I didn’t buy it. I wedged my way into the area beside the stage, doing everything in my power to stop myself from rushing it in the middle of the song.
My heartbeat thundered as I watched Taylor sing like the spot in the competition actually belonged to her. As if she had nothing to do with Alex not being there. I glanced to Sophia who’d stepped up beside me. “How much longer?”
“Under a minute.”
I nodded.
“Do you think—”
“She’s fine,” I cut her off. “I just need to get to her.”
It seemed like hours before Taylor stepped off the stage. She only made it two steps before I grabbed her skinny arm and yanked her into the empty hallway. I harnessed every bit of reserve I had not to slam her head against the wall. “Where is she?”
Taylor’s eyes widened. “You think I had something to do with this?” My grip on her arm tightened. Her eyes squeezed in pain, but she shook her head adamantly. “I have no idea where she is.”
Not sure how long I could hold off before really hurting her, I gritted my teeth. “Tell me where she is.”
She shook her head even more vehemently, her eyes frantically flying around. “I swear, Hayden. I don’t know. I had nothing to do with it.”
The way her damp eyes glistened under the bright hallway lights scared the hell out of me. Because if she didn’t know where Alex was, no one did.
ALEX
I sat in the center of a dark room, my hands and legs bound to a wooden chair, my body shaking uncontrollably. The only window was covered by a thick curtain, and I couldn’t even see my lap in the pitch black. I strained to hear outside the room, but with the door closed, I could only hear the faint sound of a distant television. No actual voices.
I couldn’t imagine what Hayden and my aunt thought when I wasn’t at the competition. They had to know something had gone terribly wrong.
And what about Taylor? She got exactly what she’d hoped for. Me gone. She couldn’t have planned it better herself.
A loud crash resonated in another room. Goose bumps shot up my arms and legs. Please don’t let him come in here. Please.
The door swung open. The bright hallway light blasted inside the dark room. Having been in darkness for far too long, my sensitive eyes squeezed shut.
Heavy boots staggered in.
Please God, don’t let him touch me.
I cracked my eyes a pinch.
Remy carried the gun he’d held to my head at my apartment. Before threatening Hayden’s life if I didn’t go with him.
He was still strung out on something, acting all jittery and paranoid like the whacked-out lunatic he was. I didn’t think it was possible for him to be more terrifying. But he was.
He shoved his emaciated face in front of mine. Only a few inches separated us. He lifted the gun and jammed the cold barrel into my temple.
I held my breath, squeezing my eyes—as if it would somehow ease the pain of a bullet.
I knew Remy’s capabilities. Hayden hadn’t come right out and told me Remy killed those two men, but his silence did. Remy was a murderer. A cold-blooded murderer. I doubted he made any late night visits to their graves.
A portentous click filled the silence.
A quiver rocked through me, jolting my body to attention. I squeezed my eyes even tighter as I cringed away from the pressure of the gun. “Please don’t do this,” I whispered.
“What did you say?” he shouted.
Tears leaked out of my closed eyes. My body trembled violently as thoughts of all the things I loved inundated my mind.
Hayden who stole my heart and put it back together. My aunt who took me in when I was a constant reminder of the life she’d never have. Sophia who befriended me when it could have made her a social pariah. All the good in my life. All the things I’d never see again.
Then my parents’ faces flashed before me.
They gave me my strength. My determination. My will to live this existence without them. They made me the woman I’d become. And that woman wouldn’t give up, even with the odds stacked against her. She’d fight. Like she’d been doing every day since they died.
“I didn’t think you’d be stupid enough to speak,” Remy’s voice snapped me back to hell.
Every inch of me trembled as he ran the barrel of the gun down my cheek. “I’ve been wondering why Hayden’s kept you his dirty