Page 131 of Wicked Promises

Hanna is on the couch, a blanket across her lap, and a bowl of ice cream hugged to her chest.

It makes me smile.

“This is what you do when you’re home alone?” I ask.

She jumps. “Oh my God, Margo!”

She puts down the bowl and races toward me, colliding into me.

I wrap my arms around her and push down the panic. The need to immediately question her. Hanna is a sensitive soul. The first to cry when someone yells or start at a loud noise. The foster system hasn’t been kind to her—but she’s still good.

I try to hold on to that.

“Hanna, I need to ask you an important question.”

She releases me, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

“Do you know where Claire is?”

A frown flits across her expression, there one minute and gone the next. “Did you just come to see her?”

I take a deep breath. “No, hon. I’m sorry.” I guide her to the couch and sit next to her. “But I think she knows where my friend is.”

Hanna perks up. “Caleb? He’s all she ever talks about. She said she was going to date him when you were gone.”

I exhale. “When I’m gone?”

She shrugs, leaning over to grab her ice cream. “I dunno. She seemed pretty convinced that he was going to fall in love with her.”

Bitch.

I shove away my anger and fear, and instead put my hands on her shoulders. “Can you do me a favor, Han?”

She looks at me with wide eyes.

“I just need to know if there’s somewhere special Claire might’ve gone after school.”

“Well…” Hanna glances around. “She does like to go visit her boyfriend.”

I pause. “She has a boyfriend?”

“Matt! We had to play a silly game and act like strangers at the football game. Isn’t that weird? They said it was like role-playing.”

I blink a few times as more pieces of the puzzle click into place.

Of course. Who else would lie—or was it even a lie? She said she was with him, and for all I know… she could’ve been behind my abduction.

“She has a boyfriend but she thinks Caleb is going to fall in love with her?” I make my tone light. “That’s kind of greedy.”

She giggles.

“Come on, Hanna. She wouldn’t take Caleb to Matt’s house, right?”

Hanna’s smile drops off. “She took Caleb?”

“I don’t know.” I shake her shoulders lightly. “Think. Where would they go?”

“I don’t—stop!” She bursts into tears.