Page 31

Quinn

I wake up gasping in the middle of the night, stuck in a familiar pool of sweat.

My night shirt sticks to my back and my arms, but that’s not the problem.

Slapping the other side of my bed… it’s empty.

Silver was snoring next to me an hour ago.

It was the most pleasant and comforting sound in the entire world.

We were both buzzed on wine.

He was sleeping like a baby.

Where is he?

I squint to look for any signs of light. Maybe he just went to the bathroom or something. Exhaling a long breath, I calm myself down.

Yeah, he’ll be back any second now.

As I convince myself of the thought, a pang strikes my gut, which makes me fling the sheets off and curl off the bed. It’s my father’s abduction all over again. I’m disbelieving anything could go wrong. But I’m wiser now, right?

“Silver?” I call to the other room while putting on the lamp.

Touching his side of the bed… it’s cold. He’s been gone for longer than I thought. No way he’s just going to the bathroom.

Panic fills my lungs. I rush down the stairs to my father. Leaving him locked all day and night was screwed up of me, but I’m furious with him for discarding the man who saved us.

“Oh no. Oh no...” I rush down the first flight of stairs, then scramble through the hall, the kitchen, all the way toward the back entrance where the basement door is.

I nearly crumple over with weakness when I see the door unlocked and the seam open.

“Dad?” I rip open the door and shout down the stairs. “ Dad! ”

It’s clear as day—he’s gone too. No cars outside. No nothing.

“Oh my God.” I’m ripping at my hair, at a loss.

He said he’d delay… he promised me.

The tears come all over again. Last night was beautiful. Our date was fun and light, the sex was tantalizing, and he told me he loved me after kissing me on the forehead before bed.

I shake my head, reliving the traumatic flood of thoughts telling me I’ll never see someone I love again.

Screw off. I won’t have it.

Scrambling through the house, I search for one of the burner phones. The drawers are empty. No duffle bag or anything. How in God’s name did he clean out the house of everything but food without waking me?

After ten minutes of pure panic, I run back up the steps so I can ransack the bedrooms. There has to be a phone around here somewhere.

And when I flick on the lights to our room, I see it.

An envelope standing against the lamp on his side of the bed dresser.

I didn’t know it was possible to feel this hurt.

My heart is in the pit of my belly, and it won’t come back up.

My fingers shake as they reach for the envelope. It reads, “ Kid. ”

Tearing it open, I can barely focus enough to comprehend the handwriting:

Quinn,

The moment I laid eyes on you, I knew you were someone special. The way you looked at me with the fire of a thousand suns and shouted down the entire block until I’d hear you… I knew I needed you in my life.

At first, I thought it was lust. No one gets to have an ass like that along with the breasts of a goddess, the face of an angel, and the personality of the devil.

It was too much to ignore. I mean, what the hell was I going to do when the honeymoon was over?

We’re twenty years apart. A whole fucking lifetime, but I was wrong.

You showed me I was wrong.

I wondered every day why I was smiling, and it wasn’t because of how sexy you are.

It was because we’re oil and vinegar, and somehow it still works.

I laugh at your insane personality, and want to protect you from this dark cloud that’s following you.

And when I took you on the set of Chilling Desires , I realized for sure, I can have fun with you anywhere.

And that’s something I’ve been missing in my life forever.

I know I said I never wanted a family again, and it’s true there’s a void in my heart that will never be filled, but what I didn’t know is that my heart isn’t completely dead.

You revived it. If circumstances were different, I would’ve loved you for many years to come.

But it turns out my time is up, and I’ve given you all I had to give.

My last thoughts will be of you.

Thank you for an amazing last night.

I love you.

-Silver

My tears wet the page. I already lost it by the second paragraph. The mere idea that he might’ve already been executed tightens my chest into a strangling knot. I’m gasping, being choked by an invisible reaper. How could he do this to me?

Wait a second… I know his plan. Dad goes to the underground card game to deliver a message to Uncle F and Nikolaj, and Silver poses as one of the crooked cops by my old home. Maybe I can—oh what the fuck am I thinking?

Pulling at my hair again, I pace all around the bedroom.

What am I going to do, run in screaming to tell Silver I love him? Yeah, that’ll make the bratva put down their weapons.

After collapsing to my knees and sobbing out a river of pain, I’m drawn to the letter again.

I read it, and read it, and read it… thinking of him writing before he left in the middle of the night.

That bastard knew wine puts me sleeping on my ass like a corpse.

He used my own mistake of ordering it to his advantage.

Shit!

I pick myself up and remember who I am. The daughter of Captain Patrick Dall, the one who should’ve been a forensics specialist.

Think, Quinn. What can I do to stop this?

You can’t lose Silver. You can’t.

Running back down the stairs, I grab my jacket, stuff my bare feet into my boots, and bear the cold. There are tire marks over the slush in the driveway, but he’s been driving the business car lately. What about the rental he was supposed to return? It’s got to be around here somewhere.

I use the faint moonlight and street lamps to guide my way. This part of Jersey is a bit more secluded than where I grew up, so it’s going to be hard to call for help, but with a little luck…

I squint when I see it—the beat-up Ford SUV he rented a week ago. It’s the only car a half mile in either direction. Except I don’t know how to hot wire. I’m not a criminal and I have no phone to teach me.

Shutting my eyes and cursing to myself, I wrack my brain.

Think, Quinn. Think.

When a lightbulb hits me, I rush in the other direction—towards the shed off to the side. All of Silver’s stage houses have them. It’s unlocked, and when I click on the light, I grab the first sturdy piece of equipment I can find—a crowbar.

Running back up to the gate, I know I’m crazy, but so is he for going through with his plan. I bang on the gates when I discover he’s locked me in from the inside. He probably gave my dad instructions to pick me up when all is over. This one’s taller than the one in my neighborhood.

But if I don’t act, Silver’s going to die… If he didn’t get himself killed already.

I have to try.

Tossing the crowbar through the slit of the gate, I jump for the top, banging my shin twice while struggling to pull myself over. Look, I’m a fit woman, but doing a pull-up is hard . That’s why in gym class, they used to make the ladies hang there while the guys showed off their skill.

Screw… that!

My face scrunches as I tense all my muscles to pull myself over.

You’re not… the only…

I pull hard until I can’t feel my arms.

One with a… plan!

I throw my arm over the top and whip my legs so I’m teetering over the gate. Thank God it’s smooth, otherwise I would’ve picketed myself ten times by now.

Thwmp!

I fall awkwardly over the side, mostly on my feet.

No time. I grab the crowbar and stare at the window of the beat-up Ford. This better work.