Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 88673 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 443(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88673 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 443(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
I need a plan. I need to figure a way out of this because my interactions with him probably total up to two minutes and in those two minutes he threatened to kill me three times.
I’m just gonna kill you and stuff your dead body into that trailer you were hauling.
You’ll sit down here in this little dungeon until some unsuspecting construction worker finds your dead and decaying body six months from now.
Both of those were bad, but it was the middle one that really jolted me into compliance. I’ll just push you. Meaning down the stairs.
I would die. I would break my neck if he pushed me down those stairs. And even though the other two were more vulgar, they were abstract. More of a warning than an immediate threat.
The stairs were right in front of me and the action he would take was seconds away.
Focus, Clover, I tell myself. Because the other two threats might have only been a warning, but there’s something in this man’s voice that tells me he’s totally serious. He’s here for a reason and if I get in his way, he’s not going to hesitate.
You’re not gonna fuck up what I’m doing. He said that too. You’re just not.
I’m not getting out of here alive. Even if I do comply with everything he tells me to do. Maybe I don’t live in Disciple anymore, but I’ve heard my share of what’s been going on up here since Collin Creed came back to town.
First Lowyn was in danger, then Rosie. And it’s all because of some place up in the hills that I didn’t even know existed, but is suddenly involved in some very serious shit.
Lowyn didn’t tell me much about what happened to her up in some remote village in the mountains, but she said more than enough for me to figure out that it’s got something to do with Collin and what he’s been doing these past twelve years.
That was bad enough, but I don’t live here anymore and I’m not involved in the daily life of Disciple, so it was easy to forget about it. Until Rosie’s son was kidnapped and that too had something to do with Collin.
Now this strange man is squatting in my half-renovated home and he tells me he’s here to do a job. There’s no way this has nothing to do with Collin Creed’s return.
I don’t even know what he was up to all those years he was gone and Lowyn wouldn’t go into details about that either, but it’s gotta be bad.
Which means I need to be smart or I’ll end up the next girl in trouble.
Hell, Clover, who are you kidding? You are the next girl in trouble! You’re gagged, and bound, and in a secret basement. If you don’t get out of here before this man finishes whatever it is he’s doing, you probably won’t get out of here at all.
This is when the danger of my situation turns into something very real and my heartrate kicks up, thumping in my chest. My hands begin to shake behind my back. Then my whole body is trembling, like I’m freezing cold, but actually, I’m so hot that sweat is dripping all down my body. My head starts pounding.
Take deep breaths, Clover. Take deep breaths. You’re going to give yourself a heart attack if you don’t try and calm down and be rational.
I’ve heard of people dying of fright, but never thought it was true. But the way I feel right now, I can easily see myself going into cardiac arrest over this because I can’t stop shaking.
I breathe like I’m in a yoga class. Long breaths in, controlled breaths out. And after a little while of this, the shaking starts to subside. I still feel like I’m cold, but at least my muscles are no longer on the verge of spasming.
Once my body calms down, I work on my mind. Because that’s the danger. The mind is where fear lives. Fear leads to panic and panic leads to mistakes.
I can’t afford to make a mistake. Not when my kidnapper is throwing gruesome threats around like confetti.
I breathe for a little longer as I try to envision the room around me. It’s been a long time since I’ve been down here, but it hasn’t changed. And it’s not part of the reno. I would never renovate this room. It’s a piece of history.
There are four windows. Two of them are underground now though, covered up with flower-bed dirt. The other two are boarded up. So even if I could get my hands free, I doubt I’d be able to get out one of those windows without a hammer to pry the nails off first.
So the only way out is up the stairs. And there’s no point in getting up the stairs if I can’t open the trapdoor. And right now I can’t because I have no hands and there’s a latch you have to release before pushing on it.