Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 87961 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87961 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
“Walk,” he snarls whilst rubbing at his eyes.
He moves behind me, now pressing the barrel of the gun into my back.
I open the door and step out into the cold evening air. He rams the gun into me again, making me stagger forward a few steps.
Pointing towards Euan’s black BMW, he orders, “Get in and drive.”
I nod and wait for him to move away before making a break for it. My heart pounds like a train as I cover the short distance back to the apartment building. If I can just…
A hand slams down on my shoulder, and I fall to my knees.
“Help!” I scream. Someone will hear me, surely.
I’m hauled to my feet, and then he brings the back of his hand down across my face. I sway from the force of the blow, and blood fills my mouth. Tears prickle my eyes as pain explodes across my jaw.
“Get in the fucking car!” he shouts.
I move silently and slide into the driver’s seat, while Rich moves around the front of the car. His eyes drill into me the entire time.
Once he’s seated next to me, he resumes pointing the gun in my direction. “Get on I-65.”
“Where are we going?” I ask.
“Just do as you’re fucking told, bitch,” he snaps. “Go the speed limit. Use your fucking blinker, and if we get pulled over you better keep your mouth shut. I’m not above killing a cop.”
We drive for several hours, and at the Georgia state line he orders me to pull over into an abandoned car park. I do as he says. He’s stopped pointing the gun in my face now, but he still has it. I’m not all that keen on provoking him.
“Pull up behind the SUV,” he says.
I pull up behind the only car in the car park and cut the engine. There’s a tense silence as I wait with baited breath for him to make his next move. He takes the gun out again and orders, “Get out.”
I open the door and slide out until my feet touch the tarmac.
“Come here,” he says, wiggling his finger as he opens the boot of the SUV.
I approach cautiously. One glance in the back of this car has me paralyzed with fear. There’s rope, a couple of shovels, and some tarpaulin. He’s going to kill me. He’s going to kill me. The thought runs through my mind over and over. He pulls a length of rope from the back and moves toward me. I don’t think, I just react. I swing my leg back until my knee meets his groin. He manages to dodge at the last minute, and although I make contact, it doesn’t quite have the impact I would have liked. I turn to run, but he grasps a fistful of my hair. I scream, as my scalp feels like it’s on fire.
Something hits me in the side of the head, and then everything goes black.
When I come to, I’m lying on my side and my head is pounding like a jackhammer. The hum beneath me tells me I’m in a car. I try to sit up, but my hands are bound behind my back. There’s also a gag in my mouth, but, on the bright side, I’m not dead. Yet. I lose track of time, but eventually the car rolls to a stop and the engine cuts off.
The boot opens and Rich grabs my arm, pulling me out. He pushes me forward and shoves my bound wrists. My shoulders scream in protest, but I say nothing.
He walks me to the front door of what looks like a normal house. It’s not too big, not too small, but I notice that there are no other houses near it. He marches me up the steps to the front door and knocks three times, and then the door opens. The guy standing on the other side is almost as wide as he is tall. His eyes trace over me, landing on my face and focusing on the gag. His brow furrows, and his eyes dart from me back up to Rich. “The fuck?”
“Kid wouldn’t pay. Threw her to me as collateral,” Rich chuckles.
I watch a slow, sick smirk crawl over the man’s face, but he continues to block the doorway. “Collateral, huh? See how the boss feels about that. He does love women, so…” He moves away from the door.
There’s something about the way he’s smiling that makes me think I’m missing out on some private joke.
Rich drags me into the house. There’s a haze of cigarette smoke that seems to linger in the air. The house is dark, with dim lighting everywhere. I hear the murmur of several men talking, then the rumble of their laughter coming from somewhere inside the house. He pushes me down a narrow hallway. All I can hear is my pulse hammering in my ears and my quickening breath. There’s a dark wooden door at the end of this long hallway. That’s where he’s taking me. I panic. What if this boss guy is worse than Rich here? What if he plans to kill me? Or rape me? This is not happening! I will not be a victim, a statistic. In a last-ditch attempt to escape, I throw my weight back against Rich, knocking him off balance and into the wall behind us.