41

CHASE

I throw up a prayer to fate that I’m not too late when I arrive at the cabin, fueled by adrenaline and fear as I tumble out of my truck and race for the front door.

Please don’t let her die.

If she dies here, I may as well die too, because I won’t survive losing her.

My gaze catches on the number 12 carved crudely into the post beside the front door, the numbers practically mocking me as that chant starts in my brain again.

‘Cabin 12. Come alone or she dies.’

Well asshole, I came alone, so she’d better be alive…

My heart’s in my throat as I wrap my hand around the knob and push, the door swinging open to reveal the interior of the cabin. As soon as it comes into view, the click of a gun’s hammer steals my breath and my eyes collide with Vienna’s. She’s bound to a chair, just as she was in the picture, and there’s a man standing behind her, hovering over her with a filthy hand wound in her hair yanking her head back. He’s got a gun in his other hand, the barrel pressed tig