Prisoner (Criminals & Captives, #1)

by Annika Martin

The final piece of the puzzle falls in. The basement. The other boys. All those years. It wasn’t some custody dispute that got him on that milk carton. I know what happened to him sure as I feel his hand pressing my wrists together. I’m filled with a sense of grim triumph. “What would you have done,” I whisper, “if I hadn’t picked your story for The Kingman Journal?” He smirks. “I knew you would.” “Why?” I demand. His eyebrows shoot up. He’s surprised I’m not freaking out still. But I have a long history of coping with insanely violent situations. “Because you’re easy,” he says. My indignant huff only makes him smile, a little smug. “I knew that if I gave you a sob story, you’d fall for it. And you did.” “It was pretty genius,” I say. “By focusing on the most peripheral details, you could leave the horror at the center to the reader’s imagination.” “Thank you for your kind assessment, Ms. Winslow,” he says mockingly. “You only had to get those details just right, and the reader fills it in for you. It’s the best kind of lie to tell. One that’s true. Nothing’s quite as effective as truth, is it?” Grayson freezes. Wondering what I know. “It’s what Hemingway did. Stayed on the edge of it. One raw line of truth and then another.” His hands tighten on my wrists. “And now I’m free.” But I’m not through with him. “How does it feel?” I ask. “To be on the other side?” “Don’t.” A shiver runs through me at the fury in his voice. But when you’re stuck in a ring with a crazed animal, y...