She knew how he’d do it, too.

She was never getting out of here. She was only pretending it could happen, forcing herself to remember the details of the layout of the building to keep her mind off of what was really worrying her.

It’d been a while since she’d felt the baby move.

“Where are you?” she whispered to her child as she rubbed her belly in concern, and felt a single tear roll back into her hair.

Boston, MA—Sunday, 4:30 p.m. EST

Lara Talbot had to reach for a chair. She’d been so excited, so happy, for a change. Although Brianne wasn’t married, as Lara would prefer, she had a good job as a hospital administrator, made fantastic money and would be thirty-eight in two months—plenty old enough to be able to care for a child on her own. Several of Lara’s more religious friends had expressed their disapproval that Brianne would have a baby out of wedlock, but Lara had decided not to let her younger daughter’s single status ruin the enjoyment of having her first grandchild.

She’d had no idea she’d have much bigger things to worry about.…

“Not this again,” she said as Amarok’s words pierced through the euphoria she’d been feeling on the drive home from the hospital like a pin to a balloon.

She knew the sudden pain and fear in her voice had caught her husband’s attention when Grant, who’d been hanging the car keys on a hook, whipped his head around to look at her.

“What is it, honey?” he asked, striding over to where she’d sagged onto a barstool at the granite-topped island in their kitchen. “It’s not the baby, is it? Brianne and little Caden are okay.…”

“I can’t do this again,” she said simply, and handed the phone to him, at which point she headed straight for her bedroom and the anti-anxiety pills she kept in her nightstand. After Evelyn had been kidnapped the first time, they’d become a staple in her life—until the past eight months, when everything seemed as though it was going to be okay at last.

She sensed that Grant didn’t know whether to follow her as he accepted her mobile, but she was glad he didn’t. She heard him say, “Hello? Amarok?” just as she stepped into her bedroom and locked the door.

Hilltop, AK—Sunday, 12:40 p.m. AKDT

That call had been every bit as difficult as Amarok had anticipated. He didn’t even have the chance to explain the entire situation to Lara before she disappeared and Grant came on the line.

Grant had listened quietly, hadn’t railed or accused Amarok of not being diligent enough. He’d barely said a word, which had left Amarok trying to fill the silence—something he’d done awkwardly, at best. He’d promised Grant he was doing all he could to find Evelyn and heard himself saying all the same empty platitudes others had been saying to him—that she was a strong woman, that she’d weathered difficult situations before and would get through this, too, that the baby would be fine.