Chapter 1

CHAPTER

ONE

EDMUND

“It took a while to get you all on board, but I’m glad we’ve managed to come to an agreement.” I shake hands with the white-haired men sitting across from me as we finish up our meeting.

Walking from the building, I reach for the phone that has been buzzing incessantly in my jacket pocket for the past ten minutes. As I swipe it open, I’m met with a barrage of missed calls and nearly twice as many text messages.

My heart pounds as I quickly read them. Fear, rage, and helplessness course through me when two more pop up on the screen.

He’s here.

He won’t stop banging on the door.

As though my body is acting without thought, I race toward my car. Trying to run at full speed, yet feeling like my feet are encased in cement as the car appears to be slowly seeping further away in the distance.

I need to fucking get to her .

My chest heaves as I push myself harder, my heart thumping painfully hard in my chest when I reach my car. The moment I open the door, I quickly slide onto the hot, sunbaked leather of the driver’s seat. I barely have the door pulled shut when I push the button to start the engine and stomp on the accelerator, my tires squealing against the pavement.

Hurtling from my parking space, I push the button on the dash. I can’t get her details up fast enough to call her back. It barely rings before she picks up, her fast and ragged breaths blasting through my speakers.

She’s fucking terrified, shakily breathing my name, “Eddie…”

“Fuck,” I hiss, gripping the steering wheel to the point that my knuckles begin to whiten. Trying to remain calm for her, I soothingly tell her, “I’m on my way.”

Without a second thought, I ignore the posted speed limits and swerve around cars as I drive through town at reckless speeds to get to the highway. Veering around a white sedan stopped in the intersection, I make a hard right-hand turn, my tires screeching their complaint along the asphalt.

The fists hammering on her door are so loud that they pound through the subwoofer in my trunk.

Thump. Thump. THUMP!

“Eddie,” her voice trembles, “he’s going to break through the door.”

Thump. Thump.THUMP!

“ I’m coming.” I round the onramp to the interstate hastily, only to floor it the second I merge into traffic. “I’m coming for you. I promise.”

This drive usually takes me about twenty-five minutes, and right now, that’s way too fucking long. Glancing down at the dash as I weave between the other cars, the speedometer reads 141 miles per hour.

Not fast enough.

The wood door cracking echoes through the confines of my car, only to be drowned out by her cries.

“Get in Nikki’s bedroom,” I yell, “It’ll buy you a little time. And lock the fucking door.”

“Ed–”

“Just fucking do it,” I shout over her.

The only response I get is her shrill shrieks muffling the splintering of the wood door.

He’s inside.

Screams fill the car; gut-wrenching cries that tear at my heart. Her screams fall quiet and are followed by loud crashes and shattering glass. The phone clatters against the floor, and suddenly, everything sounds so far away. Yet, there is no denying the hell occurring on the other end.

“Please…” she sobs in between groans and more items crashing to the ground. “No….”

Stomping on the clutch and shifting, I press the accelerator further to the floor. The speedometer quickly climbs to 163 miles per hour.

A deep, gruff voice comes through the speakers. “What’s the matter? I thought you liked it fucking rough.”

My blood boils, and heat floods up my neck and over my face. Every bit of me shakes–not with fear, but pure unadulterated rage–and I violently squeeze the steering wheel as I yell into the Bluetooth, “You’re a fucking dead man.”

Five more miles.

Every strike I listen to her endure causes me to flinch. Hit after hit, her screams and grunts slowly diminish until there’s nothing but silence.

Absolutely terrifying silence.