Valiantly, she tried to control her pain and her tears.
“L-Luke,” she whispered, wiping at her eyes to try and clear them so she could see properly.
“Are you all right? What did he do to you?”
“H-he broke m-my arm,” she sniffled.
She heard him curse under his breath.
“Your h-hand,” she said. “Are you o-okay?”
“It’s fine,” he said.
Although they both knew it wasn't. She could hear the pain in his voice. “How did he g-get you?” she asked, attempting to get her crying under control.
“I left the police station to look for you. I thought Chance might be hiding out at the reptile park just outside the city. I looked but I couldn’t find anything that said he was here. I was going to leave and go back, but he hit me over the head.”
“Did you pass out?” Concentrating on Luke made it easier to distract herself from the crushing pain.
“Yes.”
“You probably have a concussion.”
“I'm fine, Summer. Right now, I'm more worried about you. Do you have any other injuries besides your arm?”
“No. Just my hip hurts from being on my side for so long. And the stitches in my knee popped,” she admitted. Unfortunately, Chance had left the box on the same side it had been on before and the pressure on her hip was unbearable. Only she had no choice but to bear it.
“Just hold on, the cops know it’s Chance. They found proof. Apparently, he has a brain tumor.”
That made sense. Something had to account for the sudden dramatic transformation in his personality. He was trying to fight the changes but failing.
“They’ll find us, Summer. If I could figure out where Chance was then they will too,” Luke assured her.
She said nothing. She didn’t believe that they would be found in time.
“What about Hope?”
“She's here, she’s on the bed. He drugged her again, she's been out for hours.”
“I'm so sorry, Summer,” he said softly. “I'm so sorry I wasn't there to protect you.”
Feeling steady enough to try lifting her head, Summer pressed her face to the small opening in the lid so she could see him. It was so good to see his face. She had thought she would never get to see him again, but at the same time she wished desperately that he wasn't here. Now Chance was going to kill him too. “It’s not your fault.”
He looked over at her, and their eyes met. Luke tried to offer her a smile, but it cracked. “You're so pale. Summer …” he trailed off helplessly and tried to move toward her but winced as the movement pulled on the nail in his hand.
“I'm okay,” she told him, but she was starting to wonder if that was true. “I'm so glad to see you, but I wish you weren’t here, he’s going to kill us all.”
“I wish I could hold you.”
“Me too.”
“They will find us, Summer. They will. Nick and the cops won't stop looking for us. They’ll find us. You have to keep believing that.”
“Okay,” she agreed for his sake only.
She didn’t believe it.
Chance would come back, and he would kill them all.