Page 235 of Safe Word

I crouched beside it, every instinct on fire, screaming at me to leave it the hell alone.

But curiosity was a bitch.

Brilliant. Walk straight into the trap, why don’t you?

But nonetheless, my stupid, stubborn hands moved, fingers peeling back the lid before my brain could override the impulse.

Regret hit fast.

My stomach lurched. Acid burned my throat.

Nestled on a cushion of blood-red velvet sat a severed finger, thick, calloused and unmistakably male. A golden ring gleamed under the dim porch light, the surface carved with an intricate Pegasus rearing high.

Something about it rang familiar.

The world seemed to contract around me.

I finally decided to wake my uncle, but barely had time to move before a sickly-sweet scent flooded my nose.

A hand clamped over my mouth, the cloth damp and reeking of chemicals. My strength drained fast – knees buckling, ears ringing, vision narrowing, the edges of the world curling inwards.

Heat ghosted against my ear, a voice smooth as silk, dark as death.

‘Nosy,’ Travis murmured, his breath a mock caress against my skin. ‘Touching things that don’t belong to you.’

The world tilted.

Spun.

Folded in on itself until nothing remained.

FORTY-ONE

He wasn’t coming. Now I was sure something had happened to Vinnie.

My knee bounced restlessly as I sat trapped in silence that seemed too loud, watching Matt pace in front of a bookshelf. Sweat coated my palms as I observed him drag his fingers over the worn spines as if searching for calm in the texture.

‘It’s been too long,’ I growled, launching myself from the chair. An hour. An entire fucking hour.

He trailed me to the car, his jaw set, glowering at his phone the second he dropped into the seat beside me. I didn’t start the engine right away. A wrenching sense of foreboding had sunk its claws into my gut and refused to let go.

‘What?’ I snapped.

He looked at me quickly before turning back to the screen.

‘I turned Paula’s GPS on when we were in the kitchen.’

My grip on the steering wheel tightened. The thought that he’d done something that might upset her made my chest clench, but reason clawed its way through. Given everything, I should’ve done it myself.

‘And?’ I prompted when he said nothing for a while.

‘Could be a glitch in the app, but—’ he muttered, breath thin, thumbs hammering the screen. ‘She hasn’t moved from one spot in a while.’

Cold dread seeped into my chest. ‘She’s sleeping.’

He was already shaking his head before the words even left my mouth.

‘She went out. Look.’ He angled the phone towards me, showing a blinking red pin pulsing like a warning flare. I squinted at it while keeping half my focus on the road.