As if she were a balloon that had been pricked with a needle, Becca deflated. ‘Still, you don’t have to be such a bitch about it,’ she insisted, though the fight had already gone out of her voice.

‘Well, what would you do? Wait until they’ve come to drag her upstairs and let her figure it out then?’

Afraid if she started screaming, she wouldn’t be able to stop, Rachel pressed her fist so tightly against her lips that her teeth cut into both, trying to concentrate her focus on that pain in an effort to hold herself together. She’d woken to a nightmare, she thought, glancing around the cell as muffled whimpers escaped around the space between her mouth and hand.

A tan arm reached over and rubbed her shoulder in a weak attempt to comfort. Becca.

‘Faye shouldn’t have dropped that on you like that.’ There was no censure in the girl’s voice, just a sad sort of resignation or even acceptance.

Bile burned the back of Rachel’s throat as each of the girls in the room came into focus, each wearing their silk robe as if they were at some kind of high-end slumber party. Shaking her head from side to side, she squeezed her eyes shut. If she didn’t listen, didn’t look, she could pretend this wasn’t happening. Her brother often accused her of ignoring the elephant in the room, and for once, he’d be right.

At the thought of Nick, a flash of something like hope shot through her – he’d be looking for her – but as quickly as it was there, it was gone. Knowing Angela, she’d be oblivious to the fact that Rachel hadn’t returned after the party, so no one would even know she was missing, much less be trying to find her.

Wrapping her arms around her stomach as she tried to hold her pieces together, Rachel glanced over to the girl called Faye. In a purple silk robe that reminded her of royalty sat a stunning girl with milky skin and deep brown eyes. Even in this dimly lit prison, Rachel could see the girl was beyond beautiful – she was exotic.

Faye held her stare, unblinking and unapologetic, until Rachel shot up, moving frantically around the room and into the tiny bathroom area, searching high and low, running her hands up and down the walls and along the floorboards as she searched for… anything – a hole that could be made larger, a weapon to use, anything. She had to get out of here. Now.

It took less than a minute to come to the realization there was no escape, yet she couldn’t stop. She even tested her strength trying to push the metal bars apart, straining until she collapsed to the floor, beating her hands against the cage that imprisoned her and the others.

She had no idea how much time passed before she felt two pairs of arms lift her from the floor and move her back over to the bed. The two girls then sat on either side of her as they offered her… what? Comfort? Friendship? Rachel shivered, and Becca scooted closer in an effort to offer whatever warmth she could.