Page 69

SIXTY-EIGHT

KNOTTY PINE HILL

Claire tried to get away from him, but he wrapped his arm around her neck, choking her.

The sound of footsteps pounding the first floor above made her freeze.

“Police,” a woman called. “Are you here, Claire?”

“Yes,” she cried, although as he squeezed her neck, her voice died in her throat.

She struggled to loosen his grip on her, but he dug his fingers deeper into her throat, cutting off any sound.

His menacing voice filled her ears. “Make one sound and I’ll snap your neck.”

Tears blurred her eyes and panic seized her, but she forced herself to go still.

“No one’s going to help you, Claire. Joel is dead and you’re mine now.”

A scream lodged in her throat. Her body shook with silent sobs. Sobs of sorrow for the twins. For Joel. Sobs of fear for herself and what he’d planned for the others.

They hadn’t meant to hurt anyone. It was a case of women bonding over shared losses and dreams. Of lifting up other women. Supporting them. Turning friends into family.

The footsteps grew louder. The police were here which meant they might have found her daughters.

Grief engulfed her. But she didn’t dare move. Instead, he kept his hold on her, taunted her by drawing lines down her neck with the knife, scratching the surface until blood trickled down her throat.

Seconds rolled into minutes. The footsteps continued upstairs. Doors slammed. A piece of furniture was being moved, scraping across the floor.

What were they doing?

Then it hit her. Searching the place.

Hope budded but died quickly as he whispered in her ear, “They’ll never find you.”

Despair threatened to overwhelm her, but she was a fighter and she silently vowed to do whatever she had to in order to survive.

She might have lost Joel and her little girls. But there were others who needed her. Her friends. The other children.

She had to fight and stay alive in order to save them.