Page 85 of Deathtoll

When she reached the bottom step and her breath caught—that quick, shocked intake of air—the way she froze on that last step, that fed him.

“Emma! Are you all right?”

He was close enough behind her to smell her fear, the sharp scent of sweat. He didn’t stop her as she ran to her sister.

For a long time, almost a minute, the sisters paid attention to nothing else but their embrace. Then Kate looked around, taking in their surroundings at last before her gaze snapped to his. “What is this place?”

“A workshop. Woodwork, metalwork. All these tools…” Asael gestured dramatically because he liked drama. Life was better with flair. No need to be basic. “Enough to outfit three torture chambers, aren’t they?”

Kate paled as she rose. “Please let my sister go. You have me.”

Really.“Don’t disappoint me now, Kate. You couldn’t have thought I would go through with the trade.”

She stepped in front of her sister and had her hands out to the side in a sweet if desperate gesture, like a mama bird protecting her nest. “But it’s me you want.”

“That’s the thing about wants and needs, isn’t it? No matter what you have, you always want a little more. Think you need a little more. Life is not a board game where the rules forever stay the same.”

He didn’t duct-tape her mouth shut. He’d even removed her sister’s gag earlier. He knew how he wanted to end them. It wouldn’t do if they suffocated too early.

“Over to that pipe.” He pointed. “Sit down. Hands behind your back.”

In a minute, he had them tied up side by side, then he walked upstairs, satisfied with himself.

He’d used Emma as bait to catch Kate. And now he would use Kate as bait to catch Murph.

He liked it when a plan came together.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Kate

“You’re an idiot,” was the first thing Emma said once Kate told her that she’d come voluntarily. “And I don’t mean a village idiot. I mean on a global scale. Why? Oh my God. Are you out of your freaking mind? I’m so mad at you right now.”

Asael had gone upstairs, leaving them tied to water pipes, side by side.

Kate wanted nothing more than to hug her sister again, but that would have to wait. “He’s alone. We’re together. We’re going to escape.”

“We’re going to die.”

“Then we die together.” Kate’s gaze dropped to the bruise under Emma’s eye. “Are you all right?”

“Of course I’m not all right. And now you’re not all right either. I don’t want you to die for me! I don’t want you to risk yourself, and I don’t want you to risk the baby. Are you crazy? Why would you do this?”

Kate was so focused on scanning their windowless prison and staring at a workbench set up like an operating table—sharp tools laid out on the sides, a human-size empty space in the middle—that a second passed before her sister’s words caught up with her. “I’m not pregnant. I told you I wasn’t.”

“Really? You’re sticking with that?” The anger in Emma’s voice mixed with disappointment. “I’m your freaking sister. Just tell me already.”

“I’m not pregnant!” They didn’t have time for nonsense. “How are we even arguing about this right now? Don’t we have better things to do? We need to figure out how we’re going to escape. Listen…” She trailed off as the look on her sister’s face morphed from anger to stunned disbelief.

Then Emma shook her head and looked like she might cry. “You didn’t know. Seriously? You seriously didn’t know?”

“There’s nothing to know.” Beyond the prepped workbench under the neon lights there were others, cluttered with tools. If only Kate could get to them. She scanned the walls and ceiling. No cameras that she could see. At least that one thing was in their favor. Asael wasn’t watching them.

Emma bumped Kate’s shoulder with her own to force Kate to look at her. “I thought you just weren’t telling me because you wanted to tell Murph first, and you and Murph are on the outs right now.”

What?“We need to get out of here. I swear, I’m not pregnant. Focus! Did you see the building from the outside when he brought you in? I was in the back of a van, blindfolded. I didn’t see anything. Do you know where we are?”

“Have you gotten your period?”