Total pages in book: 215
Estimated words: 217988 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1090(@200wpm)___ 872(@250wpm)___ 727(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 217988 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1090(@200wpm)___ 872(@250wpm)___ 727(@300wpm)
There was a beat of silence. “Sure, I’ll look for her. Bunny, remember, you can’t tell anyone I was here. Pinky swear.”
She felt a finger brush hers and she wrapped her little finger around his, savoring the contact.
“I hope you don’t die,” she whispered.
“Bunny, it won’t be me dying tonight. I promise you that.”
“Hero?”
“Yes?”
“Be safe.”
1
Two months later . . .
Autumn spotted a man standing outside her apartment door as she stepped out of the stairwell. Her heart skipped a beat, making her feel slightly ill. Her body had been doing some odd things lately.
Apparently being kidnapped, starved, and assaulted could be really hard on a person. Her sleep was interrupted by nightmares, she hated being in small spaces, and she’d had several panic attacks.
Shifting the bag of groceries to one arm, she moved carefully toward the overweight, middle-aged man standing in front of her door.
Holding a box that had a red ribbon tied around it.
This wasn’t the same apartment she’d been living in before she’d been kidnapped. Her landlord had been kind enough to let her out of her lease early so she could move here. It was in a pretty bad neighborhood, but it was far cheaper. And since she wasn’t sure when she’d manage to go back to work, she’d needed to keep her expenses low.
“Who are you?” she asked.
The man turned with a big smile that looked entirely too cheesy to be real. And who had such white teeth? He had the worst combover she’d ever seen. He was taller than she was, but then, at five foot one, most people were.
She drew her sleeves down over her free hand. She always made sure to wear long sleeves now. No way did she want anyone to see her scars and wonder what had happened to her.
Why was this man here? No one ever visited her.
Even her boyfriend and her best friend had abandoned her. They’d visited her once in the hospital. That was it. She ground her teeth together.
Who the fuck broke up with someone when they were in the hospital?
Her ex-boyfriend, that’s who.
Asshole.
Bastard.
Jerkface.
And then there was Laura. Her supposed best friend. One visit from her in the hospital and then poof, she’d ghosted her. She knew Laura could be selfish, but she’d never thought that the other woman would abandon her like she had.
“Hello!” he said cheerfully.
“I should warn you that I have a stun gun!” She reached into her shopping bag and wrapped her hand around the first thing she could find, tugging it out.
“That’s a banana.”
“It only looks like a banana. It’s really a stun gun.” She waved it at him.
He gave her a doubtful look. “It’s a banana.”
“No, it’s not.”
“Right. Anyway, little lady, no need to be scared of me.” He drew out a piece of paper from his pocket. “Are you Autumn Snowden? Interesting name. Autumn like the season, and snow as in winter. Shouldn’t you be Autumn Leafden or Winter Snowden?” He guffawed like he’d just said the funniest thing ever.
“Funny, I haven’t heard that . . . today.”
“Well? Are you?”
“Yes. What do you want?”
The man gave her a wide smile. “Well, Miss Snowden, it’s your lucky day. I have a gift for you.”
“I don’t want it.”
“But you don’t know what it is.”
“Is it in that box?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Then no.”
He blinked. “You don’t want the gift because it’s in a box?”
“I don’t like boxes.”
“You don’t like boxes. Of course. Why would you like boxes? Nobody likes boxes.”
“Lots of people like boxes.” Wow, this guy was unusual. “But I don’t like them because I don’t know what is in them. I don’t like surprises.”
“What about when that surprise is a big fat check?”
“Is it a check?” she asked.
“Why don’t you open the box and find out?”
“I don’t think so. I don’t like this conversation. You can go.” She shooed at him with the banana. Too bad this thing wasn’t actually a stun gun.
A banana stun gun. Now that could be a bestseller.
“I can’t go. Not until you take the box.”
She paused, eyeing him warily. “What do you really want? People don’t just go around handing other people boxes. Well, they shouldn’t anyway. Anything could be in there.”
“I promise, this box is safe.”
“Right, like I’m going to take your word for it. I don’t know you.”
“Quite right. But if you just let me show you the check inside, I’m sure you’ll be happy.”
“Why would you give me a check?” she asked. That was odder than giving her a box.
“You won it!”
“I didn’t enter a competition, though.”
“That’s the great thing. It’s like a lottery. Everyone is entered automatically. And your name was pulled out.”
“How did you get my name, though?” she asked.
“If you have a social security number, we have your name.”
“That sounds dodgy.”
“Just let me open the box and show you.”
She prepared to run in case it was a trick. He set the box on the ground and opened the lid. Something shot out at her, making her gasp and stumble back.