Page 132 of The Kingpin's Call Girl

He opens his door.

I step back. This is all wrong. “You know what? I’ll arrange to contact her myself. I don’t need a ride.” I will not be getting in a car with him. No chance. Plus, I have to warn Luka.

“You can’t visit without an official in.”

I stand firm. “I’m good.”

He comes to me. I back up. “I’ll go on my own.” He grabs my arm and takes my phone before I feel a prick like a needle jab into my neck.

“Hey!”

He turns me around, and I feel cuffs being slipped over my wrists. My injured one screams out in pain. I try to call out, but my voice is suddenly as feeble as the rest of me. I feel like I’m in one of those dreams where you try to fight back but your limbs won’t cooperate.

The sidewalk goes tilted. People are avoiding us and walking around us. I can hear him reciting my Miranda rights before he shoves me into the back of his car.

Chapter Forty-Seven

EDIE

A familiar voice calls my name. “Edie! Oh my God, Edie! Wake up!”

I don’t know if it’s an hour later or a day later that I become conscious. I’m lying sideways on a cold, hard floor with something soft under my head, like a sweater, and all I know is that I just want to sleep through whatever nightmare this is.

Gentle hands shake my shoulder frantically. “Edie! Please! Wake up!”

I feel like I’m in a dream, like we’re back in school, and Mary’s bugging me to get up. “Sto-op,” I complain, my head pounding.

Gentle fingers pat my cheek, then more urgently. “Edie, Edie, Edie! Oh God, what did he do to you?”

I force my eyes open through the fog. A face swims into view, one I’ve been searching for desperately. For a moment, I think I’m hallucinating.

“Mary?” My voice breaks. My heart nearly stops. “Mary?!”

“Oh, thank goodness!” Mary’s voice cracks with emotion. She’s crying, her eyes red-rimmed and wild. “I thought you were—I didn’t know if you’d?—”

“Is it really you?” I struggle against the handcuffs digging painfully into my wrists, desperate to touch her, to make sure she’s real. “How are you here? Where is here?”

“That psycho cop brought you in unconscious. I’ve been going out of my mind!” She’s trembling, her hands fluttering over me like she’s afraid I might shatter. “What the hell is happening? Why areyouhere? You’re the one who’s supposed to be safe!”

Blinking, I pull myself up to sit against the wall, my head spinning. Dim light filters through a filthy window at the far end of the place, beyond the bars that surround us. The reality of our situation crashes down on me.

“We’re in a cage,” I whisper, the horror of it sinking in. “Both of us.”

“That jackass’s basement,” she says, her voice cracking as she pulls me into an awkward hug with my hands still cuffed. “I’ve been here for weeks, but you—oh, Edie.Whyare you here?”

“I’ve been looking for you everywhere,” I manage, tears streaming down my face. “I was so scared you were dead.”

“I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry—” Her voice breaks into a sob.

“Stop with the sorrys. Are you okay?” I ask, scanning her for injuries. She looks thinner and her skin is sallow, but she’s whole.

She laughs bitterly, wiping tears from her cheeks. “Aside from being trapped in this hellhole for five weeks? Aside from watching that creep walk in dragging my practically lifeless little sister? I thought he killed you!”

“Mary.” I wish I could hug her back properly. “I was so scared I’d never see you again.”

“How did you get mixed up in this?” Her eyes are wide with terror. “He showed me pictures of you with those men?—”

“Looking for you. It’s a long story, but I’ve been searching everywhere.”