I was not a whore and refused to tolerate being called one. President or not, he received the same response as the handful of other people who used that word to refer to me. “I prefer bitch,” I told him and raised my open palm as if I were going to slap him right across his handsome face. “Nah, you’re not worth it,” I sneered.
He maintained his mask of indifference, though I could sense his growing anger. “I’ll be back in a few hours, and you better be long gone.”
“What if I’m not?” I prodded.
He glared into my eyes with gorgeous blue ones, just like Bronze’s. “One way or another, you’re leaving Devil Springs today.” With that, he turned on his heel and left me standing there speechless without a backward glance.
A strange noise caught my attention. It took me a few seconds to realize it was Frankie pressing buttons on the phone. Pulling it from my pocket, I held it to my ear and ran for the stairs. “Holy shit! Holy shit! Holy shit!”
“Is he gone?” she demanded.
“I don’t know. I ran when he walked away from me,” I panted.
“Ran where? Where’re you going? What’s happening?”
“To my room!”
“Sloane!”
“I just need a minute to think.”
“No, you don’t. You need to pack your shit and get out of there.”
“I can’t! Not until I find my sister!” I screamed and felt my eyes filling with tears. “I want to meet her!”
“For fuck’s sake. You can go back another time, but right now, you need to leave. Put me on speakerphone and start packing while I see what I can dig up.”
“Okay,” I breathed and tapped the speaker button. “I’m in my room, and all the locks are locked.”
Proper packing went out the window. I stuffed and crammed everything I brought into the closest bag or suitcase. Frankie shouted something I couldn’t make out while I was gathering my toiletries. “What was that?” I asked. “I was in the bathroom and couldn’t hear you.”
Frankie’s next words paired with her calm and even tone sent chills through my body. “Sloane, you need to leave. Get your purse, laptop, and whatever can’t be left behind. I’ll arrange to have what’s left delivered to my PO box. Stay on the phone with me until you’re safely in your car. If anything, and I mean anything, happens between now and you leaving, I’m calling your father.”
She didn’t have to say anything else. Frankie would never call my dad unless it was a dire situation. “I’m walking out the door right now.”
“Good. Stay calm, at least on the outside. You’re okay, and we want to keep you that way,” she encouraged.
When I reached my car, I threw everything into the backseat and locked the doors the second I was inside. “Okay, I made it to my car. Now, tell me what the fuck is going on!”
“Are you driving?”
“Tell me!”
“Keep the source in mind, but I’m looking at a comment posted on the local news’s social media page that says the bodies of an apparent murder-suicide have been identified as Heidi and Paige Coleman.”
“What?” I practically screamed.
“Heidi and Paige are dead.”
I was still on the phone with Frankie but lost in my thoughts while she was searching for more information when I remembered something. The other address Bronze wrote down was where Paige and Heidi used to live, or that’s what he’d said. I wasn’t sure what to believe anymore, and figured it wouldn’t hurt anything to drive by the house so I could see for myself. Taking a deep breath, I pulled onto the street, hoping I wasn’t making a foolish mistake.
I slowly rolled by the house and surveyed the area. There was a For Rent sign in the front yard, and it looked like the house was still unoccupied.
“What are you doing?” Frankie blurted out of nowhere, scaring the crap out of me.
“Driving.”
“What else?”
“How do you do that?” I asked and honestly wanted to know.
“I know you too well. You’re probably doing something I would be doing, which is always something we shouldn’t be doing.”
“Okay, so I told you one of the addresses Bronze wrote down was for their old house,” I started. “And he mentioned something about a few boxes still being there.”
“Have you lost your damn mind?”
“It might be the only chance I ever have of knowing the truth! Especially if they’re really dead. I can’t live the rest of my life not knowing!”