“You ready?” Scarlett says, and even I can hear the roaring crowd.

The fair more than sold out after they announced Scarlett was playing. There are more than twenty thousand people expected to come and go, and I would imagine a good portion of those people are here to see Scarlett’s first show. I’m anxious, but also super excited to get back into it. We’re going to sing the song last, as a closing, and Scarlett says she hopes it will introduce people to me and my voice.

She wants me to build a fan base.

The very idea of being even close to what she is terrifies me.

But it’s also a dream come true.

“I’m nervous, but so excited,” I tell her. “Thank you so much, once again, for giving me this chance. Without you, I’d never be where I am.”

She shakes her gorgeous curls, and says, “Never. You’re incredible, Amalie. Don’t ever let anyone tell you I made your dreams come true. You made them come true, because you have a talent most people would kill for, including me.”

I lean forward and hug her tight. “Good luck out there, I’ll be right there with you,” I tell her.

“Let’s go kick some ass!”

The announcer calls out and introduces us, and Scarlett grabs my hand, squeezing it, before running up and out onto the stage. The crowd goes crazy, the roar clear even for me, and I stand by Isaac, waiting for us to be called out. When he gives me a nod, I suck in a breath and walk out onto the stage, going to my piano. I glance out at the crowd and the blinding lights, and my heart pounds. This is amazing.

I’ll never get over this feeling.

Scarlett is saying something into the microphone, and then she raises a hand and looks back at her shoulder to me and nods. I know the playlist back to front, and the music is amped up loud enough that I can hear basic tones. Still, Scarlett always makes sure I know it’s time to start. I watch Isaac start playing his guitar, then I glance over at Elias on the drums, and then I close my eyes, and I start playing.

I can hear the somewhat distorted sound of Scarlett’s voice as she starts singing, and a smile breaks free on my lips as I play along with her, eyes closed, hearing the music in my head. I close my eyes mostly to stop distraction. I find if I open my eyes and look around too much, I’ll get distracted and caught off guard, and I’ll end up forgetting my keys. So, I play the song in my head and on the piano.

When it’s done, I open my eyes and watch the crowd going wild, cheering and waving their hands and phones around. Scarlett is calling out to them, arms in the air, laughing and flicking her hair back. It’s perfect. The whole moment is perfect. We play a few more songs and the time comes for me to go and sing with Scarlett. She turns and calls me over, and I hesitantly leave my spot at my keyboard and walk over, standing next to her.

She turns to me so I can read her lips as she says, “This is my best girl, Amalie. She plays the incredible piano you hear in the background, but she’s also an amazing singer. In fact, she’s so good, we’re going to be releasing a few songs as a duet on my next album.”

The crowd throw their hands up and cheer, and my smile gets massive.

“We’re going to sing a song for you, so sit back, and enjoy.”

She turns to me so I can see her and then she starts singing. My heart is racing, my palms are sweating and my stomach is turning, but I hold her eyes, just like we practiced. I take a deep breath, and then I sing. It’s soft at first, my nerves getting the better of me, but slowly I open up, and my singing gets louder, my voice growing more confident with every passing second.

Scarlett smiles huge, and then we’re walking along the stage, singing, touching hands with the crowd, who are all going absolutely wild. I see more than one disappointed face in the crowd when I hold their eyes, and I know it’s because of the article released about me. Scarlett warned me I might see a little of it, but she told me not to worry, it’s part of the industry and something I’ll have a fair bit of.

So, I smile big at the frowning people, and keep singing.

We’re mid-way through the song when a tiny flash of a red light passes me. It’s so fast, I almost think I imagined it. With the lights blasting down over the stage, and over Scarlett and me, it would be so easy to miss. But I pay attention to these things, more attention than most people because of my hearing, and it was odd.

I glance around, still singing, and see it flash past us again. My gut coils, and a horrible feeling washes over me. A warning. Alarm bells sing in my body, and tell me one thing—get off the stage. Now. And take Scarlett. The red light flickers past again, and is so easily missed in the sea of flashing lights, but I keep my eyes on it and move closer to Scarlett. When it aims at her, blending perfectly with her red, sparkly dress, I act quickly.

Nobody would ever see it.

It’s such a well-thought-out plan.

All the lights on the stage, and the crowd, and Scarlett’s dress, it’s like it was made to happen just like this.

I’ve seen enough movies to know it isn’t a good thing.

I don’t think, I move quickly.

I lunge at Scarlett and we both slam onto the ground so hard I know I’ve probably winded her.

For a moment, the crowd stops screaming, the band stops playing, and all that can be heard through the mostly quiet night is the sound of a gunshot. It hits the drums directly behind Scarlett, bouncing off and smashing into a light. Everyone starts screaming, people start moving around frantically, and I stay on top of Scarlett for a moment, my entire body frozen with panic. I’m so afraid. A shot could come any second and end me.

We have to move.

I push up and grab Scarlett. Her frantic eyes lock on mine. “We have to run.”

Security is already running onto the stage, going straight for Scarlett. I step away and they take hold of her, dragging her off the stage. For a moment, I’m standing there, unsure where to go. The side they took Scarlett off, is congested with people. I’m standing on the stage, open and a target. So, I turn and run in the opposite direction. I need to get off this stage. That’s all I know.

I rush down the stairs and go around the back of the stage, heading toward Scarlett’s dressing room, where I’m sure they’ll take her.

Someone grabs me from behind.

At first, I thought it might be Malakai, but when a cool gun is pressed to my temple, I know it isn’t.

My heart feels like it stops beating. I’m dragged into the darkness of the stage, down behind two of the massive beams holding it up, and my voice is ripped from my throat as fear clutches at me. A huge hand goes up and around my mouth, and I watch as people still run around, frantically trying to figure out what happened.

Then I see him. Malakai.

I want to scream out, to let him know I’m right here, tucked in behind the stage in the dark, a man holding onto me, but I can’t move, I can’t scream, and the gun pressed against my head digs in harder, a warning.

“Where the fuck is she?” I read Malakai’s lips as he roars, frantically looking around.

“Was here a second ago,” Mason says, his eyes searching the area.

They go right past me.

They can’t see me.

Tears roll down my cheeks as I watch them panic, Malakai’s face holds an expression I’ll not forget anytime soon. He’s scared for me. I know what he’s thinking, and he’s right, he just doesn’t know it yet. He barks some more orders at the few men he has with him, and starts his search again, leaving me here with this monster, whoever he is.

After a few moments, when the people have died down and gone in the direction of Scarlett, the man pulls me out and straight to the barrier surrounding the back area of the fair. A huge hole is cut in the fencing surrounding it. He simply moves the advertising mesh covering the fence, and slips through it. Nobody would ever know, unless they looked. Once we’re on the other side, he spins me around to face him, and I don’t recognize him.

But he knows I’m partially deaf, because he looks at me to speak to me. Which means he’s probably with Trey.

This has to be Trey.

I feel sick.

Fear has hold of me, and my hands shake.

“You walk with me. You move, I’ll turn and shoot the closest kid I can find. You’ll have to watch that. You’ll have to live with that. Then I’ll blow your brains out. Clear?”

I nod, fighting the tears.

He pulls me next to him, like he’s simply holding his girlfriend close as they walk through the crowd. There are people everywhere, we wouldn’t be seen even if we were being looked for. The people in the crowd are too frantic to care. Once he steps out of the darkness near the fence, we blend into the crowd and he holds me with such force my ribs burn with the warning his fingers are giving me.

We move to one of the exits, where security is frantically letting people out.

They don’t even glance at me. There are too many people rushing out, desperate to just go home after what happened on that stage. They wouldn’t have time to check everyone even if they tried. They’d get trampled.

Once we’re in the parking lot, a dark car pulls up and the door opens. I’m shoved inside and we disappear before anyone knows any better.

The man in the passenger seat turns around, grinning at me.

Eyes cold as ice.

“Hello, Amalie, good to see you again.”

Treyton.

I knew it.