Page 278 of The Invite
It’s my mother passing an envelope to none other than Debolina Bloom in a decrepit building.
What is she doing with her?
I’m so fucking lost connecting why they’re meeting, when it hits me that Nessa’s mother is still alive.
Or did Nessa lie about that too?
Did they catch Debolina or not?
Christ! Did my mother know all along who Nessa was? A dangerous thought trickles through the questions running rampant in my head.
If Debolina is alive, I wouldn’t put it past my mother to tip her off that her daughter, who she let live, is right in this town.
Damn it. My girl is far from safe.
I pull out my phone and dial her number. It’s only been an hour since I left her place. She doesn’t pick up. Rather than trying again, I open the app and play the live feed of her house.
“No!” A broken sound rumbles from deep inside my chest. The phone almost slips from my grip as I take in the scene in her bedroom.
My girl sits on a chair.
Bound and unconscious.
While her biggest trigger towers right in front of her.
As though her mother can sense me watching, she turns and looks straight into the camera hidden in a corner.
She smiles.
I blink, and the feed goes down.
CHAPTER – 70
Nessa
A pounding in my skull wakes me up.
Desperate to lessen the pain, I lift my hand. It doesn’t budge.
The biting pressure around my wrists jerks me awake and I see a tight rope wrapped around them, tying me to the arms of a chair.
“No. No. No.” This isn’t real. I pull at them again. “I’m having a nightmare.”
A low tsking noise floats to my ears. “Oh, love.”
The mocking voice draws my attention to a figure sitting on my bed. “Mom?”
A cruel smile curls her lips.
The memories return in a flash and I gulp in a composing breath. I’m not the same girl anymore. I’m going to fight her tooth and nail. “What do you want?”
“You. In a grave.”
“Because you failed so terribly all those years ago? Then again last time?” I taunt. “It must eat at you that a little girl got the better of you. Do you miss Dad—
Crack!
My face whips to the side. Pain ricochets in my left ear, traveling to my cheek and numbing it for long seconds.
