Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 98398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 492(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 492(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
Hot tears trailing down my cheeks, I took some slow, deep breaths, controlling the ache in my back, trying to hold back the panic. I needed to stay calm and figure out my next steps.
I knew I needed to buy myself some time. Maybe, if I could humanize myself to these men, they would be less inclined to hurt me. I wasn’t some rich woman who lived high above them in the lap of luxury. I was a girl who grew up on the streets, like them. I didn’t know if it would make a difference, but I didn’t see how I had any better options.
“Can I have some water, please?” I called out into the dark abyss around me, hoping someone could hear me. If I could get someone here talking to me, then I could stall them, hopefully long enough for me to figure a way out of this. And if someone was talking to me, they weren’t trying to kill me, or worse.
There was no answer.
“Please, can I get some water? My throat hurts,” I said again, letting a sob escape between my words.
I remembered reading somewhere that some men couldn’t stand women’s tears, that it spoke to something primal in them, and they felt the need to stop them. Of course, on the other side, there were some men who got off on hurting women. I had no idea which kind of men I was dealing with, but I was so scared I wouldn’t have been able to stop the tears even if I tried.
“Stop your whining,” another, deeper voice said. “I’ll get you some fucking water.”
A few minutes later, the shorter guy with dark hair and thick eyebrows stepped into the light with a water bottle in his hand. He cracked it open and held it to my lips, then tipped it back, forcing me to take several long gulps before he took the water away and threw it behind him.
I gasped and choked on the little bit of water I wasn’t able to swallow fast enough. As soon as I caught my breath, I looked back up at the man who just stared at me, his arms crossed over his chest as he glared.
“Thank you,” I said.
“I wouldn’t be thanking me if I were you. Why does a nice girl like you have to go and do something so fucking stupid?”
“I don’t know what I did,” I said.
“You stuck your nose where it didn’t belong. You were helping that fucking lawyer bring a case against me and mine. You would think a girl like you, living in the neighborhood we found you in, would have been smarter than that.”
“I wasn’t,” I said. “I was just doing my job. All I was doing was filing papers.”
“You going to tell me that rich motherfucker didn’t actually have you doing research and investigating?”
“That’s not my job.” More tears flowed freely down my face. “I’m a paralegal, my job is to file documents, drop things off at the courthouse, or maybe even file a motion or two. I don’t do any of the investigative work, I do the busywork. I don’t know what Mr. Astrid was working on, he kept it very close to his chest.”
It wasn’t a complete lie. I was the only one who knew what Harrison was working on. He always kept his cases very close to his chest. Even going as far as sending his secretary to Atlantic City where she would be safe from the blowback.
“Maybe that’s true, but you seem like a smart girl, you should know. Sometimes it doesn’t matter what you do or how careful you are. People like us often end up under the tires of people like them. You, little girl, are insignificant when it comes to the wheelings and dealings of people like them.” The man walked away, his footsteps echoing throughout the space.
After a moment, somewhere in the distance the footsteps paused. Door hinges screeched open, followed by the slamming of the door closing. I was pretty sure this time I was all alone. I couldn’t hear anyone breathing. I couldn’t sense anyone near me.
With another deep breath, trying to calm my nerves and stop the shaking of my entire body—which was partly from the cold but mostly from fear—I closed my eyes and tried to listen. There had to be something that could tell me where I was.
The silence around me was deafening, so I tried to listen harder and concentrate on the far-away ambient noises. There was something rhythmic, but I couldn’t quite tell what it was. Something hitting something wet, maybe? I strained to hear, trying to figure out what it could be. The loud and distinct sound of the air horn of a cargo ship suddenly pierced the air, startling me.
I had to be by the docks. That rhythmic sound I heard had to be waves hitting the dock pilings.