I hate this guy. I fucking hate his goddamned face and every inch of his filthy guts. I'm following him through his goddamned basement and I'm trying as hard as I can to kill him with my mind while I stare at the back of his head.  If he can actually get us out of here and past those goons outside—completely off the property and away from them—I’ll consider not ripping his face off and shoving my boot down his throat. Honoring his fucking agreement, though? Not a chance in hell. But if he tries anything on the way out—

"Go down this passageway a mile or two. You'll know you’re at the end when you come to a metal door—“ 

"Wait a minute," I say, staring into a black hole in the wall that looks like it was dug into the earth with shovels. "There's no way in hell we're gonna go in there and let you lock us in. I have no idea what's in there and I sure as hell don’t trust you. Deal’s off.” 

That smug douchebag is standing in front of a metal door at the entrance of a black abyss. It would be really easy for him to close it and lock it behind us, and so like him.  

"You're wasting valuable time, Mr. Peterson, and those men up there don't seem like the patient type to me. I assure you, the door at the other end isn't locked. I only keep this door—“ 

“I said no deal." 

He’s trying to psych me out, staring at me without blinking or looking away, but I’m not even remotely scared of this piece of shit. ”What exactly do you propose, then?" he asks, that superior look still glued to his face. He continues to surprise me. I half expect him to send us packing outside, but I have a feeling he doesn’t want Zoe to wind up in their hands either.

"You first. You're taking us all the way down to the end of the tunnel and you're going to make sure we all get out. Then you can lock it or leave it or whatever the hell you want. But you're going in there first." 

"Fine." The psycho doctor pulls his phone out of his pocket and flips on the flashlight, then enters the dark passageway.  

After a few minutes, I hear Kyle's voice behind me. "Was this tunnel here when you bought the place?" I can't even believe he's making chitchat with this lunatic. Then up ahead of me I hear the other end of the conversation.

"Actually, it was. I think it was originally some sort of slave tunnel. I was pretty excited when I found it." 

"I'll bet you were," I say, dodging a large rock and almost hitting my head on a low section of the tunnel. "This part of the country must have been lousy with slaves." 

"It was. In the late 1800s there was a big coolie liberation movement. Lots of Chinese slaves were freed." 

I laugh at the irony. “Some people have all the luck."

I'm so sick of hearing this guy's voice. I just want to get out of the tunnel and the hell away from him.

I can feel Zoe grip my hand and I wish I could wrap my arms around her right now and carry her out of here. The overwhelming anger I have for Max is the only thing keeping me from going crazy over that kiss. I still can’t believe it happened. I don’t want to think about it, though, because if I do I’m not going to be able to stop myself from taking Zoe in my arms again. And right now I need to get her to safety.

When I feel like I'm just about to lose my mind, the doctor stops short in front of me. "Here we are."

I hear the scraping of metal, then bright light floods my field of vision.

"I told you it wasn't locked … seems like someone has trust issues.” 

I'm temporarily blind and grateful that I don’t have to see the idiotic smirk I know is on that asshole's face. As soon as my eyes adjust to the outside light I make my way over a pile of leaves and branches that have built up in front of the exit and help Zoe out of the tunnel. I see the way Max looks at her as she passes by and it takes every ounce of control I have not to knock him on his ass.  

"Hey," Kyle says as he locks eyes with me and stands in front of Max, blocking my view of him. "We're out! We made it!" 

"We're not safe yet," I say. "How the hell are we going to get back to the city? We're out in the middle of nowhere. Your car is two miles back that way,” I point over my shoulder in the direction we just came from. 

"If you walk straight through those trees for maybe a half hour, you'll come to a well-traveled road.” The asshole is pointing at a forest that looks like it goes on forever. “You should have a good enough cell signal to call for a car and have it meet you out there." "That's how we’re supposed to get out of here? You gotta be kidding!” 

"I promised you a way out of the house, not all the way back to where you came from. I got you out. The rest is up to you.” He glances at Zoe. “I’m sorry we didn’t have more time together, Zoe.”

With that, he slams the metal door shut and I hear a metal scraping sound again. I reach out and give the door a hard yank. The bastard locked it.  

"Well, we can't go back." 

“Dude, we don't want to go back," Kyle says, patting me on the shoulder. "We'll get home, I promise." "How?" 

"Like he said, we walk." 

“So you’re cool with leaving your Lamborghini back there?”

Kyle shrugs. “I don’t think I have much choice.”

I look down at Zoe. She’s still gripping onto my hand and seems so small and fragile. I can tell she’s incredibly tired. "Are you okay? Can you walk?" 

"Yeah, I can totally walk. Let's go. I want to crawl into the back of whatever car comes to get us and crash out, though." 

“If you get too tired, let me know. I’ll carry you. Okay?”

She looks up at me with her sleepy eyes and smiles. “Okay.”

We step away from the hillside where the door to the tunnel was hidden, and head through an open area toward the thick forest. My stomach drops into my shoes when I hear a voice from off to the right.

"Drop your weapons!" he yells. "Now!" 

The voice is coming from behind me so I can’t see how many men there are, but I hear Kyle’s gun hit the ground on my left. I push Zoe around my left side and behind me.

My head starts spinning. That fucking doctor set us up and I followed him right into their trap. All I can think about is Zoe’s sweet eyes when she told me that she’d never felt safer in her life. I feel sick to my stomach with the thought of what they want to do to her, and disgusted with myself that I might not be able to stop them. That I fell for that psycho bastard’s trick.

I don’t give a shit if they kill me, but I can’t let them take her. I swear I’ll kill these men with my bare hands before I let them get take her.

An enormous, heavily armed man walks around me on my right side. "You too," the man says, nudging my chest with the end of a very large rifle. "Empty your pockets." 

I slowly reach down and pull my gun and my phone out of my jacket pockets and throw them on the ground. I can feel Kyle moving around me on my left and I glance over at him. I can’t figure out what he’s doing; why he’s moving toward the man with the gun. But he is. I wonder if Kyle’s lost his mind or knows some martial arts moves that can knock a guy twice his size on his ass. 

"Brandon?" Kyle says. "Brandon Lewis?" 

The man with the gun looks at Kyle and all color leaves his face. His mouth opens, then moves like he's trying to say something but nothing comes out. I'm astounded that Kyle seems to have completely disarmed this giant man, even though he's still carrying a very deadly weapon. He even lowers the gun a little when he sees who’s talking to him. 

"Kyle. What the hell are you doing here?" 

"I'm helping my friend. What the hell are you doing here? What's with the giant gun, dude?" 

Brandon reaches back with his left hand and rubs the back of his neck and just stares at the ground for a minute. I can't believe this is happening. I don't even understand what's going on.  

"I'm here to do a job, man. That's all." 

"Are you gonna kill someone? Is that the job you’re here to do? Or is your job to sell this girl to some sick piece of shit? Is that the job you’re talking about?" I’ve never seen Kyle like this. He’s clearly pissed at this guy and doesn’t seem to care that he’s holding a very large gun. I want to know what the hell is going on, but I have no interest in butting in.

"Look, Kyle, it's just a job." "Like hell it is! What about all that consent stuff you're always talking about? I can’t even believe you!”

The Brandon guy looks really uncomfortable now. Like he’s embarrassed and is trying to come up with a good enough explanation for Kyle. “I was hired to do a job. I don’t know what else to tell you.”

“So that’s it? That’s all you have to say? Jesus, Brandon. Do you have any idea how much I’ve looked up to you? How many people all over the world look up to you? This is bullshit. I … I don’t even know what to say.”

By this point, Brandon’s gun is pointing at the ground. It’s clear he’s not going to shoot us. Not while Kyle is tearing into him anyway.

“You know what? If you want her? If you want to do your goddamned job? You’re going to have to shoot me.”

“Come on, Kyle,” Brandon says.

“No, I'm serious. This is one of my oldest friends, and she's ... you know, it doesn't even matter who she is. I would do this for any girl. I would make you kill me before you took any person on this planet and sold them off for some debt.”

“Kyle, you don’t understand. This is—“

“No, you don’t understand! I’m not going anywhere. You are going to have to kill me, Brandon.” Kyle says each word slowly and clearly and Brandon just stares at him. “In fact, you’d better fucking kill me, because if you don’t, the minute I get back to the city I’m going straight to that organization of yours and I’m telling them exactly what kind of person they’ve got running it.”

In the long silence that follows, my eyes dart back and forth between Kyle and Brandon and all I can think is what fucking organization?