Free Abducted (Amber Alert Series Book 2) by Sara Schoen Page B

mother back. My bastard of a son took her from me and now I will take her back. You for her, fair trade in that case,” Steve said with a knowing smile.
    “What do you want from my mom?”
    “I want my wife back, but it looks as if my apprentice is trying to prevent it. I was afraid this would happen.”
    “Afraid what would happen?” I asked, trying to buy time so I could escape.
    “That he would fall for you. Your mother had the same trait, and I regret falling into that trap. Now it seems that Damien has made the same mistake. It’s a pity. I had to blackmail him into this, and he still failed. At least, he did give me a pretty new girl,” Steve said, as he reached out and touched my face.
    I cringed at his touch, obviously hurting his feelings. His hand swung back and landed on my cheek with a loud smack. I let out a yelp of pain at the force of the hit. I stumbled, and then ran out of Steve’s reach. I ran through the thickest part of the forest, it got so dense at one point I tripped on a tree root, or what I thought was a tree root. My face smacked against the dirt and I looked up to see Damien kneeling in front of me. His index finger was up against his lips as he tried to tell me to keep silent.
    “Keep quiet. I’m going to get you out of here.”
    “Why?”
    “I said keep quiet,” Damien said, slapping his hand over my mouth as Steve walked past us.
    We waited for what felt like hours before Damien lifted me off the ground and pulled me out of the woods. He dragged me through the over growth, the dead plants tangled around my feet and tripped me onto the cold hard ground.
    “That was smooth,” Damien whispered with a sarcastic tone as I tripped for the fourth time since he found me.
    “Shut up,” I whispered back.
    “Don’t be rude. I am saving your life for the third time.”
    “Why did you save her life so many times, Damien? She was supposed to die in that house. It was planned so that she could never be found,” Steve said from behind us, making my skin crawl.
    “I wasn’t going to let you kill this girl just to get your way Bennett. It’s not worth killing innocent people,” Damien said forcefully as he pulled me behind his back for protection.
    “I think it’s because you fell in love with her. How else would she get a map? How else would she escape my old house? I set it to blow after you left, and she went wandering in the house. That means that you got her out, and that you’ve been taking care of her. It’s a pity, without her gone, or Anna with me, you’ll never get the information you wanted,” Steve said with a grimace on his face.
    “I’ll find out one way or another, even if I have to keep searching on my own. I didn’t agree to harm or kill her,” Damien said forcefully.
    “You agreed to do whatever I asked, so you could find out about your sister,” Steve growled. "I guess your sister's fate will never be known."
    “Your sister?” I asked from behind Damien. “He knows your sister?”
    “Oh, you didn’t tell the love of your life about why you kidnapped her?” Steve asked. “Maybe because you had already given up on finding your sister, you love Audrey, and couldn’t tell her the truth because it would guilt her into staying with you. Well, now you don’t have a choice. I’ll be taking Audrey and trading her for her mother. You’re done here,” Steve stated, as he leaned down and grabbed me roughly by the shoulder.
    “Let me go!” I screamed in terror.
    “You can’t have her!” Damien yelled, as he grabbed me by the waist and pulled me out of Steve’s hold. Damien quickly threw me over his shoulder and carried me out of the thick forest foliage. I could hear yelling and screaming as Damien sprinted out of the forest with me over his shoulder.
    “Damien! Put me down!”
    “I will when we get out of these woods. I can’t let him take you!” Damien answered, his voice laced with fear and worry.
    “But we are out of the woods!” I said as I