“What happened?”
I sighed. “I’m a fucking moron,” I said. “I ran a background check on Hannah, because I’m sure that she’s trying to get to me through my son,” I added.
“And?”
“Long story short, she’s not who she says she is,” I said quickly. “There isn’t really time to explain it now, but she’s incredibly dangerous and I’m really worried about June’s safety.”
For the first time since I’d arrived, Angela looked scared.
“What are you gonna do,” Angela asked nervously. “If June left…” She glanced down at her watch. “Thomas, that was almost two hours ago! What if something happened to her?”
“Is there anywhere you can think of where June could have gone?” I stared at Angela. I could feel the desperation leaking out of my body, like sweat, and drying up in the air.
“No,” Angela said. She bit her lip. “June’s a real homebody, you know. She’s really introverted. She doesn’t really like going out. She normally just takes a long bath.”
“And you’re absolutely sure she’s not here?”
Angela nodded. Her face looked pale and frightened. “I know,” she said. “I tried calling her a bunch of times when I got home – she didn’t leave a note, but I wasn’t that worried because I figured she was with you.”
I groaned. “Fucking hell,” I said under my breath. “We have to find her, Angela. We have to find her before someone else does.”
Angela licked her lips and looked up at me. “Someone like…Hannah?”
I nodded. My heart sank in my chest. “Yes,” I said. “Someone like Hannah.”
Chapter Seventeen
June
God, what a horrible dream, I thought. I can’t believe I thought I was kidnapped! I mean, it was a terrible night, but wow.
“Hey,” a familiar voice said. “You up?”
My head was aching and there was something making a lot of noise in the background – whining, whirring noise, like the kind of thing you’d hear on a construction site. As I struggled to open my eyes, I realized that I couldn’t move. Suddenly, my heart began to pound and a cold sweat broke out all over my body. Oh, crap, I thought. Someone really DID kidnap me!
As I opened my eyes, the memory of the previous night came rushing back. The two men in the car, who had grabbed me and given me something to make me pass out. What had they done? And where were they now?
“She’s awake,” Hannah’s voice said quietly. “You really knocked her out!”
“The bitch wouldn’t stop moving,” Andy replied. “I didn’t want to hit her, but she didn’t really give me a choice.” I winced – he didn’t sound like he was sorry at all.
“Well, what are we gonna do now?”
“This is the fun part,” Andy said.
My mouth felt like it was full of cotton and I felt dizzy. Even after I opened my eyes and tried to adjust to the semi-darkness, I still felt like I was spinning around in crazy circles. My head ached and my wrists were bound so tightly that my fingers and hands were numb. I was sitting on a hard wooden chair. My ankles were bound to the chair legs, and my hands were tied snugly behind me with what felt like zip ties.
“Andy?” I whimpered. “What are you doing? Please let me go,” I said softly. “I don’t know why you’re doing this, but please, just let me go and I won’t tell anyone.”
Hannah burst out laughing. She walked closer and my heart sank when I realized that she was made up to look fancy, like she was going out for a night on the town.
“You were out for a few hours,” Hannah said softly. She licked her lips. “I was starting to think that you wouldn’t wake up.”
“My head is killing me,” I mumbled. My heart was thudding slowly in my chest. “Can I have some water?”
“Can I have some water?” Hannah simpered, mimicking my tired, grumpy voice. “Andy, she thinks we’re actually going to help her,” she said. “Isn’t that sweet?”
Andy chuckled. “It’s something, all right,” he said. He stepped forward and I saw that he was sneering. “June, shut up,” he added.