Where am I? Where is this place? There’s no windows, just this bed and just this one light.
I struggle to free my hands and realize I’m tied up with the same rope Nolan used. His words come back to me. If you ever get stuck the rope stretches. Just wriggle around until it loosens. It might take a while, but you’re not stuck.
I struggle some more and realize he was right. The rope is stretchy. I’m not stuck. And I’m not going to let this happen either. I get one burning wrist through one loop and the whole rope becomes loose. My hands are flying behind my back as my legs are tied tighter.
And then the black ski mask faces me. I know before he takes off the mask who he is.
Richard.
He kneels on the bed and then straddles my waist, gripping my breasts firmly. “Is this how you like it, Ivy? Is this why you never let me fuck you? I’m not abusive enough?” His smile, mixed in with that sick cologne, makes my stomach turn. “Well, if this is what you need, I’m happy to accommodate you.”
I reach for the bedside lamp and swing it against his head. He goes reeling to the side, falling off the bed, and I’m already trying to untie the knots at my ankles. I mess up so many times as Richard comes to his senses on the floor next to the bed. My heart is racing so fast. My breathing is nothing but panic.
I get one leg free just as he stands back up and lunges for me. I kick him in the chest with the heel of my foot and he goes down again, this time shaking his head like I stunned him. Blood is pouring down his temple as I scramble back to the other side of the bed. But I’m still prisoner. I’m held in place by the one length of rope. I scream when he gets to his feet again. “Nolan!” I scream. “Nolan!” I don’t know where I’m at, or if he’s even close by. But I know that there is no way I can get my foot untied before Richard gets to me.
“He’s coming,” I say, still frantically trying to get the last knot out of the rope. “He’s coming. And… and… his friend is coming too. The bad one. You know that bad one. Mr. Mysterious,” I spit.
“You’re gonna let them all fuck you, aren’t you, Ivy? You stupid little whore.” He slaps my face so hard, I almost black out. “This is what you’re been holding out for? A gang rape from the most infamous rapists in the country? Well”—he laughs—“I’m sorry to disappoint you with just little old me tonight. But I’m sure you’ll still love it.”
From some far off place I hear Nolan’s voice. Richard stops everything. Goes completely still.
“Ivy!” Nolan is yelling. “Ivy, Ivy, Ivy!”
“Here!” I scream.
And then Richard’s hand is over my mouth and the cold blade of a knife is pressed to my throat.
“Scream nice and loud for your boyfriend, Ivy. Nice and loud now.”
Chapter Forty-Five - Nolan
“Nolan!”
Ivy is screaming. It’s faint, like she’s far away. But she is here. Where? I’ve checked every room. Where?
“Ivy!” I yell. “Pax,” I yell again. I start searching the basement again. Where the fuck can she be? All the doors to each room are open. She’s not in any of them. “Pax!” I yell again. And then I take out my phone and text him.
Basement. Now.
“Ivy!” I yell.
I hear her respond. “Here!”
But where? Why the fuck can’t I find her?
“Think, Nolan. Think, think, think.”
Boots crash down the stairs and Pax comes rushing into the basement, gun drawn, pointing it at every open door and every dark corner before he stops and looks at me. “Where? Who the hell is messing with us?”
“I can hear her.” We stop and listen, but there’s no more calling from Ivy. “Fuck!” I grab my hair and shake my head. I know what that silence means. “I’ve checked every fucking room. It’s like she’s stuck inside the walls or—wait. I know where she is. The safe room.”
“What safe room?”
“The house was built with a panic room, Pax. It’s on the far side of the media room.”
I take off running, Pax following me, and enter the media room. The movie is still playing without sound. Some slasher movie. A bigger-than-life girl is screaming her silent scream as we walk past and I open a door that appears to lead to a mechanical room. But when we step around the giant furnace, there’s another door.
“What’s the code?” Pax demands. “We need the fucking code, Nolan.”
I know the code. I know the code. I know the code.
I know I know the code. It’s been the same since I was a little kid and we first bought this house.
You are a target, Nolan.
My father’s words in my head.
I make you a target. So if anything ever happens, you run in here and you lock yourself inside.
“What’s the fucking code?” Pax yells.
A scream comes from inside. Clear as fucking day because it’s on the little speaker near the keypad used for two-way communication.
A broken, crackling voice comes out of the speaker next. “The code was changed tonight, Mr. Romantic. You don’t know the code.”
I take the butt of my gun and smash the cameras. One above the door, one behind me, one to the left.
Pax catches on quickly and finds more, each one is smashed.
I pull him close to me and whisper, “There’s a master code. And I do know it. No one else on this fucking planet knows it, because I was the one who set it. So whoever this is, they got a code from one of two people. Claudette or my father.”
“Your bitch of a sister is behind this, I know it. I’m gonna fucking kill her when I get inside there.”
“She’s not here, Pax. She sent someone else to do this. And we can make plans for that later. Right now we’ve only got one chance to save Ivy. We bust in and kill whoever it is on the other side of that door.”
Chapter Forty-Six - Ivy