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Hell. I’m in hell. I’m?—
My phone starts to ring, and I look at it. Uncle Grant.
I answer, running back inside. “Did you and Malone get Amelia?—?”
“Where are you?”
“I’m at Malone’s.”
“You should leave. Now. Your father’s missing, Scarlett. And I just got a ransom note.”
My heart starts to hammer hard, so hard it hurts. “Ransom?” Everything turns ice-cold in me, and my feet are lead.
In the background, there’s a voice, a familiar one, yet one I can’t quite place.
Not Malone.
“Uncle Grant,” I ask. “Where’s Malone?”
“I called the police,” he says. “I shouldn’t have listened to that liar. He’s a dangerous criminal.”
“Who?” I ask, but I know before he tells me.
“Malone. He didn’t show.”
My uncle’s phone goes dead, and my eyes burn. I slap a hand over my mouth to stop myself from screaming out as the pain presses at me.
Malone would have showed up. Unless… unless he had a lead. I dial his number, but his phone isn’t on. It goes straight to voicemail. I hang up.
What if it’s true? But regardless of the lies, he’s trying to help. Isn’t he? He doesn’t have the list he wanted, so I… I can’t believe he’s turned on me. I can’t. He wouldn’t.
Fuck, am I being naïve?
My breaths come in wheezing gasps, and I try to calm. I can’t afford to panic. But I also don’t know what to do. I dial Dad’s number, but his phone is off, too. And then I try Grant again.
“Shit,” I mutter.
My phone rings at the same time, and I hit the Accept button. “Malone?—”
“You need to follow the directions I send you. I need that list.”
“I don’t have it,” I say.
It’s that distorted voice again, and it’s one I’m going to have nightmares about, I know it.
“Your boyfriend might come for you. If you don’t have the client list, then you can swap yourself for your cousin. It’s up to you.”
My heart hammers hard, my temples throbbing as blood rushes between them.
“Tell me where.”
“I’ll send you the details. Bring anyone else and your cousin dies.”
He hangs up and I take a step and stumble, landing on the floor on my hands and knees. The pain’s enough to jolt me out of my panic, and I grab my phone and call the one person I know I shouldn’t.
“Lacey,” I say the moment she picks up, “something’s happened.”
“Where are you? I’ll come right now. Are you okay? In one piece?”
