“It’s more than that,” she said in a fragile whisper, and the shaking in her voice worried me. The entire disastrous day suddenly seemed to be illustrated by that one small warbling sound—unsteady, and broken, and a little creepy. Anne was right. It had been too long. “Call Liv.”

I unlocked my keypad and was about to autodial when the phone started vibrating in my hand and Liv’s new number popped up on the screen. I accepted the call and held the phone to my ear. “Liv?”

“Yeah.” Something zipped on the other end of the line, and her footsteps clacked on my kitchen floor. “I’m about to head your way. Is there anything you want me to bring? A change of clothes, or something? I grabbed some easy food from the freezer—hope you don’t mind. I’m not sure what a five-year-old eats, so can you ask Hadley if she likes mac and cheese?”

My heart jumped into my throat and Anne leaned closer so she could hear. “Liv, she’s not here yet. Kori left, and she never came back.”

“What?” The background noise went quiet over the line as Liv stopped rooting through my cabinets, and there was only a heavy, shocked silence as we all came to the same conclusion.

“When did they leave?” I asked, and Anne’s breathing became fast and ragged beside me. I put my free hand over hers, trying wordlessly to calm her.

“A couple of minutes ago,” Liv said, and I heard the familiar groan of my own couch springs as she sat. “How could they not be there?”

“Where is she?” Anne demanded, breathless with encroaching panic. But I had no answer for her. None that she would want to hear, anyway.

“Kori…” Liv whispered. And as badly as I wanted to deny the obvious conclusion, there were no others to jump to. She’d infiltrated our operation at our invitation, divided our forces at our request and taken off with the prize—with Anne’s daughter—because we’d just handed the child over, foolishly trusting in the ties of our past, rather than the unbreakable chain on Kori’s arm.

I, of all people, should have known better.

“She tried to warn us,” Liv continued softly. “She practically told us she was involved in collecting Tower’s ‘resources,’ and she pointed out that her binding to me and Anne doesn’t prevent us from lying to one another. She tried to tell us, but we weren’t listening.”

“No…” Anne groaned, and my hand tightened on hers.

“Anne, can you hear me?” Liv asked over the line, and Anne nodded slowly, clearly in shock.

“She can hear you,” I said.

“Okay, good. I’m headed your way. We’re going to get her back, Anne. I swear we will.” A door closed over the line, and Liv’s boots clomped with the familiar echo of my building’s hallway. “Cam, you she was iri. If we both call we’ll just tie up the line, and she’s more likely to answer you.”

Though if she’d done what we suspected, mine was the last call she’d accept at the moment….

“Don’t panic,” Liv said, and in the background an engine rumbled to life, then her car door slammed shut. “I’m going to find her.”

Then Liv was gone, and I was alone with Anne and the harsh, whistling breaths she was sucking in like air was in short supply. “Annika, calm down.” I twisted to face her on the couch without letting go of her hand, but she just stared at her lap, squeezing my hand so tight it was starting to go numb. “Anne. You’re going to hyperventilate. Slow down…”

But I didn’t know how to help her. I had no experience with emotional trauma, other than what I’d helped Vanessa through, but that was completely different. That experience wouldn’t help me with Anne.

“Why?” she croaked finally, as I dialed Kori’s number one-handed. “Why would she do this? Where would she take Hadley?”

What are you supposed to say when the truth will only make things worse?

“Anne…” I began, and she must have heard something in my voice. Something I didn’t want her to hear, but didn’t know how to hide. She looked up at me, and I realized panic had sharpened her focus, not dulled it. She was stronger than I’d thought, and that really shouldn’t have surprised me.

“You know something,” she said, her focus shifting back and forth between my eyes, silently demanding answers she had every right to, but I really didn’t want to give. “What’s going on, Cam?” I hesitated, and she squeezed my hand so hard I actually heard my knuckles groan. “Tell me!”

“I will, but I need you to stay calm, okay?” I said, and she nodded eagerly, desperate to hear what I desperately didn’t want to say. “Kori is bound to Jake Tower, just like I am. Only she’s bound much more tightly. And hers is a much closer, more direct bond.”

“What does that mean?” Anne demanded, and I gently pulled my hand from her grasp before she could break my fingers off.

“She works for him directly.”

“She…” Anne swallowed thickly, then started over. “Korinne has a direct link to Jake Tower—to the man who’s been after Hadley the whole time—and you just handed my baby to her?” She stood and backed away from me before I could pull her back down to the couch or try to shush her.

“Anne, I swear I didn’t think she’d…” My words trailed off as I realized our mistake. “We should have compelled her. Her binding to you and Liv is older than her marks from Tower—if she’d been under a geas from either of you, it would have trumped her binding to Tower.”