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Chapter Fifteen
Ariella
Izzie clung to me. I held her tight, her arms wrapped around my chest as I reluctantly climbed into the back of the van.
While I was willing to risk my life, I wasn’t willing to endanger Izzie.
I knew she was afraid, but I wished she’d have done as I asked and ran. At least she could have saved herself.
The back door, the exit we had been whisked out of, squeaked open.
Hazel and Harper stepped outside.
Shit.
I opened my mouth to scream, to warn them to run back inside and get help.
But it was too late.
“You!” Ben’s eyes narrowed and he snarled at the two of them. “Get in!” he barked at both of them, waving a gun at Harper’s pregnant belly.
Harper held up her hands. “Okay. Okay. Don’t shoot us!” She waddled toward the white van. A look of fear crossed her face when she saw me in the back holding Izzie.
Did he know that Harper, Hazel, and I were friends? What did he want with them?
Hazel hesitated.
“Get in or I’ll shoot the little girl.” Ben whipped the gun around to point it at Izzie.
Hazel huffed under her breath but climbed into the back of the van coming to sit beside me. She rested a hand on my leg as we all sat curled up on the floor.
Skylar climbed in with us before Ben slammed the van door shut.
A moment later, the engine roared to life. Where was he taking us? If he was after me, why involve everyone else?
“What the hell were you thinking?” I shot at Skylar as she sat on the floor across from us. Why was Skylar friends with Ben?
“I didn’t have a choice,” Skylar said, her eyes bent down on the metal floor of the truck.
Harper rested a hand over her pregnant belly. “Doesn’t matter. We’re in this situation now. What are we going to do about it?”
Ben couldn’t hear us from the front seat as he drove.
I tried the door handle, not that I expected it to open. Even if it did, what would we do? Jump out of a moving van? We had a child and a pregnant woman that didn’t seem the best plan.
I pulled out my cell phone from my pocket. Ben clearly wasn’t versed in kidnappings. Thankfully, he hadn’t learned much from the last time he’d abducted me.
“Where is he taking us?” I asked, staring at Skylar.
She sat with her legs crossed, gnawing on her bottom lip.
Great. Skylar wasn’t going to help.
I pulled up Jaxson’s number and tried calling him.
It rang and went to voicemail.
Seriously? What was he doing that was so important? Although he wouldn’t have known we’d been tossed into the back of a van.