Chapter One
Lacey hid behind a stack of wood as she listened to the people in the deserted building come closer. She debated whether she should run to another floor or just hunker down and pray they wouldn’t find her. Listening to the footsteps get louder, she decided they were too close, and the opportunity for escape had passed.
She wiped her shaking, dirty, sweaty hands on her equally filthy jeans. God, she’d never been this dirty, scared, or miserable in her life, but she couldn't think of an alternative. She couldn’t go to the police because her mother was well-known and respected.
She had no other relatives or even friends. Her mother had made sure of that.
As the days passed, she became weaker from hunger and lack of sleep and less hopeful she would be able to come up with a solution.
The thought of going back home made bile climb her throat every time. She’d rather be dead than go with the man her mother wanted to give her to.
She crouched back behind the pile of wood as the footsteps got closer.
****
“Daddy, I’m going to look out the window,” Kinley said.
“All right, don’t walk off, though,” Eli said.
“I won’t.” She walked over to the huge window and looked down at the street. There was so much activity with the different cars and people rushing down sidewalks, it almost made her dizzy.
A movement in her peripheral vision had her turning her head toward a stack of construction supplies. She squinted, and when she didn’t see anything, she turned back to the window. It wasn’t a minute later that she saw a flash of blue behind the stack.
She was about to call out for her daddy when she saw the girl. The girl looked at her with fear-filled eyes and shook her head frantically.
Kinley looked over her shoulder and couldn’t see Eli but could hear him in another room, so she crept over to her girl.
“Hi.”
The girl looked around before she murmured, “Hi.”
“What are you doing here?” Kinley made sure she whispered so the men didn’t hear them.
“Hiding.”
“Why?” Kinley asked.
“Please don’t tell them I’m here. They’ll give me back to my mother.”
“Is she a bad person?”
The girl nodded.
“What’s your name?”
“Lacey.”
“My name is Kinley. Can I be your friend?”
“Yes. I’d like that. I’ve never had a friend.”
Kinley’s eyes widened. “Ever?”
Lacey shook her head then shrank back when the men started their way. “Please don’t tell,” she begged.
Kinley shook her head. “No, I won’t. I’ll bring you things tomorrow.”
“You would do that?”
“Yes, and then you can tell me the whole story, and we’ll see what we can do. Now hide.”
Kinley walked back over to the window. Lacey was one of the prettiest women she’d ever seen. If she weren’t so small, Kinley knew she could easily be a model. She gasped when an arm came around her waist.
“Hey, love, it’s just me,” Eli said. “What’s got you so jumpy?”
“I just think this floor is scary. There are so many sounds.”