“I’ll go with you,” Liam offers, placing a hand on my back. “You can’t drive like this. I’ll take you.”
He pushes me along, then we’re both out of the house and climbing into his truck. I’m on my phone searching and the nearest meeting location is just five minutes away, so we try that one first.
“Fuck, the parking lot is nearly empty. I don’t see his car,” I say, sticking my head out the window. Just then two people come out of the exit door, and Liam drives over.
“Hi, excuse me. Do you know if a Sophie Corrigan attends your grief meetings?”
“Never heard of her,” the woman says.
“Is anyone else inside?” I ask.
“No.”
“Okay, thanks.”
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
Before I search on my phone again, I finally get a response from one of her sisters.
Lennon: St. Luke’s Church over on fifth.
I tell Liam and yell at him to book it. It takes us almost ten minutes to get over there thanks to traffic, and by the time we arrive, the parking lot is completely empty. It’s seven thirty, and the meeting ended a half hour ago.
Jumping out of the truck and slamming the door behind me, I begin screaming her name. “Sophie!” My voice is deep and loud, a sound I’ve never heard come from my mouth before. I yell three more times before Liam comes to me and tells me to get back into the truck. I don’t listen, but instead lean up against it, hoping for a damn miracle that she comes back to me.
I call her again, over and over and over, pleading for her to call me.
“This can’t be happening…” I whisper-shriek to Liam, struggling to catch my breath. What the hell am I gonna do? Call the cops? Call my dad? Tell Jerad to put a warrant out for his arrest?
If he has my girlfriend, and she can’t respond to my messages and calls, does that qualify as kidnapping?
Holy fuck, I can’t breathe.
Right before I have a full-on panic attack, my phone vibrates.
Sophie: An eye for an eye, Killer. Murdered someone I loved, now I’m going to kill someone you love. Payback’s a bitch, asshole.
Attached is a picture of my sweet Sophie tied to a chair with duct tape across her mouth, completely unconscious as she sits helplessly in a chair.
“Motherfucker! I’m going to kill him!” I scream.
Liam looks at the screen over my shoulder and gasps. I type out a response, not able to stop shaking.
Mason: If you fucking touch her, I’m going to kill you. And it won’t be classified as self-defense this time. Let her go, Dalton, or I swear to God, this won’t end well for you.
Sophie: Tsk, tsk, tsk. We’re not playing by your rules, Mason. This time…justice WILL be served. It’s gonna be either you or her. And if you call the police, your father, or any of your little bitch friends, she’ll be dead before you even find her. Your choice.