Chapter 16 - THE DESPERATE TRADE
The floor beneath my feet felt like it was dissolving into quicksand. Lily wasn't in the panic room—she must have slipped out through the hidden crawlspace exit when I was subduing Toby in the hallway. Terror clawed at my throat, threatening to choke off my breath entirely. I looked down at Toby, whose wicked grin only widened as he watched the color drain from my face. "Looks like you lose, big sister," he wheezed. I didn't hesitate. I grabbed my car keys, slung a tactical go-bag over my shoulder, and hauled Toby up by his collar, dragging him out to the car at gunpoint. If they wanted a trade, they were going to get one—on my terms. I drove through the coastal fog at ninety miles per hour, tires screeching around the sharp curves of the cliffside highway, heading straight for the abandoned lighthouse at Raven’s Point where smugglers had operated for decades. The ocean churned violently a hundred feet below against jagged black rocks, mirroring the storm raging inside my chest.
