street near the edge of the Ohio River. The lights of Kentucky glowed softly in the distance, brighter because of the lack of streetlights in this deserted area. Reed drove slowly down the dark road, thick trees lining both sides of the private drive. He came to an overgrown entrance to what had once been a driveway and turned in, his tires crunching over the weeds and gravel.
When he came to a tall, iron gate, he stopped, stepping from his car and inspecting the large padlock, attached to a long chain wound through the bars, both rusted with age. He wouldn’t be getting through this way.
Reed turned on the flashlight on his phone, pointing it down at the ground, his heart galloping as he saw fresh tire tracks in the dirt.
Someone had been here very recently.
CHAPTER FORTY
Liza came to slowly, the sound of pinging water echoing around her, the smell of dankness and rot filling her nose. Her head felt too heavy for her neck. Images came to her . . . a man entering the room where she’d been reading—Axel, she knew that now. Reed had mentioned his name, and she could see him in the once chubby lines of his older face. The stark fear as he’d rushed her, the painful prick to her neck. Liza cracked her eyes open.
An ancient wood-slatted wall met her gaze, damp with moisture, and weathered by age, and when she looked around, she saw she was in a large open cavern, where five people were sitting in metal chairs, their hands chained behind their backs. Liza’s gaze moved slowly between them, all appearing to be drugged like her, their heads lolling forward: The two people from the photographs Reed had shown her, and . . . She felt her mouth go slack. “Arryn?” she gasped but Arryn didn’t look up.
Icy panic filled Liza’s veins. Unconscious, just unconscious. Axel had brought them all here. What was this? And what was he going to do? Why?
She turned her head slowly to see a fifth person, this one strung up in the corner next to her, his hands chained over his head, feet bound in rope and barely touching the floor. Dizziness rolled through her.
Charles Hartsman.
Who else could it be? A small sound left Liza’s throat as she took in the infamous serial killer who looked like an older version of Reed, blood trickling from a bullet wound in his shoulder down his naked chest. Liza’s gaze moved from the bloody wound to the word tattooed above his heart in large, black script: Caleb.
Caleb?
Who is Caleb?
Charles lifted his head and stared directly at Liza, his dark eyes piercing even in the dimly lit space, its only source of illumination a kerosene lamp hung from a hook in the wall. Her heart constricted. She couldn’t look at him. She couldn’t look at a man who was the physical embodiment of Reed Davies and hate him. It felt like hating a part of Reed, though she knew that was irrational. She knew it, but still, she dared not meet his eyes. Liza squeezed them shut against the man’s gaze as he attempted to move his hands within the chain, but there was no give. Her own muscles felt like they’d been pumped full of lead but she attempted to wiggle her feet, get some blood flowing to her extremities.
Oh God, oh God. Get me out of here.
Liza’s head ached as she tried to work through this situation with drugs still pumping through her system, making her slow, tired, yet somehow still wired with terror.
There was a short stairwell behind her, leading somewhere even lower. Somewhere so dark she couldn’t see the room beyond. In the opposite corner, Arryn stirred, moaning softly. A door near Arryn opened and Axel entered. Liza saw a stairwell behind him that must lead above ground. She heard the soft patter of rain right before he pushed the door closed, latching it and stepping forward slowly, out of the darkness like a monster appearing from the gloom. He was tall, at least six foot five. Muscular. Strong. A man who could easily carry a body up several flights of stairs. A man who could toss someone, or several someones, over the edge of a building. Her brother. He turned toward them, his eyes moving from one to the other until he came to Liza.
“Hello, Angel,” he said, smiling sweetly at her. She shivered. “It’s so nice to see you.” He looked at the