Emmy, too tired to care about her dad's way of greeting her friend, stepped onto the front porch. "What the heck are you doing here?"
"Some way to say hello," Mary Lou said.
"I told you to go hide somewhere." Emmy glanced warily at the street, her hair standing on end.
"I needed to speak with you." Mary Lou looked at her dad. "Can we talk somewhere private? You know, someplace where it's just the two of us."
"Just the two of us?" Emmy's heart raced. Mary Lou wasn't acting like herself. "Is something wrong?"
"Yeah, I found out that I have chlamydia," Mary Lou said quickly, as if she'd just thought of it.
Her dad's mouth dropped open.
"So you're the person who's been influencing my daughter to do sinful things." Her dad pointed at Mary Lou. "Aren't you old enough to know better?"
"What the hell are you talking about?" Mary Lou scowled. "I'm twenty-six."
Now that was more like Mary Lou. Still, when Emmy examined her friend, she knew that something was off. Yeah, the woman was wearing an outfit that looked like it had been purchased at Hookers-R-Us, but she hadn't applied any mascara. For an ordinary woman, that wouldn't have meant anything. But this was Mary Lou. Mary Lou wouldn't have gone without mascara even during a full-fledged zombie apocalypse. There was something wrong—maybe it even had to do with why Sebastian had not shown up yet—and Emmy was determined to find out what.
"Dad, can you give us some privacy?" Emmy glanced at her dad.
The man hesitated. Though he'd met Mary Lou before, the woman had been much less expressive during their last conversation. And on top of that, Emmy hadn't been pregnant then either.
"Of course, you can stay if you have something to add to the conversation." Mary Lou batted her eyes at him. "I'm always surprised by the number of people who know tidbits about chlamydia."
Her dad's face became the color of oatmeal. Without saying a word, he stepped inside and closed the door. The moment that the door was shut, Emmy turned toward her friend, her heart thundering.
"Okay, what's really going on?" Emmy asked.
Mary Lou stared at her sadly.
"Mary Lou?" Emmy persisted.
"I'm sorry, Emmy," Mary Lou said. "I didn't have another choice. He said he was going to kill me."
"What are you talking about?" Emmy's eyes widened in horror. "Who said they were going to kill you?"
"Me," Jake said from behind her.
Something hard slammed against her head and then everything went black.
Chapter Nine
Groaning, Emmy's eyes fluttered open. The first thing she thought was, God, my head hurts like a bitch. This is the worst migraine I've ever had. And that was saying something. She'd been getting up at the crack of dawn for years. There had been times when she'd felt like somebody had spent all night sawing at her skull. Now, as her brain throbbed, she felt ten times worse. And that was before she realized where she was.
But then she did.
She was in some sort of dark basement with her hands tied behind her back.
Gasping in horror, Emmy looked around the dreary room. Suddenly, she remembered everything. Mary Lou had shown up at her front door, and then Jake had knocked her out. But what about her baby? In panic, Emmy glanced down at her stomach. Luckily, she felt no pain in her abdomen. Call it mother's instinct or sheer craziness, but somehow she knew that her child was alive and well.
"Thank God," she said.
"I wouldn't be thanking him just yet, if I were you," Jake said from somewhere out of sight.
She went rigid. Though she hadn't realized it until that moment, the only door to the basement had been ajar. Jake opened the door the rest of the way and stepped into the room. She shivered in horror, startled by the amount of fear she felt just looking into his eyes. This man was cruel. No, he was beyond cruel. He was evil. She wouldn't have been surprised if he'd been born in the depths of hell itself.
"You," Emmy said.
Jake walked over to her. "Were you expecting somebody else?"
"No," she said through clenched teeth. "Only you would be evil enough to do this, you heartless maniac."
To her shock, the man chuckled.
"You're laughing now, but you won't be for long." She squirmed, fighting her bindings. "Sebastian is going to come for me, you know."
"Oh, I know." Jake's grin widened. "I'm counting on it."
The words stunned her into silence. "Huh?"
"You didn't think I kept you alive for no reason, did you?" Jake asked. "Trust me, if I had the choice, I would have killed you ages ago. No, I'm using you to lure Sebastian here. It was the only way."