Being back in this house made me weak and shaky. The place was in darkness and stank of mold. The furniture remained in the same places, sunken and half eaten by moths and mice.

Everywhere I looked, memories jumped out at me from dark corners and hidden crannies. There was the place we’d eaten our family meals. There was the mark on the walls where Reece and I had measured how much we’d grown. There was the corner where my mother had tucked herself up to read every evening. It was bad enough that I was being followed by a man with a gun, but now I had to deal with the emotional onslaught of my family home as well.

Hayden nodded at the floor. “Sit. We need to make a little video.”

We were in the hallway, and I lowered myself to the floor, my back pressed up against the wall.

Hayden took out his phone. “How will your father know where you are? I want one line. Nothing that will give it away to anyone else.”

My mind spun, empty. I shook my head. “I can’t think of anything.”

“Try harder.”

I looked around and spotted something. “I won’t need to say anything,” I said. “Just get a little bit of the wallpaper behind me into the shot.”

I must have looked a mess. My face was tear-streaked, and I pushed back my hair to reveal the cut I’d received from walking into the wall a couple of days ago. The dim light meant the bruising beneath my eyes was further darkened.

“What are you talking about?”

“The moment he sees this, he’ll recognize the wallpaper. My mother hated this wallpaper. She nagged him every weekend to strip it and redecorate, and he never did it. As long as you get some of it in the shot, he’ll know where I am.”

Hayden pointed the gun at me. “You’d better be telling the truth.”

“I am, I swear.”

“Fine.”

“Don’t make me use this,” he warned, lifting the weapon. “Put on a good show, or you’ll force me to hurt you for real.”

I nodded, believing him. I’d kidded myself for too long that there was a part of Hayden’s soul that could be saved. If he was willing to shoot me, whatever kindness he’d shown me before meant nothing.

He held up his phone, ready to take a video. “Go.”

I didn’t need to put on a show. I looked into the camera, tears pooling in my eyes and spilling down my face. “Dad, a man has me. He’s hurting me. He says you’re the only person who can save me. I need you. Please come. Come quickly.”

Hayden lowered the phone. “Good.”

He ducked his head, swiping at the screen, no doubt sending the video clip to whoever would get it to my father.

“Now what?” I dared to ask.

He lifted his cool, green gaze to mine. “Now we wait.”

Hayden paced the house, while I dozed, sitting on the floor. The noise of the city made me realize how quiet it had been both in Hayden’s house and then on the boat. I’d never noticed it being loud here when I’d been a child, but now it almost felt deafening.

The hours passed. Hayden brought me some water, and I made my excuses and used the bathroom, though he didn’t let me go without me leaving the door open a crack, and with the barrel of the gun pointing through the gap. When I’d finished, I came back out and took up my place back on the floor.

The shrill ring of a phone made me jump, and Hayden pulled his cell from his pocket and answered. He listened and then said, “Yes, right. Got it.”

He hung up.

I stared at him, wide-eyed. “What is it?”

“It worked, Jolie. Your father has escaped. Now we just have to see if he ever loved you enough to want to save you.”

I swallowed hard. I didn’t know how this was going to go, but one thing was a definite possibility.

I was going to see my father again.

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THE END

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TO BE CONTINUED! PRE-order ‘Tattered Souls’, the thrilling climax of this sexy, heart-wrenching, dark romance series now from and have it magically drop onto your kindle on the 17^th of December!