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“Max must have hit the panic button inside. It seals the door until three club members enter their codes,” Nina says.

“Or Max unlocks it for us.” Reaper pounds on the door. “Let us in!”

“You’ll scare him,” I warn.

“You two are fucked if I don’t get you in there,” Reaper says with a snarl. “Open the goddamn door!”

An intercom buzzes. I didn’t notice it before because it’s so well hidden.

“My dad’s here,” Max’s voice quivers. “He’s going to get me if I open the door.”

“No. He won’t,” Reaper says through clenched teeth. “He’s still outside. You have to let Nina and Julia in right now, so they can be safe, too.”

“Open the door, honey,” Nina says in a strained but soft tone. She glances at me with fear in her eyes.

“I can’t,” Max whispers. “He’s already in the house.”

“He must see his dad on the monitors,” Nina mutters.

“If he’s inside, we need to get out of here.” I don’t dare raise my voice above a whisper, and neither does Reaper.

“We can go out the back. Follow me.” Reaper seems to glide as he moves soundlessly across the room. His stealth never ceases to shock me, and I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it.

Reaper peeks into the hall. “Clear.”

We follow him out, hurrying toward the back of the house. I don’t know where the other exits are, but I trust Reaper to protect us. He may be scary as hell, but he’s part of Underground Vengeance, and they’ve proven they protect their own. Max and I are safe as long as we do what they tell us. These men know how to stay alive. If they were all at Blackstone’s house as kids and survived, then they’re more prepared than anyone to face someone like the sheriff.

“Max!” the sheriff calls from the living room. “Daddy’s here to take you home.”

His voice sends chills down my spine. We’re about to enter Nina’s bedroom when a gunshot whizzes past our heads.

“Get down!” Reaper crouches and spins, pulling a pistol from his cut and firing back. “Go!”

As we run into her room, she motions for me to go into her walk-in closet. After shoving several dresses out of the way, she pulls a ring up from the carpet, revealing a trap door. A set of flashlights hang on the wall at the top of the stairs. I grab one before descending into the darkness. Nina’s right behind me.

As soon as she closes the door and slides a barricade across it to prevent anyone from following us, we flick on our lights and climb down the rest of the stairs. Freezing air sits stagnant in the passageway. Water drips down the side of one wall. Damp earth squishes beneath our feet. Just outside the circle of illumination from our flashlights, an animal scurries away. When I walk right into a cobweb, I stifle a cry.

“I guess I should have dusted more often,” Nina murmurs wryly.

“I’m just glad there was another way out,” I whisper. “Do you think Reaper’s okay?”

“He can take care of himself. He’s better off now that he doesn’t have to watch over us, too. I hope he kills that bastard. The sheriff broke into my house, so it would be self-defense. No question about it.”

“Hopefully, Reaper can either capture or kill him. I just want Max’s nightmare to be over.”

We continue slinking along the passageway in silence. The tunnel curves so much that when I look back, I can’t see where it started. I’m guessing we’re about a hundred yards from the house when I see another ladder ahead.

“Where does it lead?” I ask.

“Into the forest behind the house. We should be safe as long as we stay hidden.”

“In here or out there?”

“For now, let’s stay here until we’ve got a good reason to leave. The sheriff can’t know about this place because it’s not on the house plans. My old man dug it out by hand after the place was built. We figured it would come in handy at some point, and it has.”

“When was the last time you used it?” I whisper.

“A few years ago, when we were smuggling a high-profile woman out to the first waypoint in the underground railroad. Her husband was hunting around the property, and we couldn’t wait any longer to move her.”