Is he dead?

Fear clutches at my throat as I hold my breath. My eyes are pinned to my father's body in fear, spotting a nasty bruise on his forehead. There's a gag stuffed inside his mouth and both of his hands are tied. When I glimpse the almost imperceptible rising and falling of his chest, I let out a sigh of relief.

He's alive, for now.

I glare angrily at Gavin. "What've you done to him? Why did you take him?"

Gavin steps away from him and turns towards me. Stretching his lips into a creepy smile. "What do you make of this? Such a bittersweet father-daughter reunion, isn't it? I found him when he was leaving a bar. Did you know he was about to drive himself home while drunk?" Gavin shakes his head. "He's never going to be a great father for you, Riley."

My eyes narrow in disdain. "And you think you might be better than him?"

"Far better, I would say."

Gavin's arrogant confidence goes through the roof, leaving me speechless and aggravated. He takes a step towards me and kneels so that he is at my eye level, still unsuspecting of my plan. Slowly, his hand reaches out to a loose strand of my hair and tries to tuck it behind my ear.

But I don't let him. When he's close enough, I pull out the broken glass shard that I've been gripping in my hands behind my back, aiming straight for his arm. However, his reflexes are quicker than I expected. He ducks and catches my wrists, twisting it. As he pushes me down and pins me against the floor, he knocks away my sole weapon.

He laughs at my shell-shocked face. "You're indeed your mother's daughter. I figured you might pull a stunt like that. The Perez ladies have always been a little hot-headed, with a few tricks up their sleeves."

I grit my teeth, trying to drive sense into this maniac. "What about you? You're the one going around abducting and hurting people. You killed Mom."

"It was an accident. She was driving too fast."

"No! It was you who forced us to run. You were chasing us. Even if Mom's car didn't crash, you would have still killed us both with your bare hands."

He cocks his head at me, amusement playing in his eyes. "Such a smart mouth. I guess your memories and personality are coming back. The old Riley is what you are behaving like. As compared to your mother, you're less afraid of me. You never wanted to run and hide. That's what turns you into a problem."

Anger and terror flare within me. I know that I'm in danger, but somehow, every single thing he says is urging me to retaliate and correct his words.

Gavin steps closer to me. "You asked me what I intend to do to your dad, didn't you? It's simple. Why don't you guess?"

A gasp erupts from my throat. "You're going to kill him, aren't you? Leave him alone! He has nothing to do with you or us."

"No," Gavin whispers with venomous jealousy in his words. "He does. Ava called him for help just to get away from me. Told him to take care of you. If I hadn't gotten to you both that night, you would have met him. Did she not love or trust me enough?"

Obviously not, especially after witnessing the way his eyes are swirling with madness and lacking humanity. How did he become this obsessive with Mom till the point he speaks no logic in his sentences? Now that Mom's not around, he's after me and he wants to get rid of the evidence.

But not if I beat him to it. How am I going to get myself out of this predicament?

"Imagine him appearing on the headline news," he whispers. "'Deranged father murdered his long-lost daughter over trust funds.' How does that sound?"

So this is why Gavin abducted my father. He doesn't want him dead, he just wants someone to be his scapegoat. He wants a nice cover-up story that will not point any evidence in his direction.

He's downright despicable. And heartless.

It's unfair how he's living life when Mom—my innocent, sweet-loving mother—is dead.

His large hands wrap around my throat, squeezing tightly. My air supply is cut off and I struggle in his hold, thrashing my legs, hitting his arms or chest repeatedly to get him off me. He refuses to budge, his eyes gleaming, as though my resistance simply fuels his excitement. He squeezes hard and I can feel the blood pulsing in my head. My face goes all red as my body fights for oxygen, clawing at his arms until I'm pretty sure my nails have dug into his skin and drawn his blood.

Mom.

My hands go straight for his face, jabbing my fingers into his eyes to blind him momentarily. He gives a painful yelp as I take the chance to scramble away from him. Adrenaline pumps through me. I pick myself up and head straight for the exit.

I know I'm leaving Dad behind, but I have little choice. Gavin will probably be busy getting to me first.

For now, my priority is to get help.

Outside, the darkness greets me. Cold wind shudders through me and flings my hair across my face. Trees are everywhere around the abandoned warehouse, creepers are crawling all over the walls. The sound of my shoes crunching the gritty gravel amplifies because of the eerie silence. My heart palpitates madly. I run as fast as my legs can carry me. I don't look back.

Fear intensifies within me, knowing that Gavin may have recovered and is probably chasing after me. I know that if he catches me once more, everything will be over. Including my life.

Gavin's car is right down at the entrance of the place, but I avoid the vehicle. I don't even know how to drive and I shouldn't drive unless I want to crash myself against a tree. Aunt Abbie's stolen car isn't anywhere in sight, so I assume Gavin must have abandoned it elsewhere after abducting me.

I opt for coverage in the trees along the road, running down in that direction knowing that it will lead me to somewhere. I pray to bump into someone or a random vehicle to appear on the road. Anybody who might help me contact the authorities to arrest this maniac who has abducted me.

Footsteps come from behind me, and my heart pummels to the pit of my stomach. I increase my speed, ignoring the painful aches that are building in my legs. I tear through the woods, hoping to outrun the person behind me, but I don't.

A hand clamps down on my mouth to silence my scream. Another arm wraps around my shoulders, bringing me close to his chest as I try to wrestle out of his grasp. I almost stamp on his feet until I hear a familiar voice speaking into my right ear.

"Stop, Riley. Don't fight me," he whispers. "It's me."

I spin around, eyes wide. "Kyle?"

The sight of his face brings sheer relief to me, but I can't let my guard down yet. How is he here? "It's Gavin all along. My mom's ex-boss–"

"Shh, later." He takes my hand and pulls me along with him. "My car's parked a little further down the road. I didn't want to alert him by driving too close earlier. Let's go now."

I follow his lead. Our quick footsteps crunch against the dead leaves and breaking branches, sounding a hundred times louder in our ears. We hurry with caution and when Kyle's car comes into view, we break into a full sprint towards it. I reach for the door handle just as Kyle unlocks it for us.

And that's when we hear someone come right at us.