Page 92 of Rescued Dreams

Della turned to look at the truck, which was still smoldering, though the rest of rescue squad were dealing with it. “There’s something seriously not right about this.”

Ridge spotted Kane sprinting toward them, Maria right behind him. He nearly collapsed in relief, seeing his family rushing to help them. With their skills and the firefighters’ knowledge of the area, they’d locate her. Theywould.Before it was too late.

“We’ll figure it out, Della.” He promised her as much as he promised himself.

He prayed it happened fast, because the longer she was missing, the greater the risk that Ridge would lose her. The woman who’d come to mean so much to him that he didn’t want to live without her.

Lord, where is she?

THIRTY-ONE

Amelia’s world inverted. Her face smacked against his back, against the material of a T-shirt beside the buckle of the suspenders Benson Fire Department used to hold up turnout coats. She wriggled and tried to get off, her mind a violent haze of lightning. Nothing but panic, sharp edges, and the bottomless fear of knowing she was trapped and there was nothing she could do to save herself.

The truck.

He stomped up steps and inside, which made her realize the bone-chilling cold had been because they were outside and she didn’t have a jacket on. Her head swam, and her stomach threatened to deposit the last thing she’d eaten on the floor.

He moved down hallways, through rooms, until her mind spun so much her eyes started to roll back in her head.

Then he bent his knees and flipped her onto her back. A clang reverberated around her, and Amelia found herself surrounded by bars.

A cage barely big enough for her to turn around in, or sit up.

The ceiling stretched high above her, almost like a ballroom. Lights glared down, filling the room with a yellow glow that should’ve been soothing but cut knives through her eyes. She wanted to squeeze them shut but had to know.

Amelia lifted her head off the floor of the cage and looked at him.

Nicholas stared down at her.

She heard someone whimper, and it wasn’t her. A glance to her right showed her another cage with Cherry inside. Her blonde hair matted and ruffled, her face pale, and her eyes wide—bright with tears.

Amelia whipped her head back around to him. “Let her go. She has nothing to do with this.” Her voice was barely audible.

Nicholas sneered down at her. “You think you have a say here? In any of this?” He waved his arm.

She followed the sweep of it. More cages to her left. Who knew how many? Amelia’s breath shuddered. They might be empty right now. But who was he planning to have occupy them?

“What do you want?”

His lips curled up into a terrible grin, but he said nothing. He just walked out through an open doorway, out of sight.

Amelia let out a breath. She twisted around and spotted a thin pad under her, a mat. This had to be a cage for a big dog. She couldn’t stretch out in it. She tucked her knees up to her chest and tried to sit, leaning against the back of the cage.

“Cherry?” She cleared her throat. “Cherry, look at me.”

The other woman stared at the empty doorway.

“Talk to me. What’s going on?”

Cherry turned to her then, an angry expression on her face. “This is all your fault.”

“Tell me what’s happening.” She curled her fingers through the metal wire enclosing her. Nothing in her life had ever been this bad.

She had no idea what would happen next and no idea what she would be subjected to.

But Cherry was pregnant. There wasn’t much she and her baby would be able to survive unscathed. Amelia had to take the punishment he intended for Cherry, to save the mother and child from harm.

And maybe that was the point.