Page 80 of The Wicked

Why was it so quiet?

Where was Garrett?

What was out there?

The monster.

The monster was out there.

A sob burst from my throat, and I fumbled blindly for the phone.Call Luca, call Luca, call Luca.

He was coming for me. He was here. He was in my home. The nightmares, they were all true. I could barely breathe, and the blood whooshed so loudly in my ears that I could hardly hear either. My fingers trembled as I dialled.

“Sara? You okay?”

“L-L-Luca? Somebody’s sh-sh-shooting.”

“Where?”

“At The Lookout. Near the pool house.”

“Are you safe? Stay inside. Is there someplace you can hide?”

“I’m in the b-b-bathroom. Garrett went outside, and now…now it’s quiet. Everything’s so quiet.”

“I’m on my way, okay? I’m on my way. Do you have a gun?”

“Of course I don’t have a freaking gun!”

“Stay on the line.”

I heard him talking to Brooke in the background, telling her to call Colt, then the slap of feet on concrete because instead of stairs or an elevator, the wide old ramp that had once been used by cars led up to his apartment on the second floor.

“Help, please help. I can’t lose him. I can’t.”

“Any further alerts from the motion detectors?”

I fumbled with the phone again. “I— No, I don’t think so. One of them has an error. What does that mean?What does that mean?”

“I’m getting into the car. Can you hear anything else?”

“No.” Yes. Oh hell, yes. “There are footsteps.”

I shrank into the shower stall and made myself as small as I could go. Suddenly, I was back in that car, hiding from the bad man, waiting for him to kill me too, waiting for a bullet to the head because I wasn’t allowed to live.I wasn’t allowed to live.

A siren sounded through the phone, but it would be too late. Luca wouldn’t be here for five minutes at least, even if he drove like a madman, and I’d be dead. Dead like my mom, dead like my dad, dead like…like…

“Saralisa?”

My heart lurched. “G-G-Garrett?”

“I’m here, princess.”

Then I was in his arms, sobbing uncontrollably because somehow I was still alive and I shouldn’t be. My prince was still alive and murmuring soothing words likeit’s okayandit’s overandhe’s dead, don’t worry.

Dead?

Dead?

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