“Willow.” She sounded exasperated. “Tom can take care of himself. He’s the one who dragged us into this mess. We need to look out for ourselves. Do you think, if the situations were reversed, he’d hesitate?”

I paused, considering her words. My brother was all the family I had left. He wasn’t perfect, but no one was. Surely I should at least give him a warning first.

“I’ll call him.” I realized that my hands were still bound. I headed for the kitchen drawer and managed to open it and grip the handle of a pair of scissors. There was no way I could cut my own binds, so I made my way back to Sage. “Hold your hands out.”

She cringed. “Please don’t stab me.”

I bit the tip of my tongue as I concentrated on lining the blade up with the indentation between her wrists. Then I held my breath and snipped. Her hands came free.

“Phew!”

She took the scissors from me and cut the band off my wrists. “There you go.”

I winced as circulation returned to my fingers. I hadn’t even realized it had been blocked.

I rubbed them, then turned on my phone. It buzzed with messages from Tom—all of them angry. I tapped one and hit Call Back then held it to my ear. It rang and rang, but he didn’t answer.

I tried again. Damn, he must have been ignoring my calls because I’d ignored his, but now wasn’t the time for stupid games.

I sent him a text message.

Willow: Call me ASAP. It’s urgent.

We waited. Minutes passed with no reply, and my chest began to ache. Tears of frustration pricked my eyes.

“We have to tell someone,” Sage said gently. “Even if it’s just for the insurance. The door will need replacing, and the landlord is going to be upset. Not to mention, that guy was going to…” She trailed off, but my mind filled in the blank. She had every right to be angry and scared. She’d been threatened with far worse than I had.

“Can we give Tom until tomorrow to get back to us?” I asked. “He might have turned off his phone, and he’ll probably hit the bars after the dance is finished. We can try him again in the morning and if he doesn’t answer, I’ll pay him a visit. He’s probably ignoring me because he’s angry, but what if he’s not? What if they have him?”

I was asking for a lot, and we both knew it. Strange men had kicked down our door and terrorized us. Waiting to report the incident until tomorrow might not look great when the police asked why we hadn’t called immediately. But Sage was my best friend, and she was strong. She’d endured a lot in the past, and I was hoping she could hold out for a while longer now. I’d do nearly anything for her, and I was counting on the fact she felt the same.