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Nate shrugged. “Because Georgia asked me not to. She said she’d get in a ton of trouble for sneaking out and lying about everything.” He frowned at his sister. “But she’s been so weird since then, and I don’t think some things that have happened to her were really accidents. I’m scared for her.” He flushed. “I kept quiet because she could get me in trouble for something I did at school, but if she’s in some kind of danger…”
Mason looked at Georgia. “So you blackmailed him?”
Georgia jumped up. “I had to! Don’t you under stand?”
At her shout, Georgia’s mother entered the room, her eyes taking in the agitation of her daughter and her guilty-faced son. “What’s going on?” She looked hard at Mason and Lacey. “When I said you could talk to Georgia, I didn’t mean you could have her in tears.”
Lacey bit her lip and stared at Georgia, ignoring the girl’s mother. “No.” She kept her voice as neutral as possible. “I don’t understand. Could you please explain it to me?”
Mason jumped in with his own question. “What accidents, Georgia?”
Nate answered for his sister. “A car almost ran her off the road a couple of days ago. And then we were at the mall last Saturday with Bethany and someone tried to shove her down the escalator.”
“What?” Georgia’s mother gasped. “Why didn’t you tell me any of this?”
Severely agitated, Georgia looked back and forth between Nate and her mother. Then she let out a groan and sank back onto the chair. “All right,” she finally whispered, “I was there the night of the wreck.” She looked up. “Bethany was there. We wereallthere.”
“Georgia?”
The girl ignored her mother’s horrified whisper and shot a look at her brother so full of agony that Lacey gasped. Then Georgia took a deep breath and said, “We all snuck out and Kayla picked up Bethany first, then came after me.”
“I knew it,” Lacey replied as her heart thudded in her chest. Was she finally going to hear what happened that night?
CHAPTER EIGHT
Mason watched Georgia’s face and wondered at the sheer terror washing over it. What had happened to instill such fear in the poor girl? His stomach lurched. What had happened to Bethany? Would he even have the chance to meet his daughter?
He listened as Georgia drew in a shaky breath and continued. “We were supposed to meet up with a couple of guys from school.” She swiped a hand across her lips and rolled her eyes toward the ceiling. “But we never got there. Bethany and Kayla were in the front. Kayla got a text message and started to answer it, and Bethany yelled at her to quit texting and to pay attention to the road.”
“Texting?” Mason’s gut clenched and anger flowed through him. Would people never learn? Not just teens, but adults, too. Driving and texting was a deadly combination.
“Kayla.” Georgia laughed without humor. “Well, you couldn’t tell her anything. She just kept on answering the text. Bethany grabbed for the phone and Kayla shoved her away. Bethany refused to speak to her while Kayla was texting and the next thing I know, we’re wrapped around a tree.”
She shook her head. “We were all pretty stunned. But I managed to open my door and get out. I remember Bethany screaming Kayla’s name and then—nothing. I think I passed out. When I woke up it couldn’t have much later. Maybe a couple of minutes because Bethany was still trying to get Kayla to wake up.” She swallowed hard and choked out, “Only she wouldn’t.”
Georgia’s mother walked over and took the girl’s hand. Georgia shook her off and swiped at her eyes. “And thenhewas there.”
“Who?” Mason’s adrenaline flowed through his veins as though he were facing down a fugitive who had the upper hand.
“I don’t know. I’ve never seen him before. Or since.”
“What did he do? Did he want to help?”
“I thought so at first and Bethany seemed to know him because she said something like, ‘I’m so glad you’re here,’ but then he grabbed Bethany and tried to get her to come with him. When she wouldn’t leave us behind—” Georgia gulped “—he pulled out a gun.”
“What?” Lacey placed a hand over her mouth and stared wide-eyed at Georgia who nodded and closed her eyes. Georgia’s mother looked ready to pass out. When Georgia opened her eyes, she looked at Lacey. “I’m so sorry. I wanted to tell you but…” She bit her lip.
“But what? You have to tell what you know, Georgia,” the girl’s mother demanded.
Georgia shot her mother an irritated look and continued. “He grabbed her and started dragging her to his car. She was screaming and fighting him, trying to use her karate on him. She got loose from him, but he did something that tripped her. She fell, and he grabbed her again. I found a tree branch that had fallen off and hit him in the head with it. He let go of Bethany and dropped the gun. It went off and a bullet hit him in the leg, I think, because he fell on the ground. Bethany screamed at me to run. I did, but not before I heard him yell at her.”
“What did he yell?” Mason asked.
After another hard swallow, she croaked, “‘This isn’t over! I’ll find you! Go to the cops or tell anyone about this and your mom is dead! You hear me? She’s dead!’”
“He threatened me?” Lacey squeaked. “That’s why Bethany wouldn’t talk to me?”
Georgia gave a slow nod, and Mason’s heart nearly broke for the daughter he’d yet to meet. How scared she must be. He had to find her—desperate to hold her and tell her everything would be all right.