Page 162 of Symphony for Lies

He bolted for the stairs, and I followed. Up we went until we reached the large, circular window at the very top of the building.

A single chair and a pair of binoculars sat in front of it.

Someone had set it all up.

“Fuck!” I hissed.

Watson wasn’t working alone. But who?

Spencer grabbed the binoculars and raised them into his eyes.

A moment later, he froze.

“I can see her.”

Without thinking, I ripped them from his hands. My fingers trembled as I scanned the labyrinth, the winding paths, the dead ends…

My heart stopped.

Amelia was ghostly pale, with streaks of blood trailing down her arms and legs. Her body shook against the cold.

She wore nothing but a thin white dress with spaghetti straps that barely clung to her shoulders and her bare feet pressed against the freezing ground.

She clutched at her chest, her breath was ragged, and her eyes were unfocused as if she was fighting to stay conscious.

Then, she suddenly flattened herself against a hedge.

“Amelia…” My heart clenched so painfully I thought it would rip in two. I could see her. But I couldn’t reach her.

I kept my eyes locked on her, but then I saw a flash of movement and adjusted the binoculars.

There he was.

Watson.

He stood right behind the hedge Amelia was pressed against, a shadow waiting to strike.

I wanted to scream, but she was already moving. Amelia turned and sprinted.

I dropped the binoculars.

Spencer caught them mid-air. “I need to find the second person. Whoever’s helping him.” His voice was tense, calculated. “If we don’t, we won’t be able to get to Amelia.”

I slammed my fist against the window frame, my world cracking apart.

How the fuck do I get her out of there? How the fuck do I help her?

I collapsed to my knees, my pulse wild and erratic.

All I wanted, all I needed, was to tear into that labyrinth and rip it apart with my bare hands.

But I’d only make everything worse.

“I don’t see him. He has to be somewhere. Maybe in the trees?”

None of that mattered.

None of that fucking mattered.

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