Page 87 of Lacey's Fight

Her tirade sapped a large portion of her strength and the temperature in the room rose several degrees, making her head swim as she quickly reached out to place a steadying hand to the wall.

“You think you can defy me after everything I’ve done for you?” Merv screamed.

His voice was too loud for her already aching head, and she pressed her free hand to her ear, trying to muffle it a little.

“I can do whatever I want to you and there’s nothing—”

“Hey, put that down.”

Lacey’s head jerked up.

It sounded like …

No.

It couldn’t be.

Could it?

The temperature in the room soared, her already sweat-soaked body protested, and this time when she swayed she wasn’t able to prevent herself from collapsing to the floor.

The concrete was rough beneath her skin, and it had absorbed the room’s heat making it feel like she was lying against a stovetop.

Her pulse thundered as her body scrambled to try to conserve what it could, and her mind pleaded with her for water.

I’d give it to you if I could.

But she couldn’t.

It felt like the room kept getting hotter with each second that ticked by, but Lacey had no idea if that was just her mind playing tricks on her or if Merv really was continuing to up the temperature.

“Lacey!”

She could have sworn that was Ben calling her name, but that made absolutely no sense and she had neither the strength nor the inclination to even attempt to figure it out.

Darkness beckoned.

Giving into its call seemed like the only logical thing to do.

* * *

August 15th

9:27 A.M.

“You think you can defy me after everything I’ve done for you?”

The words were roared at top volume and full of fury.

If they hadn’t already located Mervin Matthewson in the master bedroom of the large farmhouse, that scream would have led them straight to him.

After leaving the girls with Blade, and Fletch who had a young daughter similar in age to Miranda, the rest of them continued on toward the farmhouse. Along the way, they’d cleared every building and each time they turned up empty Ben lost a little more hope.

They knew for a fact that Merv was here, and when they’d shown Miranda a picture of Lacey the girl had identified her as the woman The Master said would be their new mother, so it wasn’t that he thought Lacey had been murdered shortly after being abducted. But this place was so vast and from what he’d read up about what Lacey and her sisters had endured at Mervin’s hand, he was terrified that the man had killed her when he realized the girls were gone or squirreled her away someplace they might not find her.

That fear was all but realized when he stepped into the master bedroom to find Mervin standing in the middle of the room staring at a screen. He was wearing a pair of jeans and a short-sleeved shirt that was unbuttoned. There were boots on his feet but no socks, and his hair was damp. It was like he’d gotten dressed in a hurry and not quite finished.

Given the state of the kitchen downstairs, Ben could guess why.

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