We were going to Uncle Jack’s trailer. I felt invisible. When we’d left the coffee shop, I’d told the waitress I was going somewhere against my will, and she’d looked right through me. Uncle Jack ruled Midnight Falls, and no one was going to help me. The other patrons in the coffee shop had glanced away as I’d resisted getting into his truck.
Luckily, they had been slow in confiscating my phone, and I’d had a chance to text someone. A lifeline. I couldn’t text Cayden, not when Uncle Jack clearly wanted me to do just that. I couldn’t text my parents or Eve and drag them into this whole mess. Instead, Ms. Sophie’s number had come up at the top of my new contacts, and I’d written a simple message before Jack had taken my phone away.
Midnight Falls. Black Lake.
“This is kidnapping, you know? This could fuck up your entire life,” I said to Josh as he opened the car door for me and pointed inside.
“Get in, Lily, no one is going to do anything to you, so stop being dramatic.”
“Josh, your nose is nearly healed, you’re back on the team…if that’s why you’re so pissed at Cayden, have it out with him the normal way, or go and tell Coach that he was the one who did it. Don’t participate in whatever is going on between Cayden and his foster dad.”
Josh sneered at me. “You think I only care about my nose? How about the fact that Cayden West breezed into HHH and became the star player in the middle of the season? How about the fact that your father worships the ground he walks on? Everything just comes easy to some people.” He let out a jaded laugh.
“Comes easy? You wouldn’t say that if you knew what he’s been through, where he grew up…I mean, look at his foster dad!”
Josh’s face hardened, and he shrugged. Anger filled me suddenly, and my patience snapped.
“The truth is that you’re just not as good as him, and you can’t stand it. Even with all the money and privilege in the world, the best equipment, private lessons, he’s still better, even though he had none of that, and it burns you up inside.”
My words were like a whip, lashing Josh with the truth he didn’t want to face.
He stared at me a long moment, his expression dark, and then pushed me toward the car. “You have no idea what I’ve had to put up with since starting this whole thing. Jack – that guy is crazy. I don’t want anything to do with him, but he won’t leave me alone. You’re going to help bring Cade here, and then it’s over for us, we wash our hands of it. Get in the fucking car, right now.”
When we got out of the truck at Black Lake trailer park, I scanned around wildly for someone else who might help me, but it was useless. No one was going to go against Uncle Jack. In the distance, a storm brewed. The clouds rolled in off the sea, clearly visible from the nearby cliff top. A broken fence separated the drop into the sea from the trailer park, a shitty, ineffective barrier.
I could taste the salt whipping into the air. It was going to rain, and a lot.
“Come on inside, girl,” Uncle Jack said, gripping me hard by the arm.
Ellen hesitated as she peered around the trailer park. “I’m going to go now, since we’ve done what you wanted.”
“Please, call someone, the police – anyone…” I pleaded with her.
She looked miserable as she shook her head.
Jack chuckled, patting her arm. “Ellen’s a good girl and she takes care of her momma. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure she has what she needs,” he said to Ellen, who only nodded.
Ellen shook her head sadly at me. “I’m sorry, I can’t. Don’t worry. Jack doesn’t need anything from you, just getting Cayden here is enough, then you can go, too.”
I didn’t see her leave before Jack pushed me into the trailer. The same smell of hopelessness filled my nose as I sank down on the faded bench seat in the kitchen.
“Now, let’s see if he’s replied,” Jack said, taking my phone out of his pocket and checking it. He held it out to me. “There’s a notification. Unlock it.”
I pressed my finger to the sensor, and Jack snatched it back.
“Aw, a message from Mom. ‘Hope you’re making good progress at the library. That’s my future Cali superstar.’ I think Mommy dearest doesn’t know you’re here at all.” He frowned at the screen. “But still nothing from Golden Boy. You better hope for your sake that he comes.”
“Why? What are you going to do?” I challenged and looked at Josh, who lingered uncomfortably by the door. “What are you going to do to me?”
He scowled at me. “Nothing, I told you. He’ll come. I’m sure.”
“We’ll see. Now, I’m going for a nap, had a late one last night. You watch her. Put the TV on or something,” Jack said and got up.
I watched him leave with relief. I could work on Josh, he wasn’t a hardened criminal like Jack. I had more chance of getting him to let me leave if Jack got lost.
He left us alone. Josh ventured further into the trailer and searched for the remote. He clicked a button, and a soap came on.
“Here, watch this until Cayden shows up.”
“Are we seriously just going to sit here and watch TV? You know this is wrong…Josh, what would my dad think?”
He grimaced at that. “He won’t know anything about it. Cayden will come, and you and me will leave. I’ll drop you off at home, and Coach will never know about any of this. Fucking Jack will leave me and Ellen alone, and it’ll all be over. You won’t tell the coach either, because it’ll open a whole can of worms about you and Cayden. Now, let’s watch TV.”
Josh turned to the TV, determined to be interested in the random show. I sat next to him, teeth clenched, hands balled into fists.
I had to get out of here, one way or another.
What if Cayden didn’t come? He’ll come. I knew it without a doubt. That was the scary thing. What the hell did Uncle Jack want with him when he came? What would he do to him?
I couldn’t sit around and wait to find out.
I had to get out of here, before Cayden came.
Josh’s eyes drifted closed for the third time, and his head nodded forward. Unlike the other times, this time, they stayed closed. I sat motionless beside him. It had been more than an hour. The evening had slid past. Uncle Jack had gone out for a second about half an hour ago, leaving me and Josh in the trailer. I was surprised that Josh hadn’t had second thoughts by now. It seemed that the information he’d gotten from Jack had tied him to the old man, and Jack wasn’t the type to hold back on exploiting weaknesses. Now Josh was just as entangled in all of this as I was.
Unfortunately for me, he seemed as committed as ever to keeping me there, waiting for Cayden, even if the likelihood of him showing up was lessening by the minute.
A small electric heater had warmed the trailer. It would have made me sleepy, too, if it hadn’t been for the adrenaline pumping through my veins.
Josh’s head dropped forward even more.
He was sleeping. He was actually sleeping. I waited an excruciating ten more minutes to make sure. If he wasn’t deeply under, and a noise woke him, then he’d catch me, and I probably wouldn’t get another chance.
So, I waited.
After ten minutes, I made my move. I didn’t have my phone since Uncle Jack had taken it, after forcing me to text Cayden while hovering threateningly over me the entire time. I didn’t have to see it to know that Cayden hadn’t replied.
I made my way silently across the trailer. I didn’t have my watch on and had no way of knowing how long I’d been sitting beside Josh, madly trying to plan how the hell I was going to get out of here.
When I opened the trailer door as quietly as possible, a wind blew sharply through the doorway, and I hurried down the stairs and shut it softly behind me. That storm that had been brewing was nearly upon us, and the wind pulled at me, a slight shower of raindrops blowing against me as I staggered away from the trailer.
My legs felt numb from sitting for so long. I just had to get to the road. There was a bus stop down there, and I could get the hell away from Midnight Falls. I’d tell Cayden about Josh and Ellen and what his uncle was doing. I’d explain that they were victims, just as much as I was. After that, it would be his problem. I wasn’t going to get involved in any of his shit anymore.
Lights appeared down the road that ran through the trailer park. It was a car. Too late, I turned to see where Jack’s truck was. I wasn’t sure if Jack had gone out in his truck or on foot.
Now, I noticed that his truck was missing from its space.
The vehicle rolled closer, and I took in the distinctive black stripe down the side. It was him. I immediately veered off the road and into the gathering shadows on the side, hiding in the overhang of someone’s trailer. A sharp rap at the window sent me jumping a foot in the air. Someone wagged their finger at me through their window, telling me to move on. The truck had stopped outside the last trailer, and Jack got out.
Had he seen me?
“Come on, girl! Don’t make me chase you,” he hollered, answering my question.
At the sound of his shout, the door banged open to his trailer, and Josh stumbled out, rubbing his eyes.
“Where’ve you been? She’s getting away, goddamn it!” Jack shouted at Josh before turning this way and that, looking for me.
Another rap at the window pulled their attention. I couldn’t stay here.
I turned from the trailer with the irate neighbor and took off across the uneven ground out the back of the park.
“She’s over there!”
Josh’s shout sent fear coursing through me. I ran faster, my head down, making for the cliff edge. I’d run along there and hopefully come to Midnight Falls before long, or somewhere I could hide better. The entire cliff top was exposed, leaving absolutely no hiding places.
Behind me, was the sound of pursuit. Jack might be unfit as hell, but Josh would catch me. Sure, he had an injury, but it wasn’t a broken leg, and he was motivated. I had no doubt that he would catch me.
My lungs burned. My breathing was unmeasured, rasping in and out of my chest painfully.
The ankle I’d injured weeks ago ached as I sprinted across the hard ground. One wrong step, and I’d go down. The awareness burned through me.
In the distance, Jack shouted to Josh, just as another sound filled the air.
A low, aggressive whine.
The sound magnified, and I tried to work out what the hell I was hearing, when a light came into sight. A bobbing, white circle, a single light in the deepening dark, rushing toward me at a great speed. More than one, actually.
What the hell were they?
I didn’t have time to find out before Josh’s hand snagged my arm and he wrenched me backward. I nearly lost my footing and fell into his chest as he grabbed me.
“Very clever, Lillian, but give it up now, you’re caught,” Josh ground out.
“You give it up! He’s not coming for me, Josh. Accept it!” I shouted in his face. My heart pounded with the excitement of nearly getting away and a healthy dose of fear about what would happen now that I’d been caught again.
Josh sneered. “Hurts, does it? Not being important to West? That’s the kind of asshole he is.”
The whine only got louder when Jack caught up with us. He was panting hard and purple in the face.
“You stupid bitch. You think you can just get away so easily,” he wheezed, looking like he might collapse at any moment.
I wished he would. I wished he would drop down dead, and I could run him over to make sure. Run him over. At the thought, the noise that had playing on the edges of my consciousness suddenly clicked into place.
I fought against Josh and spun around, searching for the sound.
The lights were closer now, closing the distance between us.
Motorcycles, four of them. They sped across the grass and gravel that led up the cliff.
I recognized Cayden’s distinctive helmet first. He was leading the charge. He had his bike turned toward me and Josh, and he wasn’t slowing down.
“Fuck!” Josh shouted, pushing me to the side as Cayden roared past the place where we stood.
My breath jumped from my chest, leaving me dizzy for a second as I stared at the dark sky. The sound of motorcycles turning and revving filled the night. I sat up. Josh had fallen to the other side, and Cayden was off his bike. His bike lay on the ground near Josh, discarded like a worthless thing, from the way Cayden ignored it.
He faced Josh. I couldn’t see his face, only the tension in his body. Behind them, the other Ice Gods had stopped their bikes and gotten off. Beckett approached Josh in three long steps and hauled him around.
“Samuels? You’re fucking kidding me,” he growled at him.
I tried to stand, and Cayden looked in my direction, just as a hard hand landed in my hair, grabbing a handful.
“Don’t come close, boy, I’ve got insurance.” Jack’s gloating tone sent a shiver down my spine. He hauled me up and held me against him. His hot breath fogged my ear.
“And here was poor little Lily, thinking that Golden Boy wouldn’t bother coming for her…So, I was right after all, right, pretty girl? He came, just like I wanted him to. Take the helmet off,” he barked at Cayden.
Cayden stood motionless, staring at us. I wished I could see his expression. Then a sharp point pressed beneath my jaw. A knife. Jack had a knife. I was totally fucked.
At the sight of the knife, Cayden seemed to still even further, something I’d have thought impossible. Slowly, he raised his hands to his helmet and took it off. The sight of his familiar face nearly made me cry. I’d been so scared for hours; I’d never felt so alone.
But I wasn’t alone.
In the end, he’d come for me.
He’d come.
“Your problem is with me, Jack, not her. Let her go, you’ve fucked up her day enough.” Cayden’s voice was unwavering.
His eyes were dark in the falling night, and he stared a hole through Jack. There was a promise of violence I’d never seen in him before. No, it wasn’t a promise. It was a guarantee. I knew without a doubt that if I got away from Jack, Cayden was going to hurt him.
“That’s rich, considering you’re the one who made her wait all night.”
A muscle ticked in Cayden’s jaw. “I was in a closed practice for the night and left my phone at school. I had to go back for it.”
His eyes connected with mine, and I saw that his words were for my benefit. He hadn’t seen the message. He hadn’t made me wait.
“Well, that’ll teach you to be more responsible in the future, won’t it?” Jack chuckled. “Not that this sweet little lady will want anything to do with you after today.”
“That’s her choice. Let her go, now, if you want me to stay.”
“I don’t think I will. You seem worked up, so I think she should stay around until you calm down.”
“Jack! I’m warning you.” Cayden’s sudden shout jolted me. He was the picture of controlled menace, but I suspected he was far less composed than he seemed. In fact, he was agitated as hell.
“Let her go, or what?’ Jack goaded.
He pressed the knife point into my neck, and I gasped. It wasn’t the point that hurt, it was the way his knuckle was pushing into my windpipe. Cayden’s body only tensed more at the sound, and then he was nodding. His eyes flew to mine. He held my gaze in his, reassuring me. I wasn’t alone. He wasn’t leaving without me.
“Okay, tell me what you need me to do, and I’ll do it.”
“I think you need to make it right. You left me after all I’ve done for you. You need to make up for that.”
“Okay. I will. What do you want me to do?” Cayden’s voice was taut with anger and frustration.
Jack considered and turned us so Beckett, Asher, and Marcus could see the knife under my chin. “I want you to kneel, and your little friends better stay back, or else the coach’s daughter will have an accident she won’t recover from.”
Cayden held out a hand to his friends. “Stay back, don’t try anything… this is between me and him.” Then he met my frantic eyes and slowly sank to his knees on the scrubby dark grass.
It hurt to see him capitulate to his monstrous foster father.
Gloating filled Jack’s voice as he spoke to Josh. “Give the boy a knife, there’s one in my boot.”
Josh paled, his fists clenching. “You were supposed to let Lily and me go as soon as Cayden showed up.”
Jack laughed, and the knife bit in. “Are you talking back to me? I’ll let you go when I damn well please, you stupid, spoiled fuck. I guess brains are hard to come by in Hade Harbor.”
“As fun as watching all this is – if it’s money you want, I can provide it,” Beckett interrupted confidently. “Name your price.”
Jack shook his head. “We’ll talk about that later. Right now, I want to see the boy bleed. He’s good at that. The knife,” he reminded Josh.
Josh took the knife from Jack’s boot, avoiding my eyes as I stared murder at the side of his face. He crossed to Cayden and threw the blade near him on the grass and then backed away.
“Please, don’t do this,” I pleaded, wriggling against Jack.
He pulled my hair hard enough to bring tears to my eyes.
“Shut the fuck up. Now, Golden Boy, let’s see how well you remember how to write.” He jerked his chin forward. “Lose the jacket.”
Cayden complied, stripping off his thick leather jacket and revealing a black T-shirt beneath.
He gripped the knife in his hand. “Well?”
“Hmm, now, let me think. I think the Cutlers were too kind, hiding their handiwork on your back…I think it should be right there on your arm, for the world to see. Worms should know their place. Write it, and make it good, or I’ll write it on her neck after she bleeds out.”
My stomach revolted as I realized what was happening. Jack wanted Cayden to carve a word into his arm with the knife. The same word that his previous foster family had written in flesh on his back.
“No! No – do something!” I screamed at Josh, Beckett, anyone who could help.
“No, don’t do anything,” Cayden said, his voice commanding as hell. He met my eyes. “He’s not playing. He’ll hurt her. No one does anything that endangers Lily.”
Holding my gaze, those heartbreaking words ringing through my head, Cayden put the tip of the knife to his inner arm and pressed in. Blood welled up. Josh staggered to the side and vomited on the grass. Asher tried to push forward, but Beckett held him back, his face solemn. Tears poured down my cheeks. The knife below my chin seemed less of a threat now, compared to the horror of watching Cayden write a word in his arm. I was so horrified and angry, I felt sick. My head spun.
I couldn’t make out what Cayden had carved, there was too much blood to see. His face was pale, but his eyes were determined.
He had sunk down on his haunches and seemed to cave inward as he moved to the next letter.
“Well done, boy, make it nice and big so everyone can see,” Jack goaded.
My sobs were the only sounds breaking the black stillness around us, until suddenly a clap sounded. Clap after clap, drawing closer, followed by a long whistle.
“You know what they say about size…if you care too much, you’re overcompensating for something.”
Jack spun me around, the knife digging in, to see who had joined us.
A man strolled over the rough ground, looking like he had all the time in the world. He was dressed in leather and dark jeans, shitkicker boots, and had a shaved head that had started to grow out. Even then, the hair couldn’t hide the tattoos on his skull. He was covered in them. He stopped a little way off and crossed his arms, seeming for all the world like a guy just out for an evening stroll who’d come across a perplexing sight.
I recognized him immediately.
My art teacher’s husband. Hade Harbor’s new mystery man.
The terrifying one.
“Don’t let me interrupt, go on about your business.” He waved his hand over the scene. “I should introduce myself, however…where are my manners?” He patted his pocket and pulled out a small rectangle. “I’m Nikolai Viktorovich Chernov. Take a card.”
Jack grunted and then chuckled uneasily. “I don’t want your fucking business card, get lost. We’re busy here.”
Nikolai shrugged and tucked his card away. “No one ever wants a card. I suppose manners are truly dead.” Then he gave a smirk that was cold and lethal as hell. “Let’s just get right down to business, in that case.” He jerked his head toward Cayden. “Let the kids go, and you and I can have a little chat. Fail to do so, and you’ll put me in a mood.” He laughed, and there was something unhinged about the sound. “You wouldn’t like me in a mood. I have a temper.”
Jack was bursting with annoyance by this point. “I don’t know who you are, wise guy, but get the fuck out of here or I’ll cut this girl’s throat.”
Nikolai tutted, his jovial expression dropping in an instant. “Manners. Think about our influence on these youthful minds. Shame on you. I guess since you don’t have any, I’ll have to teach you.”
His hand went back to his pocket, and in a second, he pulled a gun. Jack blanched at the sight. Nikolai cocked it, released the safety in one fell movement, and pointed it at Jack’s head. “Let the girl go, or she’ll be picking fragments of your skull out of her pretty hair for weeks.” He looked at me. “Apologies in advance, sweetheart.”
“You’re crazy, where the fuck did you come from?” Jack grunted, backing away and dragging me with him.
The knife dug in and made me cry out.
Nikolai’s face hardened at the sound. “Your worst fucking nightmares, old man. You have the count of three to let her go. One—”
Jack dragged me back again, and I stumbled, gasping as the knife dug deeper into my skin.
“Two,” Nikolai continued, advancing on us.
He never got to three.
A heavy weight barreled into us, hitting Jack in the side and knocking the knife out of his hand. I fell to the grass and rolled, just in time to see Cayden grappling with Jack.
Jack landed a lucky punch and staggered up, stepping on Cayden’s hurt arm. He swore before lunging at his former foster father. He plowed into Jack, bulldozing him back off his feet.
I crawled away from the fray as they went at each other.
“Shit, Lily, are you okay?” Marcus was there, helping me up.
“I’m okay,” I muttered, twisting around to see the scene.
Beckett had punched Josh out, and he lay motionless on the ground near his feet, right next to his own vomit. Asher stood beside his dirty bike, his jaw clenched. Nikolai watched the fight with interest.
“Do something – shoot him!” I pleaded with him. I pulled away from Marcus and swayed to Nikolai’s side.
He turned a thoughtful expression to me. “Oh, don’t worry, I will. First, though, I need to let your boy work out some issues.”
“He’s getting hurt,” I argued.
“He’s getting vengeance. Believe me, he needs it. Cheapest therapy there is.” He jerked his head to Marcus. “Take the girl away from here.”
“What! No, I can’t leave,” I started, just as Marcus pulled at my arm.
“Cayden can take care of himself,” he pointed out. “And he has backup.”
“I’m not leaving,” I protested, fighting against Marcus’ strong arms.
My eyes were glued to Cayden and Jack. They fought tooth and nail. Cayden was superior in every way, but Jack had a knife, and he kept swiping it menacingly at Cayden, forcing him back.
He lunged in and nearly caught Cayden’s middle. He was only wearing a T-shirt, and the material tore under the blade. My audible gasp drew Cayden’s attention.
He looked toward me, worried at my sound of fright. His concentration was compromised for just a second, but it was enough.
As Cayden’s worried eyes connected with mine, Jack lunged in again and buried the small blade in Cayden’s side.
“Cayden!” I screamed.
Marcus nearly lost control of me.
Nikolai nodded to me, seemingly unconcerned that Cayden had just been stabbed. “Time to go, sweetheart. My wife is invested in your safety, which means so am I. Get out of here, and I’ll take care of your boy for you.”
“Please, I need to stay to make sure he doesn’t get hurt.”
“He’s already hurt, he’s been hurt for a long, long time…But I’m betting he’d like you safe. Take her.” His firm instruction left no room for disagreement.
Marcus tipped me over his shoulder and carried me to his bike, putting me on, despite my protests. I fought him trying to put the helmet on my head.
“You’re distracting him. Do you want him to get more hurt?” Marcus demanded.
His words sank through my panic. He was right. It was my fault he’d been hurt just now. I could see that he’d rallied and was back to fighting Jack, ignoring the cut in his side.
“We have to go. He’ll be fine if we go. Beckett and Asher are here, and that other dude, too,” Marcus reminded me.
“Ms. Sophie’s husband.”
“That’s our art teacher’s husband? Holy shit, remind me never to hit on her again,” Marcus mumbled.
I ignored him, staring at Cayden fighting Jack. Nikolai had settled back, stopping Beckett and Asher from joining the fray. He said he was giving Cayden room to slay his demons. Maybe he was right. I had no idea.
As I stared numbly at the sight, Marcus shoved my helmet on my head and got on the bike.
“Hold on,” he muttered and hauled my arms around his waist.
“We need somewhere to go, somewhere quiet, somewhere with medical stuff,” Marcus was saying. “What about that vet place you work at? Can you get in?”
“What? Yes… Yes, I can,” I sighed, trying to make my brain work again. I wanted to jump off the bike and run back to the fight, but what if I only made it worse?
“Good. Cade’s going to need someone to patch him up, and we can’t afford your dad hearing about it. Let’s go and get ready for it.”
