My breath hitches in my throat. Ryler? What if he’s been arrested? He was the last person with me. At least, from what I can remember.

The detective rests his arms along the armrest of the chair. “Tell me how much you know about Evan Elderman.”

My heart slams against my chest so forcefully that I choke. He used the name Evan Elderman, not his fake name, Evan Moleney.

“I don’t know who you’re talking about,” I reply indifferently, my pulse soaring through the roof.

“Yes, you do.” He reaches for the coffee, takes a swallow, and then continues. “Maybe you recognize him by the name Evan Moleney.”

I grip the edge of the bed to keep from falling because it feels like I’m tumbling, down, down the rabbit hole, right where Evan sent me. “Is this a test?”

Shock masks the detective’s face. “What?”

I glance at the mirror on the wall. “Is there someone watching us through that, seeing how much information I’ll divulge?”

He stares at me like I’ve lost my mind. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Emery. That’s just a mirror, and this is just a motel room. Nothing more.”

I leap from the bed, my mind racing a million miles a minute. This is all wrong. I’m still being punished—tested—to see if I’ll spill more secrets. “I won’t tell you anything.” I tug my fingers through my hair, yanking at the roots. I never should have opened my mouth. Ever. I’m going to end up like Ellis, buried in the basement, never to be found.

But maybe that’s what I deserve for all the sins I’ve committed.

“Shit,” the detective curses, jumping to his feet. “Emery, please calm down. This isn’t what you think it is.”

My head whips in his direction. “How could you possibly know what I think this is?”

His hands are in front of him as he approaches me like a skittish cat. “Because I know who your father is… know some of the stuff that’s been done to you. You’ve been hurt. A lot. But you need to understand that I’m not here to hurt you. You’re safe now. Everything’s going to be fine.”

For every step he takes toward me, I counter his movement, backing myself toward the door. “How could you possibly know anything about me unless you work for my father? It doesn’t make any sense.”

“You’ve never told anyone what’s happened to you before? No one at all?” His pressing gaze conveys insinuation.

Ryler. My lips remained sealed, even though I think the detective might already know the answer to his question.

He blows out a frustrated breath. “How can I get you to trust me? Tell me what I need to do, because I really want to earn your trust, Emery.”

I bite at my fingernails, glancing around the room. Trust. I’ve only vaguely trusted one person in my entire life. “I want… I want to talk to Ryler. Do you… Do you know who he is?”

He warily nods. “Of course I know who he is.”

“Good. Can you tell him to come here?” My gaze lands on the phone on the nightstand. “Or better yet, give me my phone and I’ll text him. He’s the only one I feel like I can trust right now.”

“I can’t give you your phone just yet.”

My gaze lands on him again. “Why not?”

He scratches the top of his head and then sighs. “Because Ryler works for me, and if he has any contact with you at the moment, he’s going to end up dead.”

Chapter 17

My Salvation

Emery

A panic attack hits me like a ravenous storm. The clouds roll over me in the snap of a finger and adrenaline drowns me and soaks me to the bone. I collapse to the floor and land on my knees, the carpet scraping at my skin.

All this time, he was a lie.

Just like I always wondered.

Yet, he wasn’t the lie I thought.

He was the opposite.

And now I have no idea how to feel.

Not a damn clue.

I want to be angry.

But I can’t find the anger inside me.

All I feel is relief.

“What do you mean he works for you?” I whisper through my gasps. If I don’t get myself under control, I’m going to black out. “Ryler works for my father… He works for Donny.”

“No, he doesn’t.” The detective crouches in front of me and levels his gaze with mine. “He’s worked for me as an informant even before he came to Laramie. He’s been trying to find the location of Donny Elderman’s warehouse so we can bring Donny down.”

I slump back against the dresser and hug my knees to my chest. Breathe in. Breathe out. “That’s what this is about? Bringing Donny’s warehouse down?”

“It’s part of it.” He sits down on the floor, crisscrossing his legs. “I think you know how bad of a man Donny is. If we were able to find him and arrest him, all the stuff that goes on in those warehouses would end.”

I shake my head and give him a really look. “You can’t possibly believe that. His men would continue his work even if he is gone. He’d probably get off easy, too, with all the connections he has.

“He’d continue all his drug experiments. No matter what, his business would remain and innocent people would continue being test subjects for his drugs experiments.”

“Some of that might be true, but it might not. And in the process of arresting Elderman, we’d have a chance to detain a lot of his men,” he says, resting back on his hands. “Those warehouses—that town you lived in—would be gone.”