Katie was silent for a few moments. “Okay, we’ll take my car.” Using the barrel to gesture, she ordered, “Get up, step around the couch, and go out the front door.”

I followed her directions, carefully switching my phone to my left hand as I turned my back to her to walk around the sofa. When she didn’t say anything, I assumed she didn’t see it. My back was still to her and I looked down at the display. The call was connected. Carefully, I hit the button that made the screen go black and pressed the phone against my belly, glad I was wearing a baggy shirt.

I looked over my shoulder at Katie again and saw that she was looking down, tucking her hand into her purse, and still holding the gun.

Now was my chance. The front door was open and she wasn’t paying attention. I tucked my phone into my front left pocket, getting ready to haul ass.

I’d taken one step forward when she called out, “Don’t move yet, bitch.”

Shit, there was no way I could make it down the stairs without getting shot in the back if I tried to escape now. For the first time, I wished I’d taken the first floor apartment they’d offered me when I moved in.

She came up behind me, much closer, and whispered, “You’re going to walk down the stairs slowly and you’re not going to run. If you do, I’ll shoot you in the fucking back. I’ll make sure you never walk again and your boyfriend won’t even be able to use you as his fuck toy. Understand?”

I nodded.

“Good. Now go.”

Moving deliberately, I stepped out the front door and started down the stairs. When we reached the bottom, she directed me to her car.

That’s where she paused. I knew she hadn’t thought out this plan all the way through.

Unfortunately, she was smart, even with all the drugs in her system. “Go to the passenger side and open the door. Slide across into the driver’s seat.”

I opened the car door and did what she said, with Katie following right behind me into the car and settling in the passenger seat.

She pulled the gun from her purse and used her other hand to hold out the car keys. “You’re driving. I’ll tell you where to go.”

With shaky hands, I took the key and fumbled with it, trying to slide it into the ignition.

“Hurry up!” she yelled.

Finally, I slid the key inside and twisted. The car roared to life.

“Let’s go.”

Scared out of my mind, I put the car in gear and prayed once more that King would be able to find me before it was too late.

Chapter Twenty-Six

‡

“So where are we going?” I asked Katie for the third time.

“Where I want,” she answered shortly. “Stop fucking asking.”

We’d been driving for forty-five minutes and we were heading north out of Dallas toward Oklahoma.

I gave up trying to get her to tell me out loud where she was taking me in the hopes that King was still on the line.

“Take the next exit.”

I glanced at the exit name. “Telephone Road?” I asked.

“Yes, Telephone fucking Road. Now take the exit before I shoot you in the head.”

I wanted to wrap the damn car around a tree. She wasn’t wearing a seatbelt and if I wrecked the car, she would probably get thrown. Unfortunately, she wouldn’t allow me to buckle my seatbelt either, and I wasn’t willing to risk killing myself in an effort to get away from her. My survival instincts wouldn’t allow it.

I took the exit and pulled up to the stop sign.

“Take a right,” she directed.

I turned right.

Katie gave me a lot of instructions, taking so many turns I was completely lost.

Finally, she said, “Turn left in the next driveway. Go slow. There are a lot of bumps and I don’t think you’d want me to accidently shoot you, do you?”

I turned and reduced the speed of the car to a crawl as I crept down the bumpy gravel drive. After about five minutes, the driveway turned left behind a huge copse of trees. As we cleared the trees, I saw a white metal building a couple hundred feet away.

“Pull up to the building and stop.”

As soon as I put the car in park, Katie’s hand shot out, turned the car off, and snatched the keys out of the ignition.

“I’m going to get out on this side. You’re going to climb back over and do the same. Understand?”

I nodded.

She opened the door, her gaze never wavering from me, and slid out of passenger side. I crawled over the center console and felt my phone fall out of my pocket. Somehow it landed in the seat and Katie didn’t hear it.

Though I really wanted to try to pick it up, I knew she would notice it then because her eyes were locked on me. I scrambled out of the car, forcing her to take several quick steps back, and slammed the door behind me.

“Do that again and I’ll shoot your ass!” Katie shrieked.

I lifted my hands and fell back a couple of steps. “Sorry, sorry. I didn’t-”

“Shut the fuck up!”

I closed my mouth with a snap.

Katie laughed. “God, I’ve always wanted to be able to make you do that. You always talk, talk, talk, talk, talk. It’s fucking annoying. I’ve wanted to tell you to shut the fuck up so many times over the years.”

I didn’t say anything, keeping my hands up in the air.

She wiggled the barrel of the gun, which made my breath catch in my throat as horrible visions of her accidentally shooting me ran through my mind. “Go to the door of the building and go inside.”

Once we were inside, she flicked on a light and revealed that the building was empty save for a bunch of boxes stacked on one end. To our left, there was a door.

“Go in the door,” Katie demanded. “Sit in the chair in the center of the room.”

We entered the windowless room and I realized it was some sort of office. There was a desk shoved against the far wall, along with a couple of chairs. Another chair was set up in the middle of the room, facing the door.

Immediately I went to the chair and put my ass in it. Katie was clearly getting more and more agitated and I didn’t want to push my luck.

She shut the door behind her, walked around to grab one of the other chairs, dragged it into place about five feet in front of me, and sat down. Crossing her legs, she rested her gun hand on her knee, pointed straight at me.

We stared at each other in silence for several minutes.

Cocking her head to one side and smiling sharply, Katie asked, “What, no more questions?”

I licked my dry lips. “I have lots of questions, but you told me to be quiet, so I didn’t ask.”

Tilting her head forward, like a queen to a peasant, she answered, “Go ahead. We have about a half hour before he gets here. I figure you have a right to know why you’re going to be beaten and raped repeatedly before they put a bullet in your skull.”

My stomach threatened to revolt at her words but I swallowed hard, keeping it down. Then I took a slow deep breath. “Who’s coming in a half hour?”

“You wouldn’t know him. His name’s Renaldo. However, he knows you. I made sure of it,” she answered smugly.

I nodded slowly, even though I knew exactly who Renaldo was courtesy of Larry Peretti.

“Why do you hate me so much?”

Katie threw back her head and laughed. “I don’t hate you, Jena,” she chortled. Her amusement vanished instantly and she leaned forward, hissing, “I fucking despise you.”

There it was, all that rage and loathing clear in her eyes.

“Why?” I whispered. “I loved you like a sister.”

She laughed again, but it was harsh and grating. “Maybe, but you always had it so easy. You saw Justin, wanted him, and had him. Fell like a ton of bricks.”

“But he didn’t really love me,” I murmured.

She scoffed. “Yes, he did. He was crazy about you. He ended things with me because he decided he wanted to marry you.”

I shook my head. “No, he was playing me. He and King wanted to use me to get information on my old boss, Larry Peretti.”