Chapter 3 - The Runaways
I threw my cell phone out the window and watched it shatter on the wet asphalt.
If Marcus controlled the local police network, I had absolutely no one to trust.
I drove deep into the outskirts of the city, pulling into a rundown motel hidden by tall pine trees.
I paid for a room with cash and locked the heavy wooden door behind us.
Lily sat on the edge of the cheap mattress, hugging her knees to her chest.
I knelt in front of her, gently wiping a smudge of dirt from her cheek.
"How did you find that phone, Lily?" I asked softly.
"Nora kept me locked in the basement of a big white building for a long time," she explained.
My heart broke as I realized my daughter had been living as a prisoner.
"She dropped the phone in the hallway, and I hid it inside my dress," Lily continued.
I hugged her tightly, tears finally spilling from my eyes.
"I am so sorry I was not there to protect you," I whispered into her hair.
Lily pulled back and looked at me with those bright green eyes that belonged to Amelia.
"Mommy said you would come for us," Lily stated matter-of-factly.
I froze entirely.
"Lily, Mommy went to heaven a long time ago," I said, my voice cracking.
The little girl shook her head stubbornly.
"No she did not," Lily insisted.
"I talked to her through the air vent in the basement just yesterday."
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My blood ran completely cold as the weight of her words hit me.
My wife was still alive.
