Tanner pulled me down a flight of stairs, and I tripped again, almost falling, but he caught me and steadied me.

He wouldn’t look at me, though. His jaw was clenched, and his hand dug into my arm. It’d leave a bruise there later.

“How long?” I rasped. It seemed the only way I could talk since they’d taken me. “How long have you known?”

He didn’t answer, a vein bulging in his neck. We turned a corner, and there was another door in front of us. He banged on it, stepping back until it opened from the inside. More guards came out. There were always guards.

He motioned inside. “If you need food or anything, ask the guards. They’ll get it for you. This is your room until Kai wants to see you again.”

I stepped inside, but turned to him. “Tanner, how long?”

His eyes flicked up, and I saw remorse there.

“Since the beginning.” His lips pressed together. He looked as if he had more to say, but thought better of it. He shook his head and barked out, “Lock her in.”

The door slammed shut, and a whoosh of air hit me in the face. I barely blinked, everything in me going into shock.

They knew about the 411 Network, which wasn’t good. In fact, it was really bad. The 411 Network was an organization that hid people who couldn’t survive otherwise—those women and children, and sometimes men, who aren’t protected by the legal system, by cops or whoever else, so we step in. We hide them, sometimes making it look like they’re dead.

The “errands” we run are to pick up people who need transport somewhere else. We handle anyone needing to get into Canada—any survivor who needs help. We don’t discriminate, and most of the time, we aren’t told their names or situations.

We’re given coordinates to go to, pictures of who we’re looking for, and directions on where to take them. We pass along files and packets with their fake passports or ID or whatever else they need for the leg of our trip. That’s all.

In the ten years since I’d been operational, only once did my team have to fight an abuser.

But I knew there were times it happened.

I was proud of this part of my life. I was proud of 411’s mission, of what we stood for, and now the Network was being threatened. The Bennett family couldn’t know about us. I’m certain they were the ones we hid people from sometimes.

My heart raced. My palms were sweaty.

My vision blurred.

I was panicking, like earlier, but this was on steroids. I couldn’t breathe. The room was spinning.

I was feverish. I was cold.

I was falling.

The ground rushed up at me until arms caught me instead. I looked up, and though the room still rushed around me, I saw a firm jaw and corded neck muscles.

Tanner had come back for me…

He carried me out of the room, through a hallway, and up a flight of stairs.

Tanner was taking me to his room…until no. We went back through that same set of doors I’d entered earlier. Black and gold swirled around me as I tried to see where we were. We went into a back bedroom, and he laid me down on that shaggy sheepskin blanket. Recognizing the glass balcony doors behind him, my teeth started clattering.

Tanner hadn’t come for me. Kai had.

As if hearing my thoughts, he looked down. Those dark and almost soulless eyes stared right into mine. He didn’t blink. Nothing showed. No irritation. No concern. Not even surprise.

I grew warmer by the second, and began shivering.

He felt my forehead, pushing my hair out of the way. His eyebrows pulled together. Confusion showed for a second before he turned and said something to someone behind us. His voice droned in my head, vibrating in a deep baritone. It sounded like I was underwater and he was above, talking to someone on a boat near us. There was a buzzing sound, like an engine.

I wondered again what was going on… And then there was nothing.

CHAPTER TEN

I woke in a bed with the softest sheets I’d ever felt, and drool. So much drool.

It took a second for me to catch up, but once I did, I bolted upright with a gasp.

It was pitch-black outside.

Glass doors. The same modern bedroom with an entire apartment just beyond the doorway and the soft glow of a light on in the other room.

I was in Kai Bennett’s room, in his bed.

Could I close my eyes, go back to sleep, and wake up in Oz? Was that an option? I’d take it in a second if so.

The sound of a page turning came from the next room. Then I heard a chair push back.

Soft footsteps came until he stood in the doorway.

The light was on behind him, casting him in full shadow, so I couldn’t see any details except his very trim and toned silhouette.

Why’d someone so evil have to be that good looking?

“Why’d you take me?” I shifted to a sitting position, pulling the sheets around me and noting that I was in a different shirt and wore boxer briefs over my underwear. He’d changed my clothes.

That was low on the list of problems, but… “Where are my clothes?”

He let out a soft and tired-sounding sigh. “You stumbled going into your room and hit your head. My brother didn’t notice the blood trickling down your back, but my guards did. They alerted me.” He nodded. “Your clothes were bloody. They had to be changed.”

Now that he mentioned it, my head was pounding.