She wanted to be afraid. The terror was in her somewhere, but she couldn't think over each torturous jolt and her need to get back to her daughter.

They made it to the crumbling stairs, and Alexa grabbed for the railing. "I can do it now."

Renzo didn't listen. Instead, he reached his hand under her dress and cupped the thigh of her uninjured leg, raising it up, causing her to be unsteadier with each step he took. Alexa had no choice but to cling to his waist as she struggled to keep her ankle from connecting with the concrete, but her efforts proved useless. Her tender foot hit once, twice, three times. Tears coursed down her face, and she cried out as he stopped at the threshold.

Renzo chuckled. "Very theatrical. We'll have to get you on tape-maybe a little sister-on-sister. You can moan and groan then, too."

Alexa sucked in several ragged breaths, fighting the need to weep, but the unbearable pain was too much.

Abby rushed out the door and pushed at Renzo. "I'll do it. I'll help my sister."

He shoved Abby back in the house, sending her crashing to the solid wood floor. "Don't ruin my fun."

Abby righted herself as quickly as she'd fallen. Her pale, mascara-drenched cheeks grew rosy with temper. "Leave her alone."

Alexa cringed as something dangerous flashed in Renzo's eyes. He would hurt Abby if she continued to try to defend her. "I'm okay, Abby. I'm okay."

"No, you're not." She nudged herself between them. "Please, Renzo. Let me help."

"I should punish you. I will punish both of you, but it'll have to wait." He rammed Alexa with his shoulder as she balanced against Abby, sending the two sisters careening into the wall. "Bring her upstairs. I'm going to the office. If you two even think about trying anything funny, you're dead." Then he looked to Alexa. "Your daughter is too." He ran up the steps without a second glance.

Alexa looked over her shoulder at the open door and the freedom beyond. She untangled herself from Abby as Renzo hit the last stair and disappeared down the hall. "I want you to go. I want you to run and get help. There's a house across the street. I saw it when we pulled in. Their lights are still on."

"No," Abby hissed. "No, I can't. He'll kill us and Livy." She hooked an arm around Alexa's waist and started toward the stairs.

"He's not going to hurt Livy-he has no idea where she is. But he will hurt us if we don't try to get away." Something heavy crashed to the floor above them, and they both jumped. "I'll start up the steps. He'll never know you aren't with me."

"No, Lex." She shook her head vehemently.

"d.a.m.n it, Abby," her voice broke in her despair. "I'm never going to see Livy again if we don't get some help. I'd run right now if I could. What about my little girl?"

"What if he does see that I left and hurts you? He's a monster." Her fingers bit into Alexa's waist. "He beats the girls all the time."

"I'm willing to risk it. I'd rather die trying to do something than live without seeing my baby again." She dashed at her cheeks.

"Okay. I'll go. I'll go." She made it down two steps, but then Renzo walked from the office and chucked a computer over the balcony. The computer's tower broke in several pieces as it crashed to the floor.

"What's taking you two so d.a.m.n long?"

"Uh, Lex needs a drink of water. Her injuries are making her sick to her stomach."

"Too bad. Get up here now." He stormed away.

They'd missed their opportunity. Alexa sunk to the step and held her face in her hands as tears fell. "My poor Livy."

"Please don't cry, Lex." Abby sat next to her and rubbed her back. "We'll think of something. Get up and come with me. We'll think of something," she repeated.

But what? They were a sorry pair, with her useless foot and Abby's unwillingness to stand up to Renzo. She tried to pull herself together as hope withered. Crying wasn't going to get her anywhere. "You're so afraid of him. I'm trying so hard to understand. Why won't you fight to save your own life?"

"He's brutal. Renzo and Blondie are worse than everyone else combined." She clenched and unclenched her fists. "He-he raped me."

Alexa clutched her sister's wrist as her heart broke. "Oh, honey."

Abby shook her head. "He's a monster. I had no idea I was going out on dates with pure evil all those weeks ago."

"Of course you didn't. This isn't your fault. You aren't to blame for any of this."

"I know." Abby glanced over her shoulder. "We need to get upstairs before he gets mad."

Alexa studied her sister as they stood and started up the steps again. She wasn't so sure Abby truly believed she wasn't to blame. "This isn't your fault, Abigail," she repeated.

Her sister's lip trembled as her eyes filled. "Then why do I feel like it is?" She wiped at her damp cheek. "I can't stop thinking about the girls-young teenage girls, Lex. They had it so much worse than me. Renzo raped me once, but they were abused over and over again by so many different men."

"Even one time is too much."

"I didn't do enough to protect them."

"You did the best you could." Alexa lifted her foot up another stair and used the rail to support her bodyweight.

"I wasn't used the way the others were. I danced and stripped occasionally, but I did the books, made clothes, did the girls' makeup when they were going to be used for a party. I helped Renzo and Blondie prost.i.tute innocent teens. How do I live with that?"

Alexa shook her head as she tried to imagine the depths of her sister's h.e.l.l. What could she possibly say to make this better? "You didn't have a choice."

"I tried to protect them, but it hurt more than it helped." She sniffled and wiped at the streaming tears. "When they brought Jenna here-her real name's Margret-they sent her to a man right away. She was a virgin and terrified. After the guy left, I was helping her-cleaning her up and comforting her, trying to make it better-and Renzo came in. He went wild, absolutely crazy. He threw me down on the bed and raped me in front of her. He told her that was how things were done around here and to get used to it. Then he raped her and made me watch. She was sore after her first time, and he was extra mean. She bled so much afterwards. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to make it stop." She sobbed quietly as she relived her nightmare.

"Abby-"

"I don't want to be afraid of him. I know he wins, but every time I'm around him I can't seem to make myself remember that. It all comes back, and I feel like I shrink down to nothing."

Alexa fought her way up another stair and looked at her sister as Renzo smashed something in the next room. She hated Lorenzo Cruz. She loathed the man who ripped Abby's life apart. They had to find a way to stop him and give Abby her power back. "We're going to make it through this. We're not getting on a plane with him."

"What are we going to do?"

"I don't know yet, but when the opportunity presents itself, the Harris sisters are going to kick some a.s.s." Her arms trembled as they approached the last step. She'd used all her energy to make it up the endless staircase.

"Good, just in time." Renzo walked from the room he trashed. "The flight's been arranged. Go sit your a.s.ses down until I say otherwise."

Alexa held Abby's gaze, willing her to be strong.

"Come on, Lex." Abby helped her hobble to the first bedroom on the right. The room had been destroyed. Dressers were toppled, pillows shredded, and another computer lay smashed in pieces. "Let's sit you down over here."

Alexa collapsed on the firm plastic milk crate next to an old-fashioned steam radiator. Her body was spent. She just needed a minute to regroup, then they were going to find a way...

"Time to go night-night." Renzo came back with two syringes.

"What are you doing?" Alexa stared in utter horror as she used the heater to help herself stand.

"Going to put you to sleep until we get where we need to go."

The thought of being drugged was somehow more terrifying than what would happen if he actually got them on the plane.

He flicked the syringe and squeezed a small stream of liquid from the needle as he continued his advance. "It'll only hurt for a second. Arm out."

"No." She scrambled back and rapped into the copper heater with no place else to go. "Get away from me."

"Stop it!" Abby charged forward and clawed at Renzo's face. He yelled out as blood bloomed across the gouges in his cheek, and he fought her off with a solid backhand. "You b.i.t.c.h!" He swiped at his face, and his brown eyes turned black with rage. "You little b.i.t.c.h!"

He dropped the needles and charged after Abby. Alexa lunged awkwardly, hopping on his back. She gripped her arm around his neck and squeezed as she pummeled at his temple with all her might. "Don't ever touch my sister!" Seconds pa.s.sed before she realized he was yanking her hair through her blinding anger, but she refused to let go. He whirled and slammed her in to the tall radiator. The shocking impact stole her breath, and she fell to the milk crate.

"You're going to pay for that." Breathless himself, Renzo reached for the handcuffs in his pocket.

"No!" She didn't want to be chained and at his mercy. No!" She fought him but she was no match for his strength. Renzo shackled her wrist to the radiator and turned, grabbing for Abby. "You're next."

"Don't touch me." Abby struggled as he reached for another set of cuffs and tried to secure her next to Alexa.

"I'm going to do more than touch you, c.u.n.t, and your b.i.t.c.h sister's going to watch."

Alexa's breath heaved as a well of rage burst to life. She pushed her legs back as Renzo crouched in front of her and slammed her feet forward as hard as she could, tagging him in the b.a.l.l.s. She screamed from the unbelievable agony radiating through her ankle as Renzo crumble to the floor. "Run! Run, Abigail! Go get help!"

Abby didn't hesitate this time. "Help! Help!" she screamed as she dashed down the stairs.

Renzo coughed and moaned as Alexa reached for his pocket and the key that would free her, but he was too far away.

He pushed himself up on all fours and looked her in the eye. "Forget Europe. You're going to die now." He coughed again and tried to get to his feet.

She had no doubt he meant what he said. Frantic, she grabbed the broken lamppost at her side as he looked down and swung, bashing him against the temple. Renzo fell forward, swearing, and rolled to his side-too far for Alexa to hit him again.

He would get up soon-any second, and she had nowhere to go. She yanked her arm, desperately trying to pull her wrist free of the metal trapping her in the room.

"You're going to pay." Renzo crawled to the door. Blood oozed from his temple and cheek as he slowly got up. "You're going to f.u.c.king burn." He pulled a lighter from his pocket and flicked the small red butane to life, touching it to the papers he picked up off the table. White sheets curled black as the flames grew. He dropped his phone, stomping it twice, and walked from the room, chuckling as he tossed the paper into the bedroom across the hall.

Alexa stared in horror as the whoosh of flames spread instantly among the mess.

"While your waiting to cook, I want you to think about how I'm going to torture your sister every day." He reached in his other pocket and pulled out the key for the handcuffs. "I bet you want this." He threw it into the room among the blaze. "Too bad for you." He grinned madly and slammed the door closed.

"He's coming! Run, Abby!" she screamed as she furiously yanked her arm. Wisps of smoke began to curl under the crack in the door. "Oh, G.o.d. Oh, G.o.d." She got to her knees and pulled again and again, fighting for her life. Her wrist turned an angry, raw pink and bloomed with bruises with each violent jerk. Something in the next room exploded and crashed to the floor. "Come on. Come on." There was no way she would be alive by the time police and fire department got here. She would either slip free or burn. Tears fell from her eyes as she thought of Livy and Jack. Sobbing desperately, she continued her war with the metal trapping her in place while she stared at the smoke slowly crowding the room. No matter how she tried to break free of the cuff, it was too tight against her skin.

Jackson jerked the wheel and skidded around another turn. The house hadn't seemed so d.a.m.n far away when he and Tucker studied the map earlier that afternoon. "I think I'm almost there. I just turned on Drake Avenue."

"Take the next right-second driveway on the left. The cops should be right behind you. Terron and I are five, six minutes out at the most."

"Renzo has her. He has to." Hartwell's house had been searched from top to bottom. The man himself along with Eric Stevens, Blondie, Lenny, and Mr. Lee had been arrested and were on their way in for questioning. Christina had been found unconscious, shoved in a downstairs closet. Two young women, long since thought dead, had been recovered as well, but Alex was still missing. Had that been Alex's hand pounding against Renzo's window as his Porsche took off down the parkway?

Jackson barreled around the next right and screeched to a halt when a woman ran out in front of the vehicle. "f.u.c.k." He gripped the wheel and sucked in a tearing breath, trying hard to swallow as his heart lodged in his throat. Finally it registered that the woman screaming hysterically at his driver's-side window was Abby. "Holy s.h.i.t. Abby."

Tears streamed down her dirty face as she pointed frantically at the house beyond the trees. "He has Alexa!" She clawed at the door handle. "He's hurting her! Help her!"

The relief of finding Abby quickly vanished. Jackson grabbed his gun and cellphone that had fallen to the floor when he stopped violently and yanked his door open.

"He's hurting her! He's hurting her! Help her, Jackson. Please."

"Where is she?"

"Upstairs."

He glanced toward the house again and blinked. "Dear G.o.d. No. No." He took off at a sprint. "Get in the car and drive, Abby. Go. Get away from here." He called over his shoulder. "The house is on fire," he hollered into his phone. "She's inside. Alex is inside and Abigail Harris is in my rental car. We found Abigail Harris."

"Fire and rescue should be there soon. ETA's two and a half minutes."

"Tell them to f.u.c.king hurry. The upstairs is all lit up." He ripped the front door open and charged up the steps, coughing from the smoke choking the air. "Alex! Alex!" He slammed into something solid and fell back, fighting to keep his balance. Through the gray haze he made out Renzo's figure. "Where is she?"

Renzo smiled.

"You motherf.u.c.ker." With a rage he didn't know he possessed, he threw his arm back and swung. Blood spurted from the b.a.s.t.a.r.d's nose and mouth as his head lolled back and his eyes rolled. He collapsed and toppled down the stairs with several sickening thuds.

Jackson kept moving. "Alex!" He coughed again as the smoke grew thicker with every step.

"In here. In here, Jack," came her dull voice over the roar of hot, hungry flames.

Eyes burning, overcome by the blinding smolder, he crawled toward the sounds of her violent coughing. Choking himself, he slid his nose and mouth into the neck of his t-shirt. "I'm coming, Alex!" His shoulder rammed into the wood of what could only be a door, and he felt for the k.n.o.b. He hurried in and slammed it shut behind him. "I'm here!" He crawled forward, stumbling over scatters of paper and overturned furnishings, until he stopped in front of her. Swamped with relief, he grabbed her cheeks in his hands and kissed her, despite the urgency of their situation. "You're okay." He pressed his mouth to hers again before he eased back and took in her swollen and badly bruised foot, her legs and arms raw and bloodied in a nasty road-rash pattern. "My G.o.d."

"Help me, Jack." Tears dripped from her bloodshot eyes, leaving tracks through the soot coating her face. "I'm stuck." She wiggled her equally swollen and black-and-blue wrist. "My arm." She coughed.

Jackson stared at her wrist cuffed to the radiator and digested a new wave of fear.

"The key... Renzo threw the key into the flames."

"Okay. We'll find another way." He had to get them out of here before they suffocated. He noticed the window behind her and the white paint sealing the track shut. "Cover your face. I'm going to break the window." He scanned the area for a solid object and spotted a footstool. Standing, he heaved the wood at the thick gla.s.s and it shattered around them. He stuck his head out, greedy for a breath of muggy summer air. "Your turn." He crouched next to her. "Let's get you some of this."

She scooted as close to the window as she could, but it wasn't enough to breathe pure, smokeless air. Her eyes were growing heavy. He was losing her. Jackson dashed into the bathroom, yanked off his shirt, and soaked the grimy cotton in tap water. He rushed back and tossed the sopping shirt at her. "Cover your face with this."

She stared at him, blinking.

"Cover your face, Alex." He shoved his top against her nose and mouth, struggling to think over the terror and wretched stench of the burning structure. "We've gotta go. Now." He took her trapped wrist in his hand and yanked hard.

She cried out.

"I'm sorry. I'm going to do it again. Hold your breath." He pulled even harder, and she screamed. It was no use. The swelling around her wrist was biting into her skin.

"Get out, Jack," she sobbed. "Get out for Livy."

"No."

"Please."

"I'm not leaving you!" His mind whirled, desperate for a solution. "Hold out your wrist. Move your body as far to the right as possible and pull on the cuff." He ripped his gun from the back of his waistband. "Don't move. Don't move, Alex." He squinted through the smoke, aimed, and fired.

Alex barely flinched from the deafening pop as her arm smacked against the wooden floor. "It worked. You're free. You're free," he repeated as he scooped her up. "Hang on, Alex." He shoved her face into the fresh air through the window and heard the sirens in the distance. "Big breaths."