hit my head on the dashboard. Without a word, he snatched up his phone and began dialing a number.
“Hey, it’s Alex. I’m going to send you a phone number. I need you to track where it is as fast as you can.”
“What’s going on?” I was scrambling for some context but had no clue what he was going on about. It was just a blank text.
Alex looked over at me like he almost couldn’t believe I didn’t know what he was talking about. “It’s Danielle.”
“What? How do you know that?”
“Because that’s what I taught her to do. It may not give me an exact location, but it’ll get us a hell of a lot closer than we are right now.”
Alex drove at such a breakneck speed that I couldn't bring myself to even look at the speedometer. I just gripped the “oh shit” bar for dear life and tried not to watch what he was doing. I was desperate for it to be true that the text had come from Danielle, as my nerves and heart were teetering on the brink. If it was her, it meant she was still alive—far more than I assumed in the past few hours. We pulled into the lot where the car had been abandoned and got out to take a look around. Just a minute or two later, Alex received a call back from the police department.
“Please tell me you have good news.” Alex was shaking, holding the phone to his ear.
“It’s coming from a few miles west of you, about a five-mile radius. I did a check; there’s a piece of property in that area fitting the description you gave us. An old, abandoned house. It’s off the grid; I dropped you a pin.”
“Alright, I’m on my way.” Alex was about to hang up.
“We’re going to send backup right now.”
Alex hung up the phone and jumped into the driver's seat with urgency. Without wasting a second on questions, I hurried back into the car, and we sped off. It was about a five-minute drive from where we had been.
As we approached, Alex pulled over to the side of the road, parking just out of sight from the house that sat a way back off the road.
