But the hatred… that was real.

I hated her with everything I had because it was the only emotion I had to give. I realized, even then, I was giving her everything.

She was the bane of my existence, and at the very same, the reason I cared to exist.

I wanted her like the rest of the world. Like me.

Her innocence.

Her bravery.

Her selflessness.

I wanted it all gone.

She. Just. Wouldn’t. Fucking. Break.

I left the bathroom only when I knew she was gone. I wouldn’t stop to consider that maybe she was right. I am a coward.

Before heading back to my class, I took a detour to her class. I peeked inside the window of the door—when I didn’t see her, my first reaction was anger.

I immediately began to tear the school apart looking for her, hoping she had gone to hide, but when I couldn’t find her, anger transformed into panic.

I retraced my steps and burst into her classroom, startling the teacher, who immediately began to scold me in rapid French.

“Where is she?”

Willow shot up from her seat, tears immediately forming. She must have sensed something was wrong, too. “She went to the bathroom, but she didn’t come back. What happened?”

“Mr. Masters!” the teacher yelled in outrage.

“How long did she need to be gone for you to fucking notice?”

I walked over to her desk and grabbed up her bag. I quickly searched through it but didn’t find her cell phone, which meant she at least had it on her.

As I stormed out with Willow on my heels, I dialed the detectives.

“Is he out?” I demanded as soon as Detective Wilson answered.

“Excuse me?”

“Arthur. Is he fucking out?”

“No. He’s not out. What is this about?”

“Lake is gone.”

“Gone? What do you mean gone?”

“She’s fucking missing, dipshit!”

I ran down the last time I had seen her, and when he assured me they were on it, I hung up. I wasn’t about to wait. I would paint this fucking town red if I have to until I found her.

* * *

I pulled Sheldon, Dash, and Quentin out of class, ignoring the shit I got for it. None of them had seen Lake. It had only been a small amount of time since I had last seen her, but I was grasping at straws. By the time I was done grilling everyone she knew, the entire school was aware of her missing, which also meant her aunt would be called soon.

“You have a real track record for making friends. First, it was Trevor, Mario, and then Arthur… “Who else could there be?” Sheldon asked.

Trevor.

No. Trevor was dead.

But his father wasn’t.

“Fuck!”

I was running for the parking lot with Dash and Quentin hot on my heels.

“Keiran! What the fuck, man? What is it?”

“Officer Reynolds. It has to be him. He’s got her.”

“Shit!” They both cursed.

I was spinning tires out of the school parking lot in a matter of seconds. I had only one idea of where to look, and I prayed he would be stupid enough to take her there.

Less than ten minutes and I was pulling into his neighborhood. I parked two houses down and cut the engine.

“Should I call the cops?” Dash asked.

“No.” I pulled out my gun from under the seat. “He’s mine.” I stepped out of my ride, ready to go to war if need be when Quentin stopped me with a hand on my arm.

“Wait.”

“What?” I growled. Every second I hesitated, Lake could have been suffering.

“When we get in there, we don’t know what we will find.”

He was warning me.

“I know.”

“So what’s the plan? There might not be just him. What do we do?”

I didn’t have to think about it. If he had her, he made a grave mistake.

“Kill them all.”

I didn’t wait for their approval before I pulled away, making my way silently and quickly to the house. If I had to, I would do this alone.

I made quick work of the lock while listening for signs of life on the other side. It was quiet, which only made my desperation increase. When the lock popped, I opened the door slowly and looked around. Quentin and Dash spread out, and we checked every room upstairs and down with no sign of her.

My fist dented the wall when I realized I had wasted valuable time looking in the wrong place.

“Keiran?” Dash called out. “You might want to come look at this.”

The sound of his voice came from the back door where he was peering out the window.

“What is it?” I snapped. I wasn’t willing to waste any more time.

“Do you recall Trevor’s father having a shed?”

I took a look and was out the door, sprinting in the next second. All reason had left, and all I could think about was getting her back. Whatever it took.

The shed was large enough to be a miniature house, which meant it was large enough to fit more than two people inside. I forced myself to slow down and assess the situation carefully. Lake was in there. My instincts told me she was. If I alerted him to my presence, he would kill her.

A low sound caught my attention, and we immediately stopped to listen. There were two voices speaking.

“I can’t wait to try you out, little girl. Thanks to your boyfriend sticking his nose where it didn’t belong, I haven’t had any ass in almost two years.”

“Paul, just get on with it. This isn’t for pleasure.”

My blood boiled when I recognized the voices coming from the other side.

Officer Reynolds and Mrs. Risdell.

Neither one of them would make it out of this alive.

“Shut up or you’ll be next,” he threatened.

“Could you please just get her undressed?”

It was all I needed to hear.

I shot the lock off the door and kicked it in, taking everyone in the room by surprise. Mrs. Risdell began screaming, and Reynolds scrambled off the bed where he had been on top of Lake. As soon as he righted himself, he reached for his gun, but I’d already crossed the room and had the muzzle pressing against his head.

“Move an inch and you die.” Of course, it was a lie. He was going to die anyway, but give a man in a similar situation an illusion that he will live, and he will be more cooperative.

“Keiran,” Dash whispered near my ear. “Help her. I got him.”

I looked up and first saw that Quentin had Mrs. Risdell’s face down on the ground with his boot on her back. She was still screaming, so I signaled him to shut her up before handing the gun to Dash and turning to Lake. She was watching me with wide eyes that glistened with tears.

I undid her gag, and when I touched her handcuffs, I turned back to Reynolds. “Where is the key?”

“I’m not going to tell you, boy.”

“Fine.” I took the gun back from my Dash, aimed, and then shot out his kneecap. Bone crunched and blood splattered as he howled in what I was sure was agonizing pain.

Dash held him while I searched him for the key instead of asking him again. With the key in hand, I freed Lake and quickly checked her over before gathering her in my arms. Her silence scared me most of all.

With the gun back in Dash’s hands, I carried her out of the shed and away from the last two people who would ever get the chance to harm her.

“Talk to me, Lake. Please.” I sunk down to the ground with her in my lap. “What did he do to you?”

If I hadn’t been holding her face between my hands, I would have missed the small shake of her head. “You came,” she whispered low as if afraid if she spoke any louder, I would disappear.

“You scared me, baby.” I was content to sit there, holding her, but Reynolds screams only grew louder, so I sat her on the ground and handed her my cell phone. “Call for help.”

It was the only instruction I gave her before disappearing inside. My gloves were burning a hole in my back pocket, so I pulled them on but not before shaking them tauntingly at Mrs. Risdell. “Remember these?”

It had the desired effect. Her eyes widened, and she began sobbing and babbling incoherently. I pulled them on slowly and motioned to Dash and Quentin.