Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 99500 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 498(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99500 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 498(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
Oh God.
After what feels like an eternity of reckless driving, I slam again against the back of the trunk as we turn. The car bounces and groans as we travel over a long gravel drive. It finally rolls to a stop and the engine shuts off.
Fear weighs my body down and a wave of dizziness washes over me again. I get my hands ready, bared like claws, and bring my knees to my chest so I can kick out the second I can.
Gravel crunches beneath his feet as he steps out of the vehicle and then the car door slams. The footsteps make it closer. A fob beep resounds and then the trunk unlatches. Sunlight pours in as he lifts the trunk. I don’t waste a second, kicking forward and landing a loud crack on his jaw. It sends him stumbling away and just as he’s turned away from me, I scramble out.
On wobbly legs, shaking with terror and adrenaline, I take off running down the gravel driveway. Rocks stab at my bare feet and I cry out in pain. Veering off the road, I step onto the overgrown grass, picking up speed once my feet are no longer being battered.
Where am I?
There aren’t any houses around. Only trees.
“Get back here,” the man bellows, charging after me.
I screech because he feels too close, running faster than I’ve ever run in my entire life. My tears blur my vision. I blink them back, needing to focus on my surroundings so I don’t—
Slam!
I fall face first on the grass, my ankle screaming in protest, as my foot gets tangled up in an exposed tree root. My teeth bite into my tongue and the metallic taste of blood fills my mouth.
Get up!
I scrabble back to my feet, wincing when I put weight on my sore ankle. I’m about to take off again when my head smarts in pain, making me black out.
“Let go!” I bellow, clawing at the man’s hand that’s gripping my hair and yanking. “Ow! Stop!”
He drags me by my hair toward him and then easily hefts me over his shoulder, just as he did when he took me from my own backyard. Through my sobs, I beat my fist against his kidneys and claw at whatever skin I can get ahold of. He grunts and smacks the back of my thigh hard.
“Feisty like your mother.”
My blood runs cold. He knows Mom?
He walks past his vehicle and onto a wooden porch that’s flaking with paint. When he opens a door and steps through the threshold, I grab onto the frame, trying to keep him from taking me into his serial killer lair.
Since he’s bigger and stronger, he muscles his way ahead and my arms burn when I’m forced to let go.
“Please,” I choke out. “Let me go. I won’t tell a soul about this.”
His chuckle is dark and manic. “Oh, I want people to know. I want them to know what I’m capable of. That I’ll destroy you in whatever means possible unless they give me what I need.”
“You want money? Hugo is loaded. They all are. Name your price. They’ll pay it,” I rush out. “Just let me go.”
He ignores me and proceeds to carry me into a bedroom of the small house. I’m tossed onto the mattress, but before I can escape, the man pounces, shoving a knee against my chest. I can’t breathe with the pressure he’s putting on me and everything turns black.
My eyes flutter back open what must only be seconds later to discover my wrist is zip tied to one corner of the bed. He has my other wrist and is forcefully also zip-tying it, this time to the other corner.
I’m trapped.
Completely at the mercy of a monster.
My hair has come loose from the hair tie and sticks to my sweaty face. From beneath the curtain, I can see him as he walks over to the end of the bed. Testing my restraints, I try to pull my hands to me only to be met with searing pain biting into the flesh of my wrists.
“Let me go,” I screech. “Let me go! Let me go! Let me go!”
“Stop being a fucking brat or I’ll gag you.”
More tears well and flood out. I bite down on my bottom lip, finally taking in the man before me. He’s tall and muscular—the kind of guy who spends more time at the gym than anywhere else. His skin is a sun-kissed golden hue and his blond hair that’s longish and curling over his ears shimmers in the light.
My monster looks like an angel.
He’s older than me and Spencer, but definitely younger than Hugo by at least a decade. The man’s green eyes are nearly glowing with some evil emotion I’m completely terrified of.
“You thought you could ignore me?”
I scowl at him, again yanking on the restraints even though it’s pointless. “I don’t know who the hell you are!”