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“They took her.” Brandon glances up at me. “We need to get out of here before they come back for you two and Will’s body and to make me a body.”

My fingers shake as I unlock the cuff at my ankle. The steroids in his inhaler plus the rush of adrenaline to save his life collide to make a cocktail that makes it almost impossible to unlock my own cuff.

Brandon places his hand over mine, and I lift my gaze to his.

“I’ve got it,” Brandon says and places a kiss on my hand.

I nod and sit next to Will, monitoring his breathing and pulse while Brandon unlocks his, Will’s, and Angela’s ankles.

She’s been surprisingly quiet, and I really haven’t bothered to check in with her. When I look at her, tears stain her cheeks.

Our gazes collide, and that seems to shake her out of it.

“They killed him in front of us.” She straightens and wipes her eyes. “We’re all as good as dead if we stay here.”

“What about Tanner?” I lift an eyebrow.

She glances toward the door. “We can get help. That’s what matters. Hopefully Tanner is okay.”

Will grabs my hand. “Penny?”

I touch my head to his and hold his hand. “We’ll save Penny. But we have to be smart. We don’t know how many of them are out there. At least three. You’re weak and need medical attention as soon as possible.”

“They forgot to lock us in, which may be our only chance at escape.” Brandon runs a hand through his hair and helps me stand. He reaches his hand down for Will. “The only way we all make it out of this is sticking together. There might be another locked door or someone else watching us. We need to be careful.”

I draw in a breath. “Let’s get out of here.”

Harper

The two guys come back with a small person between them, wearing an oversized suit coat over a dirty peach dress. Penny?

When I take a step toward them, she lifts her face. It’s tear-streaked, but her brown eyes are red-rimmed... and cold. Like icy. Like how Luke’s used to look to me. It takes me aback. What’s happened to her?

“What did you do to her?” I glare at the guys as they stop well out of my range.

“They killed Will.” Her voice is thick with tears.

“Shut up,” Tanner says under his breath and shakes her arm.

“Will?” My brain can’t even imagine him dead? Because of this stunt? Why?

Zach straightens. “What happened?”

“Kid had asthma.” Tanner’s voice is digitalized like the others now. “He had an asthma attack.”

“Because you took his fucking inhaler and choked him almost to death.” Penny’s not crying now. She looks pissed, and I’m all for it. “He’s still with Kenz, Brandon, and Angela. We don’t know where Tanner is.”

I swear I can tell Tanner is smiling behind that creepy mask. But right now, my heart is racing. Death means there can’t be witnesses. Fuck. Witnesses are disposable and they have a way to make us all disappear.

Trafficking all of us would definitely give Zach the money for a new life. That puts all of us at risk. Not just me and Jack.

Tanner shoves Penny forward. She stumbles a little and then turns to meet his face.

“Who are you really?” Her spine is stiff.

“Yeah, right. Like I’m going to tell you.” Tanner scoffs.

“If you want to go free, you don’t want to know.” Zach tugs Jack up by his arm. His gaze settles on me. “Do you see what you hold in your hands, darling? Besides those nifty little toys. The life of your friends. Their futures outside of this building. They could go free. Sure, they’ll be high as a fucking kite before we’ll let them go and not be able to tell anyone, but at least they get to go. They get to have a life.”