CHAPTER 65

SARAH

My hands trembled as I gripped the steering wheel. The address Emma sent – a jumble of numbers and a street name I'd never heard of – was leading me further and further away from the city.

Emma. Just the name sent a shiver down my spine. Not because she was scary, not exactly. But because of what she was capable of. What she threatened to do to Caro if I didn't follow her instructions to the letter.

"Come alone, Sarah," her text message had read, the words burning themselves into my memory.

"And don't even think about calling the police. You know what's at stake."

The memory of Raya's kidnapping, years ago, flashed in my mind. The same feeling of helplessness, the same knot of fear twisting in my gut. But this time, it was my own daughter on the line.

My beat-up Honda coughed its way to a stop in front of the address Emma had sent. No doubt about it, this was the place. Except "place" didn't quite cover it. It was more like a fortress. A ten-foot-tall iron gate blocked t