Page 126 of Denial
“She’s cute,” the one holding my shoulders says. Then they hand me over to gravity, and I crash into the solid ground.
My hip and shoulder scream in pain. Tiny shards of pebbles bite into my bare skin, and I cry out behind the makeshift gag. I roll onto my back, blinking at the swirling gray sky as I fight to keep a tenuous hold on my consciousness.
“Get the bitch inside,” one of the men snarls before his footsteps crunching over the gravel fade away.
The other man casts a shadow over me. Memories come flooding back. Snapshots of the park. Being dragged to the car. Nellie screaming over and over the entire drive to wherever we are, her cries for Mamma shattering my heart and stopping my breath in my lungs.
“Where is she?” I try to demand, but the fabric in my mouth muffles the sound.
Shoving myself onto hands and knees, I lift, intending to crawl back into the car to find her.
A sharp kick into my ribs sends me sprawling. My chin smashes into the asphalt, a dull throb blooming from the contact.
Jake looms over me, his unwelcome face familiar. He taps the black glasses on his face. “That’s payback for your boyfriend.”
Rolling over, I clutch at my side.
Nellie.
Her name ricochets through my head. Her face swims behind my eyelids. Her long, wavy brown hair. Her piercing blue eyes, so much like her father’s.
Sutton.
My god.
Sutton. He’s got to be out of his mind with worry for his daughter. He’s going to hate me for getting her caught up in this. I have to find her. To protect her. No matter the cost.
Clutching my tender ribs, I roll over again, getting back on my hands and knees.
“We’re going to have so much fun, Alice.” Jake grins that same creepy smile he gave me in the tunnel while his hand covered Nellie’s mouth, glistening with her tears running over the back.
As if I weigh nothing, his fingers dig into my bicep, and he drags me to my feet. I frantically search the car's windows, but the tint makes it impossible to see inside.
“Like I told you in the first place, all you need to do is talk, and this can be over.”
I flit my gaze from the car to the squat building in front of us, with a sagging roof, a torn canopy, and boarded windows. The Closed sign on the front is tilted and weather-worn, nearly bleached white by the sun.
An old retail strip, maybe? Someone’s hard work lost to a declining population in this area.
Whatever it is, I know I don’t want to go in there. Not without Nellie.
I twist hard, driving the point of my elbow into Jake’s kidney. The momentary shock is enough for me to take off in a sprint. I circle the car, looking for a clear view, and rip open the driver’s side door.
With shaking fingers, I claw the gag from my mouth.
“Nellie!”
The car is only filled with silence.
I move to the back, looking for a latch or anything that might be concealing her within the seat.
A hand twists in the back of my shirt, the fabric jerked tight against my throat. My arms pinwheel as I stumble and fall to my back. Jake pins me to the gravel.
“Do not make this harder than it has to be,” he snaps, breathing hard now.
Shoving my arms between his chest and mine, I rake my fingernails across the sides of his neck. He swears viciously, climbing off and hauling me upright.
“You’re going to regret touching me,” I hiss, blinking back the images of Sutton’s furious face that surface.
