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“We go in, we get her, we leave,” I say.
Before I can press him, he puts the car in park, exhales slowly, and turns to me. “You stay close to me,” he says.
I nod.
The bass from the music vibrates through my chest as we step onto the massive stone pathway leading up to the mansion. Warm lights spill out from the windows, illuminating clusters of people lounging near the entrance, smoking, drinking, laughing.
None of them seem worried. None of them look like my best friend just called me in a panic, begging me to come.
Alex walks a step ahead of me, his eyes sweeping the crowd. He’s tense, his shoulders tight beneath his hoodie, and I can tell he doesn’t like this any more than I do. We push through the front doors, and the party swallows us whole.
The house is even more extravagant inside than I expected—high ceilings, crystal chandeliers, sleek marble floors that look like they’ve never seen a scuff mark. Everything about it screams money. And the people inside match the decor—expensive, polished, dangerous.
This is something else.
A fresh wave of unease rolls over me as I scan the crowd. Where is she?
Then, suddenly?—
“Leah!”
I whip around just as Maggie stumbles out of the crowd, a drink in her hand and a wide grin on her face.
My stomach plummets.
She’s smiling. Laughing. Not in distress. Not in danger.
My hands clench into fists.
“You made it!” she squeals, grabbing my arm. “I knew you just needed the right push!”
Everything inside me turns ice-cold.
The phone call. The panic in her voice. The desperation.
All of it—a joke.
“You—” I inhale sharply, anger rising like a tidal wave. “Are you serious right now?”
Maggie blinks at me, clearly tipsy. “Oh, come on. You never go out! I had to get you here somehow.”
I stare at her, my pulse still hammering from the drive, from the fear, from the way I thought?—
I thought something horrible had happened to her.
And she’s standing here, laughing.
Like this is funny.
Alex steps closer, his jaw tight as he looks between us. I don’t have to see his face to know he’s pissed too.
“You think this is funny?” I ask, my voice dangerously low.
Maggie’s smile falters slightly. “I mean…it was kinda funny?—”
I don’t let her finish.
I turn on my heel and push through the crowd, heading straight for the exit.