Alice pulled into her parking space across the street from the office building, hoping Chloe would be there and anxious to know if there were any answers to unresolved questions. Alice hadn’t seen Chloe for almost two days and didn’t have the first clue where she was. All she knew was that Chloe had promised to get more information for her, and all Alice could do was wait. Alice thought about never again having to live in fear. She thought about her boys, who wouldn’t understand why their lives were being turned upside down, but she knew they would be strong enough to handle it, each in their own way.
Alice was so preoccupied with her thoughts of a possible future and planning her day that she never saw them coming. One second she was turning from her car to walk to her office building, and the next thing she knew she was waking up in the back of a limousine, slowly sitting up in the leather seat, confusion filling her head. As she batted her eyes open and they began to focus, she found herself staring into the hard, spiteful eyes of Matthew Parnell.
“Where is my daughter?” Matthew, sitting in the seat across from her, spoke severely with concentrated aggression in his expression. Crescent was sitting beside Matthew in his ever-stoic manner, silent and observant, always ready to pounce at the snap of Matthew’s fingers. They were both still as intimidating as she had always known them to be, but this time there was a difference—in addition to their icy stares, there was also fury running through them both.
The partition that separated driver from passengers was raised and she wondered two things: who was driving and where they were going. Alice became immediately hysterical, uncontrollably shaking and tears free-falling down her face as she stared into Crescent’s black, piercing eyes that warned her if she misbehaved, he would take the necessary steps to remedy her behavior. She tried to inhale deep breaths through her nose to compose herself, but was failing miserably.
“I know she’s here and I know you two have been spending time together. Where is she?”
Alice tried to control the terror in her voice as she answered. “I don’t know. Please, Matthew! I promise you, I don’t know!”
Matthew narrowed his eyes at her, as if trying to decide if she was telling the truth. “When was the last time you saw her?”
Alice was trying to breath in between stifled sobs. “A…few…days…ago.”
“When do you expect to see her again?”
“I don’t know,” Alice said, still shaking but otherwise gaining control of her thoughts. “I was hoping she would be back to work today but she makes her own schedule.”
“I see.” Matthew cocked his head and studied her for a few moments, watching as she tried to control her breathing through the intense fear, yet unable to stop the flow of tears streaming down her face. “I’m curious why you left me, Alice. I haven’t had an opportunity to ask any of the other girls except Sasha, and I didn’t like what she had to say.”
There was no sense in lying. No matter what she said or did, she already knew she would not see tomorrow. Alice momentarily caught her breath and answered simply, “I felt like a prisoner.”
“So you ran away like she did. I don’t understand. I treated all of you better than anyone else ever could. I gave you food, shelter, and opportunities you would never have had otherwise. You traveled, you spent time with powerful and influential people, and you were paid extraordinarily well for your work. You were safe and always had my protection. I just don’t understand why so many of you felt the need to leave.”
Matthew’s arrogance was enough to make Alice nauseous. She had no idea how to respond so she sat silently, the tears beginning to lessen and her breathing beginning to even. She looked out the window, watching the scenery go by, realizing they were on the interstate and heading east. The tears began to flow again as she thought of Charlie and Samuel, and everything she was going to miss as they grew up.
I won’t get to say goodbye.
Matthew gave her a mixed look of anger and amusement. “You ran away from me. You humiliated and embarrassed me.” Matthew leaned forward, his face inches away from Alice’s terrified and slightly ashamed gaze. “You stole from me.”
Alice turned her head to stare out the window, noting that they were approaching Baton Rouge, the limousine preparing to exit and continue on to places unknown to her. There was no point in pleading with him. Matthew would do what he would do and there was nothing she could do to stop it. “Renee took the money and gave it to us.”
“So you used my money to get away from me.” When Alice didn’t answer, Matthew gave a quiet, disappointed sigh and turned to Crescent. “Go ahead.”
Crescent retrieved a laptop computer from a bag next to him, opened the lid, punched a few keys, and handed it to Matthew.
“Today’s technology always amazes me. There are so many things a person can accomplish just with a push of a button or the download of software. I like that it can make a person’s life—my life—so much easier.” He turned the computer screen for Alice to see. “What you’re looking at is a live feed. Do you recognize the location?”
Matthew sat quietly, watching Alice with a cruel grin on his face as her eyes widened in horror, everything in her replaced by absolute knowledge, agonizing grief, and ultimate fear. Of course she recognized what she was looking at. The camera was in an elevated position and aimed at the recess yard of the boys’ school. Children began running into the yard for their morning playtime. In Alice’s mind, it was too early for morning recess; she had just dropped the boys off at school minutes ago. How long have we been driving? Who is on the other end of this feed? Instinctively she knew it was Tucker as she looked from the computer screen to Matthew with pleading eyes. “No! Please don’t hurt them! They haven’t done anything! Do whatever you want to me, but please, I’m begging you, don’t hurt them!”
Matthew gave her a cruel stare. “Where is she?”
“I don’t know!” Her gaze flickered between Crescent and Matthew, looking for any sign that would indicate her children would be left alone. She would say and do anything to save Charlie and Samuel, but would Matthew leave them alone today only to come back to them if Chloe wasn’t where Alice said she might be?
“Think hard,” Matthew said. “Mr. Crescent has a text message prepared for the person on the other side of this feed. All he has to do is press send.”
“Boston!” Alice shouted, and Matthew raised his eyebrows in surprise and exchanged a minor glance with a similarly surprised Crescent. “She told me that she was going back to Boston!”
“When?”
Hysteria rose in Alice’s voice. “She said in the next couple of days, but she could have already left. I haven’t seen her.”
“But you don’t know for sure,” Matthew stated.
The trembling that took Alice over grew so strong her tensed muscles ached and she slowly shook her head, defeated. She knew there was nothing she could say to keep herself alive, but she had to do everything she could to save her boys.
He wouldn’t, Alice thought. He’s only threatening Charlie and Samuel to find Chloe. Goddammit! I don’t know where she is!
“And what do you know about a key?”
Alice’s gaze snapped between Crescent and Matthew, and she felt all the color drain from her face. The fact that Crescent hadn’t said a word and had hardly moved was scaring her more than Matthew was, solely due to the fact that Crescent was in charge of the deadly text and literally had his finger on the button. Matthew waited five heartbeats, and when she didn’t respond, his face hardened and he asked again.
Please forgive me, but I have to try to save my family. “Before she left, Renee gave me a key to a safe deposit box. There was a lock box inside, but I don’t have a key to it. I don’t know where the key is and I don’t know what’s in it. I took the box with me when I left Boston.” Even though Alice had no idea what was in the lock box, she knew it was important enough to keep hidden. She knew Chloe would immediately go for the box once she found out Alice was missing and she needed to give Chloe a chance to get to the box before Matthew could. “It’s in New Mexico and the key to the safe deposit box is in the glove box of my car.”
Alice proceeded to tell Matthew the name of the bank she had used almost three years ago in Albuquerque. They key to the safe deposit box actually was in her car; she hadn’t closed the account with the New Mexico bank just in case she decided to move the box back there one day. Her hope was that since he knew Chloe was going to Boston, Matthew would return and send someone else to Albuquerque to try to find the box. She was counting on the fact that once her body was discovered, just as all of the others had been, Reggie would know to get the boys and himself out of town as quickly as possible.
“Please, Matthew,” Alice begged. “Please don’t hurt my boys. I swear I told you everything I know.”
Matthew raised an inquisitive eyebrow at her, while at the same time Crescent took his gun from his jacket pocket, attached a silencer to the barrel, and pointed it at her. Her eyes locked with Crescent’s, cold and unforgiving, then moved to the computer screen, watching her boys on the playground. Charlie was throwing a football with one of his friends, and Samuel playing tag with a group of other kids, happy and having fun. She froze with terror, her breath labored, and all she could think of was saving her boys.
Alice forced herself to look at Matthew. “I swear, Matthew. That’s all I know about where she might be and that’s all I know about the key.”
She flashed her eyes back to Crescent, waiting for the inevitable pull of the trigger, then back to the computer screen just as Samuel gained ground on a running friend, tagging him with the tip of his fingers. She knew morning recess lasted fifteen minutes, and thought if she kept talking long enough, her boys would be back inside before Tucker could pull the trigger.
“I was in the bathroom when you came to her room and told her why Christopher died. But I swear I have never told a soul what happened that night. She was devastated and terrified. That’s why she left.”
She could see Matthew wasn’t prepared for her confession. “Is that everything?”
Alice looked from Crescent to the computer screen. “Why are you doing this? Please don’t hurt them.”
“I want Renee back and will do whatever it takes to meet that end,” Matthew said in a cold voice. “And I think you’re lying to me. I think you do know where she is. Do you know how it makes her feel every time she learns that another one of her friends has died because of her? I do. Unlike me, she actually has a conscience and empathy. She knows it’s her fault they are dying, and as you apparently know, I told her that I would take every opportunity I could to make her suffer.”
Alice suddenly felt a surge of confidence come over her. She knew she would soon be joining her dead friends and decided to take the opportunity to be bold. She sat up straight and defiantly looked at Matthew. “You’re not wrong about how she feels every time she finds out someone died, but she won’t go down without a fight and you know it. No matter how much power and charm and strength you think you have, she has more. She’s stronger than you give her credit for. She will be the one to break you and make you hate yourself for ever underestimating her.”
Matthew gave her a hard stare and an uncaring smile that suddenly turned foul. “Maybe she’ll get to Boston faster when she finds out about you. After all, you two were the closest all those years ago and I know the loss of you would overwhelm her. The loss of a child would probably kill her.” Matthew gave a slight nod to Crescent.
“No!” she screamed, and jumped up from her seat to reach the phone, forgetting about the gun Crescent had pointed at her. Matthew pushed Alice back in her seat as Crescent’s thumb descended on the send button for the text. Once that was done, Crescent was hovering over Alice, his knees weighing down on her thighs to keep her legs from moving, one hand on her shoulder, the other hand pushing the gun to the side of her head as he forced her to watch the computer screen in agony.
“And,” Matthew said calmly, “I’m sure the knowledge that she is responsible for the death of a child will get her back to me faster.”
Suddenly the world was moving in slow motion for Alice as she had no choice but to watch, tears streaming down her face like a waterfall. She jerked under Crescent’s weight when she heard the sound of a crack come from the speakers of the laptop. The next thing she knew she was watching as Samuel, laughing and having fun playing tag with his friends, stopped running and stood frozen in place for a few seconds before his legs buckled and he collapsed on the ground, a cloud of dirt billowing around him.
Matthew leaned in close to lock unapologetic eyes with a mother in sudden and grieving disbelief, her body shaking so fiercely her anguish could easily be mistaken for a seizure.
Speaking in a sharp, clipped tone he whispered, “Not forgetting you have another son, I’m going to ask again. Where is my daughter?”