Page 224 of I Will Break You

“Some men broke into my house?—”

“Are you alright?” she shrieks.

“More or less.”

She falls silent for a beat before asking. “Did it really happen?”

“Did they really drill through my front door to take me?” I ask. “Yes, and I haven’t hallucinated anything for several days.”

“Okay… Okay…” I can almost hear her biting down on her bottom lip. “So, how did you…”

“How did I outrun four abductors?”

“Sorry. I had to ask.”

“Same way we escaped a pair of rapists while we were both drugged.”

“That ghost?” she whispers.

“I can’t talk about it on the phone. I think you’re in danger. Lizzie is dead because the people who tried to abduct me took her instead.”

“No,” she says, her voice trembling.

This is the kind of disturbing news that should be delivered in person and with Myra sitting down, but there’s no time. If Mom is behind these attacks, then she’ll know the best way to send me a message is through my only friend.

Myra has stuck by me, even through my worst times. I hate making her alarmed, but she needs to understand the level of threat she’s under and the measures we’re taking to make her safe.

“Go to Lizzie’s bio, where she’s placed an affiliate link to an execution.”

“Hold on.” A moment later, she says, “Her bio has gone.”

“Try X-CiteMedia.com.”

She falls silent for a moment, then she gasps. “What is this?”

“You see it?” I ask.

“What? Stills of Lizzie doing violent-looking gang bangs? Is it real?”

I shudder at the reminder. “Yeah. Those people took her. I’m worried they might take you, too.”

Myra pauses for several seconds before saying, “There’s a knock on my door.”

I turn to Xero, who glances down at his phone and nods, confirming that his people have arrived at her apartment. “Don’t worry,” I say to her. “It’s a friend.”

“How do you know?” she asks, her voice rising several octaves.

“Look through the peephole. Is he six-four, dark hairs, with stormy gray eyes and classically handsome features?”

A moment later, she whispers, “Yes.”

“And is he with a much shorter, dark-haired woman with big brown eyes and a dimpled chin?”

“Who are they?”

“Friends of mine,” I say. “They’ll take you to a secure apartment where you can stay until this has blown over.”

“What about my job? Cesare just gave me extra hours. I can’t let him down.”