Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 69398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
The world goes quiet then.
I clench my eyes shut, and I pray.
Please.
THE SOUNDS OF SIRENS come two hours later. I know, because I’ve been checking the phone, over and over. I text Waverly’s number, telling her he’s outside looking for me, and he’s armed. She has the police call me to get a location from the phone, and then they assure me they’re on the way.
So I sit and wait.
I don’t know where he is—I haven’t heard a thing.
Car doors slam, shouts can be heard, and I press my hands to my chest in fear, waiting for the horrible sounds of him coming out and shooting, but they don’t come. The shouting gets more frantic, and then it stops. Only once it stops do I hear footsteps through the house and the sound of a voice I need more than anything in this world right now.
Bohdi.
“Merleigh?”
I push the cupboard doors open and step out just as he enters the room. The moment I see him, tears burst forth and roll down my cheeks and I’m running toward him. He catches me and pulls me into his arms, burying his face into my hair. I sob, finally releasing everything I’ve been holding inside. I kept strong, and I got out.
I got out.
Bohdi steps back and his eyes scan over me. “Did he hurt you? Are you okay?”
“I have a cut on my leg, but otherwise I’m okay.”
Bohdi kneels down and sees the slice on my leg and he mutters a curse. Then he rips his shirt off and ties it. “You’ve lost a hell of a lot of blood.”
I look down and see my entire leg is soaked in it.
Now the danger is gone, I am feeling a little queasy.
Bohdi stands, scooping me into his arms and carrying me outside just as two police officers step inside. They take one look at me and seemingly exhale with relief. “Ma’am, are you okay?”
I nod. “I’m okay, thank you for coming.”
“Can you tell us what happened?”
“She will, outside,” Bohdi growls. “This house is filthy.”
He walks me outside and I see Briella, Alarick, Waverly, and Mykel all standing by a police car, speaking with an officer. Briella sees me and she comes running, throwing her arms around me as soon as Bohdi puts me on the ground. I hug her tightly, and then Waverly when she comes over. I step back and see an officer putting the man into the back of a police car. He’s cuffed and protesting.
“We’ve been looking for him for quite some time, you were incredibly brave doing what you did,” a police officer tells me.
“I wasn’t letting him keep me captive,” I say softly. “I did what I had to do.”
“If you don’t mind me asking, how did you escape?”
I tell them everything, from me locking my keys out, to him picking me up and the show I put on to get away. They all look stunned when I’m done.
“You tricked him?” Waverly asks. “Girl, that is the smartest thing I’ve ever heard.”
The police officer nods. “That was an incredibly smart thing to do, and it worked. Well done. We’ll get a statement from you, but you’re free to go.”
“She needs a hospital,” Bohdi says, taking my hand and leading me to the truck.
Bohdi and I get into his truck, and the others follow behind in Alarick’s. We’re quite a way out of town and as we drive, I realize I made the right choice not running into these woods. I would have gotten lost and likely died. They’re dense, thick, and go for miles and miles. Even in a car, it takes us a while to get back onto the main road.
Bleeding like I am, it would have been dangerous.
“You really trick him like that?” Bohdi asks.
“Yeah. I guess because I’ve been a prisoner before, I know what it is people like him are looking for in a victim. I decided to go a different direction. It was foreign and it was without a doubt the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but it worked.”
“You’re fuckin’ incredible, do you know that?”
I smile weakly. “I was just ensuring I survived.”
He glances at me. “I’m sorry, Merleigh. The entire time you were gone, all I could fuckin’ think was if something happens to you, the last memory we have is of you bein’ so fuckin’ hurt. It killed me to even consider it. I need you to know that I’m sorry.”
I know he is.
God, do I know he is.
The anger I felt before I got taken, has gone. The fear of being captive again erased so much pain and made me realize just how lucky I am.
That luck includes Bohdi.
“Tell me why you didn’t go to the police when you killed her, Bohdi,” I whisper.
“I was tired, I was broken, and she had taken so much from me already. I didn’t want her to take my freedom, too. I didn’t mean to hurt her, fuck, I’m not like that. She was attacking me and I pushed her. She fell and hit her head. I could have done the right thing and gone to the cops, but I knew the chances of them believing me were next to none. I had no family. No support. I knew nobody would care if she went missing ...”