flew at my face and landed a bell-ringing slap on my cheek. I gasped, and tears misted over my eyes. My face felt like it had just had a run-in with a truck.
I swallowed the tears as best I could, gritting my teeth and ordering myself not to cry over one little slap. I thought about what kind of pain Finn must have gone through during his encounter with the Knights. If he could endure that without complaint, then I could force myself not to give Grace the satisfaction of seeing me cry.
“I’ve been wanting to do that almost from the first moment you opened your mouth,” she growled at me. “And I would be happy to do it again if you have any more cutting remarks you’d like to make.”
I managed to hold off the tears, and I didn’t put my hand against my aching, burning cheek. But I wasn’t anxious for a repeat performance, so I kept quiet.
“Kirk,” Aunt Grace said to her henchman, motioning him toward my mom, who was just starting to come to.
“Keep away from her!” I cried as he bent down toward her, but he ignored me, and with that gun in his hand, I didn’t dare make a move to stop him. All Keane’s fancy moves were useless when the enemy had a weapon—and a hostage.
Kirk grabbed my mom and shoved her onto the bed. She made a puzzled little “Huh?” sound, but she was still really out of it. Kirk tucked his gun in his belt and flipped my mom onto her stomach, then tied her hands behind her back. When he was done, he took the gun out again and put the muzzle against her head.
“You and I are going to take a walk, dear,” Aunt Grace said to me, taking hold of my arm. “Behave yourself, and your mother will come to no harm.” With her other hand, she pulled a cell phone out of the handbag that was slung diagonally across her body. With one hand, she dialed a number.
“Cathy Hathaway’s room, please,” she said pleasantly when someone answered.
The room phone rang, and Kirk picked up the receiver and laid it on the nightstand.
“Can you hear me all right?” Grace asked, and we could all hear her voice buzzing from the room phone. “Perfect!”
She pushed me toward the door, brandishing her cell phone. “If I give the order, or if this connection is cut, Kirk will shoot your mother in the head. Don’t have any illusions that he won’t do as he’s told—he’s a professional. So you’re going to do exactly what I tell you to do at all times. Understand?”
I looked at my mother, lying trussed up and facedown on the bed with a gun to her head. She was absolutely helpless, and this time, I couldn’t blame it on the alcohol. Had she been stone cold sober, she’d still be in the same mess. And it would still be my fault.
“I understand,” I told Aunt Grace through gritted teeth, because I didn’t think a silent nod would satisfy her. There was an almost crazy light in her eyes. I wondered if she was certifiably nuts, or if the power was just going to her head. Either way, it scared the crap out of me.
After one last look at Mom, I opened the door and stepped out into the hallway. Whatever Grace wanted, I was going to have to do it. And hope and pray that she’d let my mom go.
But why should she? an evil little voice whispered in my head. Once she’s got me where she wants me, why wouldn’t she just eliminate the witness? I believed Aunt Grace was crazy enough—or evil enough—to do it. But how could I stop her?
I thought about it frantically as we waited for the elevator, neither of us saying a word. I couldn’t even bear to look at her, much less speak to her.
The worst part was that Ethan was waiting for me in the lobby. I might have hoped he could play my knight in shining armor, but he wouldn’t know my mom was in danger. If he did something heroic to try to save me from Grace, he might very well get my mom killed.
I was shaking and, I’m sure, corpse-white when we stepped off the elevator into the lobby. But though I glanced surreptitiously around for Ethan, hoping to give him some kind of warning to back off, I didn’t see him.