CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Riley felt her whole body shake with shock at Hatcher’s words.
She closed her eyes, trying to pull herself together.
For a moment, memories came flooding back …
She was right there all over again, a little girl in a candy store with Mommy, when a bad man with a stocking over his head and a gun walked toward them, and the bad man said to Mommy, “Give me your money,” but Mommy was too scared to move, and then …
“Did you hear me?” Hatcher asked.
Her eyes snapped open again.
“I heard you,” she said.
“Is it a deal?”
Riley’s throat was so tight with anxiety that she could barely speak.
“I don’t believe you,” she managed to say.
Hatcher let out a peal of laughter.
“Oh, you believe me. Why wouldn’t you believe me? Haven’t I always been true to my word? Haven’t I always
