CHAPTER ONE
Emily
I biked down the street as fast as I could. I grinned as I felt the surge of adrenaline run through me as I weaved around cars, in and out of different lanes. A few people honked at me, but I didn’t care. If you don’t want me on the road, then make the city get bike lanes. It wasn’t like I could bike on the sidewalk where children and animals could run in front of my bike at any given moment. The last time I tried biking on the sidewalk, I ended up crashing my bike to avoid hitting a little girl who had run out at the last second. Besides, everything I was doing was technically legal. I had already checked city laws.
Despite the danger, I wouldn’t give up being a bike courier for the world. It gave me a huge rush of adrenaline and happiness and it made me feel like I was on an adventure every day. It reminded me that I was a daredevil in my childhood–and that I used to be in love with a daredevil.
No. Not going to think about that now.
The only downside to being a bike courier was that it sometimes gave me a little too much time to think. If I had too much time to think, my thoughts inevitably wandered to my childhood. To my sister. To Bryce. And the last thing I wanted to do was dwell on painful memories. Not when I had finally scraped a semi-comfortable life together.
I parked my bike at the office building where my package was to be delivered. I went inside and smiled at the secretary as she signed for it. I was ready to leave and get my next assignment when my phone rang. It was an unknown number but I recognized the area code. Newbury.
I frowned. It was probably a scam artist with a spoofed number. I had cut off ties to that town years ago, after all. I didn’t know anyone who lived there. Not anymore.
But something told me to answer it anyway.
I answered the phone but didn’t say anything. I just listened.
There was a beat of silence before I heard a male voice. “Emily?”
The voice was a deep timbre that sent a shiver down my spine. It sounded vaguely familiar, but there was only one person from that town that I was on good terms with. And I hadn’t spoken to him in over a decade. Not since he got escorted out of school in handcuffs.
I went outside and put a hand on my bike handle. Just touching my bike gave me comfort, as if it meant escape from a phone call. “May I ask who’s calling?”
“It’s Bryce.”
I swallowed. It couldn’t be. Why would he be calling me after all these years? Why would he even remember me? I was just a nerdy little girl who entertained him when we were younger. Sure, he was my best friend. But that didn’t mean he ever saw me that way. And even if he did, that was years ago. “How did you get my number?”
“I looked it up online. You should really mark all over your social media accounts private.”
The closest thing I had to a social media account was a professional profile on job searching websites. I hadn’t even updated them for several years, not since I got the job as a bike courier. I didn’t dare have any other social media accounts. If I did, my parents might track me down and that was the last thing I wanted.
“Emily? Are you there?”
I realized I had been silent for several seconds. I wanted to believe it was Bryce on the other end, I really did. But everyone knew Bryce and I were friends. What if the Demon biker gang finally hunted me down? What if they were pissed that I got away even after they took my sister? “I’m here,” I said. “I need to know it’s really you.”
“When we were twelve, I gave you a necklace. It was just a plastic charm and a piece of string, but your entire face lit up when I gave it to you. Do you remember that?”
I felt warm inside with the memory. I remembered it perfectly. It was one of the few good memories I had from Newbury. More than that, only Bryce would know it. My parents would have killed me and Bryce if they knew he gave me a necklace, so I never told anyone. But I wore it under my shirt every day for years. “Bryce,” I breathed.
“It’s good to hear your voice, Emily,”
“How are you doing?”
“That’s what I want to talk to you about,” he said. “Something has come up. Something about your sister.”
I swallowed. My sister Julie went missing years ago. When people go missing in Newbury, it only meant one thing: the Demon biker gang had kidnapped them. I had accepted a long time ago that she was probably dead. “What do you mean? Did you find her body?”
“No. There’s a chance she might still be alive. It’s a long story and I think you need to see this in person. I’m sorry, Emily. I need you to come back to Newbury.”
My stomach twisted at the thought of that. “I don’t know,” I said. “I swore I would never come back.”
“I never would have asked if I didn’t think there was a chance of finding her.”
I knew that to be true. Bryce wanted me to get out of Newbury more than anyone. He wouldn’t be asking me to come back unless it was necessary. “I’ll be there in two days,” I said.