A light went on in the lower level. Leigh jumped behind a tree and watched beneath the deck as a pair of long shadows appeared in the rectangle of light on the concrete. A sliding glass door opened.

Vanessa stepped out, and Leigh’s breath caught. She turned around, arguing with someone, and Leigh wasn’t surprised when Mason stepped out behind her. He jabbed Vanessa in the shoulder, and she stumbled forward.

Leigh’s blood turned cold. He had a gun.

Vanessa said something over her shoulder as he prodded her forward toward the narrow wooden steps leading down to the boathouse.

Leigh’s throat went dry. She took her phone out, and her fingers trembled as she texted Brandon.

She—

Snick.

Leigh spun around as a big arm hooked around her neck.

*   *   *

Where, damn it?” Brandon looked at Antonio.

“I don’t know. It looks like”—he squinted at the map on his phone—“we should have passed it by now.”

Brandon sped down the narrow road, glancing around for any sign of a gate or a driveway. The road dipped down, then curved, and he barely touched the brakes.

“There! Up ahead there’s a gate.” Antonio braced a hand against the dashboard as Brandon tapped the brakes. “You just passed it.”

Brand slowed, swerving to avoid a car on the shoulder.

Leigh’s Mustang.

“Fuck.” Brandon pulled over and jammed to a stop, throwing his truck into park.

“That’s Leigh, right?” Antonio looked over his shoulder. “Car’s empty.”

Brandon checked the phone in his lap. Nothing from her.

Im here where RU? he texted quickly.

“Fuck,” he said again, cutting the engine and getting out. He looked up and down the dark road.

“Do you think she went in there?” Antonio asked.

“Yes.”

Brandon shoved his way through thorns and branches to the game fence. He took the mini-flashlight from his pocket and studied the eight-foot barrier. She wouldn’t have climbed it. Which meant she’d probably walked right up to the gate and tried to get in.

“The gate has a security camera,” Antonio said, walking around the back of the pickup.

“I saw.”

Brandon strode back toward the gate, hugging the fence line. What the hell was she thinking coming out here and jumping in the middle of a confrontation?

Antonio had finally reached Kate and learned that her daughter had come home from dance practice today without incident—which reinforced Brandon’s belief that Mason had drummed up a threat against the girl as a way to manipulate Vanessa into contacting him.

“Brandon, look.”

He turned around. Antonio was kneeling about twenty yards away, shining his flashlight at the base of the fence.

A sour ball of dread filled Brandon’s stomach as he saw the curl of wire mesh.

Antonio stood up. “You think she—”

“Yes.” Brandon crouched down and squeezed through the opening, snagging his shirt on the wire.

“Dude. Maybe we should—”