Prologue

Melanie

I had no idea how long I had been in the room. The man in black had brought me food once, and though I hadn’t been hungry, I ate. I had been over every inch of the room, trying to find an escape, but it was impossible. Whenever I was thirsty, I drank from the sink in the tiny bathroom. I still had no idea what my fate would be.

As if in answer, the man in black unlocked the door and entered. “Good morning, Doctor.”

Did that mean it was morning? I had no idea. I had slept…I thought. Or had I just relived sessions with Gina in a semi-hypnotic state?

“Today’s your lucky day,” he said. “You’re getting out of here.”

Though the thought should have made me ecstatic, I sat there grimly. The memory of Gina’s session—I’d rather die—had numbed me again. Had I missed a cry for help? There’d been no other indication that she might be suicidal. She’d held down a job, done volunteer work at a local children’s shelter…had been in a lot better shape than Talon Steel had been when he first came to me, and he hadn’t been suicidal. To the contrary, his overwhelming will to survive had completely overshadowed his desire to die.

The man in black interrupted my thoughts by pulling me from the bed and turning me around to face the wall.

He bound my hands behind my back, this time with duct tape. “Can’t have you trying anything funny,” he said.

Anything funny? As if I could. The room held nothing that could be used as a weapon, and this man had already demonstrated that he was much stronger than I was.

“Don’t you want to know where you’re going?”

“Not particularly,” I said.

“Okay. Have it your way.”

We walked out the door, and I realized I was in a house. This little room with no windows had been built in the middle of the basement. He led me up the stairs, through a laundry room. To the left was a kitchen. We went to the right. Into a garage. It was a large garage, big enough for three vehicles. However, only one old car sat there.

“This is a very special car, Dr. Carmichael.”

It was huge, like an old pimp car from a few decades ago. “It doesn’t look that special to me. It looks like a piece of crap.”

He laughed. “Yes, it is that. It belongs to someone you knew, and the funny thing about this car is that it’s an older model. I can start it and then lock it so no one can get in while the motor is running.”

“So?”

And then it hit me.

“No!” I tried pulling away from him.

“So you figured it out?”

He pushed me into the garage, against the car, and then jiggled a set of keys in my face. “You won’t be able to open the door and turn off the ignition without these. And guess what? They’ll be locked inside the car.”

My heartbeat raced as cold fear pulsed through my veins. “Let me go! Let me go!”

“I’m afraid not, Doctor. You’re going to die. In this garage, at the mercy of this car. Just like Gina Cates did.”

Chapter One

Jonah

Still facing Bryce, Larry curled his lips into a sleazy half smile, his blue eyes creeping eerily toward me while his head stayed still. “Keep looking if you want to, kid, but let me give you a piece of advice. The truth is overrated. Once you open the door to that dark room, getting out is damn near impossible.”

My body went cold. Larry was addressing Bryce, but only I knew what he was referring to.

The truth.

The truth—that Bryce’s father was one of the men we were searching for.

The truth was indeed a dark room, and I knew who would have to open that door for Bryce. And it wasn’t Larry.

Larry was still being steadfast in his refusal to name the other two culprits. But now more than ever, I was certain of what I had inferred earlier from Larry. Bryce knew one of the abductors.

And that abductor was his own father.

“Tell me, Uncle,” I said. “You seem to think that Bryce here knows one of the abductors. Why don’t you save him and my brother a lot of heartache and tell us, right now, who it is?”

My demand to Larry wasn’t altruistic, and I knew it. If Larry told Bryce about his father, I wouldn’t have to.

Larry’s expression remained stoic. “I said no such thing.”

“Maybe not in so many words,” I said. “But you certainly implied it.”

“Again, I did no such thing.”

Bryce sat next to me, his face pale, his countenance rigid. Larry’s words had gotten to him.

“Then what is all this bullshit about the truth being a dark room?” I stared into my uncle’s blue eyes.

“Do you really think you can handle the truth?” This time Larry was looking straight at me, not Bryce, whose eyes were focused forward.

“I’ve been forced to handle things no human being should have to handle since I was thirteen years old.” I gritted my teeth. “I can deal with anything you throw my way.” Especially since I knew already what “truth” he was referring to.

Larry continued staring me down. “And your friend here? A new father? You think he can handle the truth?”

Those words catapulted Bryce out of his stupor, the color gradually returning to his face. “I can handle anything you have to dish out.”

“Think long and hard before you go there, kid,” Larry said, turning his gaze to Bryce.

“I can handle it,” Bryce said again through clenched teeth.

“We’re grown men, Uncle, despite the fact that you like calling us kids. Now, do all three of us a favor and tell the goddamned truth. Who were those other two men?”

Larry shook his head, chuckling. He turned to the guard standing next to him. “We’re done here.”

Bryce stood, his hands fisted. “We’re far from done here. You’re going to tell Joe and me who abducted his brother and who killed my cousin. Right now.”

Larry stood as well, his half smile snakelike. “You two don’t hear very well. I’m not going to roll on anyone. That will never change.”

The guard led Larry away.

Bryce’s pallor had turned into ruddiness. He was angry. “Damn,” he said. “We’re never going to know the truth.”

The truth. I already knew part of it. And I knew something else as well.