The guy finally ambled down and looked at my half-empty whiskey. “Something wrong with the drink?”

“Who’s that girl?” I asked, and pointed at the picture. I had realized, the second time I looked at it, that she was standing next to Evan, his arm around her. “That girl who’s with you.”

“Who?” he said, and frowned. “Lissy?”

Lissy. Elizabeth.

“Yes,” I said, quick and quiet. “Does she still work here?” I turned around and scanned the restaurant. “Is she on shift right now?”

Evan’s frown deepened. “No, she just got off. I can give her a message—”

I threw a ten on the bar, slid off the stool, and hurried for the front door, the need to go overtaking all my other senses.

I scanned Washington Street and the faces of the people walking past.

Evan slammed through the door behind me. “Dude,” he said. “Who the hell are you?”

When I didn’t spot Elizabeth on the main strip, I cut to the corner of the building and slipped around to the south side where I figured the employee entrance was.

“Dude!” Evan said again.

There was no one there.

I went to the back parking lot.

Empty.

My hands tightened into fists at my sides.

Evan’s footsteps thudded on the pavement behind me. I whirled around, grabbed the collar of his shirt, and pulled him to me. “Where is she? Which way did she go?”

Evan scowled, but didn’t pull back. He was five inches shorter than me, but full of bravado. “You think I’m going to tell you? You’re a friggin’ space case.”

“Evan?” someone called.

I looked up and over the top of Evan’s head.

Something shattered against the pavement as it was dropped from a trembling hand.

She met my eyes. Her lips moved, but nothing came out. All the color drained from her face.

My heart stopped. The world bubbled around me.

“It’s you,” she said.

14

ELIZABETH

I SET MY HAND AGAINST THE BRICK exterior of Merv’s and leaned into it.

Was it really him?

Gabriel.

I didn’t want to tear my eyes away, afraid that if I did, he’d disappear again. As it was, I worried that he was a figment of my imagination, caused by my questionable sanity. Although the night I’d been rescued was a blur, I did remember Gabriel clearly. He was the person who’d saved me after all.

But my broken mind must have seen him as older than he really was back then, because he didn’t look much older than me now. I would almost swear he hadn’t aged a day since that night.

“Are you real?” I whispered.

Gabriel let go of Evan and took a step toward me. I staggered back, my fingers dragging across the brick.

He must have read the fear on my face because he stopped and froze and stared at me.

He didn’t say anything.

I couldn’t feel my feet, my legs, my knees, the air in my lungs. I was reduced to a jumble of thoughts.

The old bullet wound vibrated in my chest.

He tilted his head. “You know me.”

It wasn’t a question, but the look in his eyes said it partly was.

I inhaled. Swallowed. Exhaled. Nodded. “Gabriel?”

The corners of his eyes pinched, and his jaw tensed, full lips pursed.

“No. Yes.” He sighed. “Yes. Gabriel. For now.”

I wasn’t sure what that meant, but it was all I needed to hear.

“You know him?” Evan asked.

A car zoomed past on the street, a bunch of girls singing to the radio. It was nothing but a buzz, like flies, in my ears.

“Yeah,” I said to Evan. “I know him.”

“Are you… I mean…” Evan looked at Gabriel, and then at me. He came closer and lowered his voice. “Should I stay? I kinda left the bar unattended and—”

“No,” I said too quickly, and licked my lips. “You should go back in. I’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.”

Evan looked at Gabriel, as if unsatisfied with my assurances. I wasn’t even sure if I was sure. Was I safe, alone with Gabriel? Was I even safe in Trademarr?

I’d always wondered, after I escaped, if staying in the same town where I’d been held captive was a risk. If they’d wanted to find me again, it wouldn’t have been hard. But I’d never had the resources to leave. I didn’t have any family left, and child protective services wasn’t in the position to move me out of town.

I was as trapped here as I’d been in that lab. And now my greatest fear might have been coming true: They’d returned to finish the job, and I’d made it so easy.

“I’m fine, Evan,” I said again, and he finally went back inside, leaving me alone in the parking lot with Gabriel still staring at me and me staring at him and the silence between us growing taut like a rubber band.

I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know who’d make the first move.

Turned out, it was Gabriel.

He took another step toward me, and I startled. He held up his hands.

“I’m not here to hurt you.”

My breath was coming too quickly, so my response came out shaky. “I’m not sure if I believe you.”

I glanced at my smashed cell phone on the pavement. I’d dropped it when I saw Gabriel. He scooped it up and handed it to me slowly, as if I were a skittish rabbit he didn’t want to run away.