Uncovering You 10: The Finale by Scarlett Edwards Read Free Book Online Page A

thrashing, back and forth, trying to get free but knowing, even in my desperation, that I can’t.
    A light comes on. Right above me. I see it through the fabric of my blindfold.
    My breathing is ragged. Forced. I jerk my head up—and freeze when I hear footsteps approaching.
    “Well, well, well. It looks like the bitch is up.”
    The voice is male. Deep. Accented and menacing. Middle Eastern? Maybe.
    “Who are you?” I ask. “What do you want?”
    A chair scrapes across the floor. It’s a vile sound, worse than nails on a chalkboard. It stops right beside me. I feel the man sit, just inches away.
    Something cold touches my neck. I recoil.
    “N—n—nuh,” the voice cautions. “Careful, now. We wouldn’t want you to cut an artery.”
    I freeze. The cold object? It’s a blade.
    Nightmares of the time Stonehart did that to me come back unbidden. They flash through my mind like brilliant specters.
    “Who are you?” I whisper. I’m afraid to speak loudly. I’m afraid to even breathe, with the blade pressing into my skin. The slightest unexpected movement…
    “In time,” the voice tells me. “Answers will be given in time. For now, you must be patient.”
    The knife is taken away. I sag, the most terrible yet grateful relief surging through me.
    I strain to see through the blindfold. The little gap by my nose makes the floor and my legs visible. Barely.
    It’s a cement floor. The cold—I can feel the cold emanating from it.
    I swallow. My worst fears from when I first found myself in the dark, with Jeremy, are coming true. Back then, I was grateful not to be in a dingy basement. Now, that is exactly where I am.
    I hear water dripping from a pipe, somewhere behind me.
    “Where—where are we?” I repeat. “Why did you bring me here?”
    “To uncover your secrets,” the man tells me.
    He stands. I feel—hear—him do it. He comes behind me. My back tenses as he places two hands on my shoulders.
    He brings his mouth to my ear. “I hear,” he says, “that there are some who would pay a king’s ransom to keep you safe. Unfortunately…” He begins to untie the knot holding the blindfold in place. “it is not money we are after, but information. So you see, my sweet, how your fate is entirely in your own hands.”
    The blindfold falls to my neck.
    “I’ll be back tomorrow,” the man says. He walks away. “For the time being, I ask you to think on your sins.”

     

Chapter Ten
     

     
    I twist my head around as soon as I can. All I glimpse of the man is his back. He opens a door and disappears on the other side.
    The sound of it closing echoes all around me, amplified by the vast space of this dungeon.
    I see the place I’m in. It fills me with horror: Four faraway walls, on all sides of me. Pipes crisscrossing above me. The light coming from a sequence of fluttering light bulbs embedded in the ceiling.
    Graffiti marks the walls. Water stains and rust and chipping paint abound. There’s more than one door: three, in fact.
    Everything is grimy and dark. A sharp metallic tang fills the air. The soft, consistent drip-drop of water falling mocks me in its serenity.
    I look down, at my body. I’m still wearing the same clothes as I left the office in.
    How much time has passed since then? No more than a few hours, surely. That means I’m still in San Jose. That means that I am somewhere close to Jeremy.
    The man said he wanted information. No. Not him. “ We .”
    His group. More than one. Three men abducted me. There was also a driver.
    How many am I up against?
    Panic starts to take hold. I see no way out. Those doors—those three metal doors—they are the only way into this prison. Into it, or out.
    I scream and thrash again. I throw my head back and forth. I try to rip my arms free from behind me. I try to kick my legs out.
    It’s no use. I’m bound to the chair. The only thing my struggle accomplishes is worsening the raw marks around my wrists.
    I’m terrified. I’m trembling. I’m