‘Damn it, calm the eff down, would you! Christ Almighty and Mother Mary, Peter, and Joseph. You’re safe. I promise. I’m Tony, remember. This is my hunting cabin. I have to get some supplies and regroup. You’ll be safe here while I go search for Emerson. Don’t you want me to find her?’

It was Emerson’s name that penetrated the shield of terror, and just like that, her struggles ceased.

‘If I release you, are you going to try to bolt again, or can I trust you?’

‘You can trust me.’

‘Okay, listen. Are you listening?’ His tone indicated he didn’t necessarily trust her. Instead of speaking, she nodded against his shoulder. ‘Okay. Wiggle your left hand.’ She did, freezing when she touched the hilt of a knife. ‘I’m going to set you back down on the ground, and then I want you to take that knife from the sheath, okay? Slowly now.’

With the knife squeezed tightly between both hands, she centered it in front of her chest with the pointy side up, watching as Tony suspended both arms in the air and backed up. ‘That’s for you to hold onto. Now, would I give you a lethal weapon to use against me if I was going to harm you?’

Panting and out of breath, she croaked out a hoarse, ‘No.’

‘Okay. I’m going to put my arms down now, so don’t go stabbing me.’

Addis didn’t smile. She was exhausted and tired of being scared and she wanted Emerson to be safe and she wanted to go home and she wanted her Aunt Grace and she wanted her mom and dad to not be slaughtered and she wanted to rewind the clock so that none of this had ever happened and she wanted to wake up and call her best friend and tell her about this insane nightmare she’d had and she wanted to giggle about it as they pretended they would make a movie out of it. But they didn’t need to make a movie because this was real life.

Her tears blurred out Tony’s movements, and then the knife clattered onto a table as she greeted the floor with her knees and covered her face, sobs coursing through her trembling body before Tony lifted her up and placed her back on the sofa where he left her huddled while he moved about the cabin.

For a guilt-ridden moment, Addis wanted to change her mind, to beg him to take her home, to haul her off to safety. But she knew she couldn’t do that. No, she wouldn’t. Because more than anything, she wanted to find Emerson. She’d never forgive herself if she survived and Em didn’t.