Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 114419 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 572(@200wpm)___ 458(@250wpm)___ 381(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114419 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 572(@200wpm)___ 458(@250wpm)___ 381(@300wpm)
He stopped, looking back and forth between the two of them. “What’s going on here? What do you know that I don’t? And who in the hell is Violet?”
Sienna shot a worried look at Mirabelle, who took a big, shaky breath. “I am,” she said. “My real name is Violet.”
Gavin’s face screwed up with confusion. “Your . . . what?”
Sienna grabbed Mirabelle’s hand. “She’ll tell you, Gavin. But first, we need to explore our surroundings. Mirabelle, you used to work here. Can you think of a way out?”
Mirabelle bit her lip, looking distressed. “Those are all inner rooms without windows,” she said, pointing in the direction opposite the locked door.
Suddenly, the music that had been playing cranked up, a light coming on overhead. A gunshot fired, and plaster exploded somewhere to their left. “Holy fuck!” Gavin yelled, pulling Sienna into him, going low and covering her head, while next to her, Mirabelle ducked down too.
As quickly as the light had blinked on, it blinked off. “One!” was heard shouted from beyond. “Two!”
“Hide,” Mirabelle said, her voice desperate.
“Hide? There’s nowhere to hide.”
“There is. There’s a pile of boxes near the corner,” Mirabelle said. “He’s re-creating that day. That last day. Oh my God.”
“We need to do as she says,” Sienna said, and Gavin must have heard the certainty in her voice because he gave a quick nod. She didn’t know what that last day entailed, but she knew more about Mirabelle and Danny’s past than Gavin did, even if she didn’t understand the entirety of it. Also, they’d been sitting in this room longer than he’d been here, and they’d had a chance to note some of the layout.
Gavin grasped both Sienna’s and his mother’s hands, and they all crouched as they ran for cover. They ducked behind the boxes, barely illuminated in the low light, and then the lights blinked on. A gunshot sounded, hitting the spot where they’d just sat.
Sienna’s pulse spiked, her heart pounding as Gavin’s breath gusted against her neck. Danny was really shooting at them.
Three pairs of eyes met in the near dark as they knelt behind the cardboard barrier. “Tell me what we’re dealing with here, Mom. I want answers,” Gavin said, his voice hushed, even though the music was playing loudly enough to cover any noise they made. “I think it’s important. This isn’t a game.” He paused, and Sienna sensed his momentary indecision. “Also, Argus . . . Argus is—”
“I know, Gavin,” Mirabelle choked. “I went to his house. I know.”
Oh. Sienna brought her hands to her mouth. “No,” she breathed. Argus. Oh no. Gavin put his arm around her shoulders, and she leaned into him, trying desperately to hold back tears. She couldn’t cry now, though. Not now. Because if she started crying, she feared she wouldn’t stop, and she’d be useless as far as figuring a way out of this locked building. Come on, Sienna. Now’s the time to use your training. Pull forth your inner professional. And so she allowed herself only a brief moment of comfort in Gavin’s arms before pulling away.
“Who is Danny, Mom?” Gavin asked.
“He’s my son,” Mirabelle said.
“Your . . . son?”
“Yes. Your older brother. Your father abducted him from me when he was only seven years old.” The pain etched into her features was so profound that Sienna’s hand itched to reach for her, to offer comfort, but she didn’t. She didn’t want to risk halting Mirabelle’s will to tell her story to Gavin, her second-born son.
The lights blinked off again. “Three!” came loudly from beyond. “Four!”
Mirabelle screamed as Gavin hissed an expletive. We need to keep moving. “There’s something leaning against the wall about a hundred feet to our left,” Sienna said. “I think we can all fit behind it.”
Again, they ran, then ducked behind what appeared to be large sections of drywall that had been torn down but not carried away. The lights came on, a gunshot sounding and then what seemed to be the noise of the boxes they’d hid behind toppling. Gavin swore.
“Why didn’t you ever tell me this? Why didn’t you ever mention Danny?”
Mirabelle released a breath, her shoulders lowering. They were standing so close Sienna could feel Mirabelle trembling. And she appeared smaller somehow. Breakable. “I was afraid. Ashamed. At first, I couldn’t talk about it at all, and you were too young to understand anyway. Too young to carry the burden of having to look over your shoulder. And so I did it for you. For us. And then . . .” She gave a small, listless shrug, her lips tipping in a sad smile. “And then it was too late. You had a life, such a bright future. What good would it have done to ask you to carry my heartache?”
He gave his head a small shake, his features still set in confusion, and Sienna could see him working to see the picture she was painting. The one he’d never known he was a part of until this very moment. “I might have been able to help,” he said.