Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 76022 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76022 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
First thing the next morning, before I drove one more mile, I found a repair shop and spent a small chunk of precious money to have a mechanic look my car over for any kind of devices.
“Wait… what?” I asked when he dropped four little squares on the counter in front of me.
“Yep. Four.”
“Why would there need to be four?”
“My guess,” the mechanic, an older girl-dad who’d been very concerned at the idea of a single woman with a tracker on her car, said, “is he wanted to make sure that if you found one, you would likely stop looking and not find the others. Then backups in case of battery failure.”
“Wow.”
“I got a buddy heading out of town to visit his family. How about I have him take your trackers with him? Get him moving in one direction while you go the other way?”
“That would be amazing.”
And so it was.
His buddy went east.
I went west.
Then I fell in love with Shady Valley.
And a man named Saul Garza.
I should have known it could never last.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Este
Consciousness came in bursts of pain and confusion.
There was a burning in my lungs and an ache in my throat. Like I’d run a marathon. But also had a cold. Then, God, then there was the screaming pain to the side of my face and the jackhammering of a migraine behind my eyes.
A chill had crept into my bones, making my body rack with shivers. Everything around me felt cold and smelled damp.
I tried to lift my hands, to press them into my eyes to try to ease the throbbing headache. My wrists met resistance.
My mind reeled back.
To a bunker.
To bound wrists.
To two scary men looming over me.
It took a few seconds for my mind to catch back up, flipping through the memories that occurred after being dragged down to the bunker.
The negotiations, the tense ride home, the night of sleeplessness. Then, the next day, the money, work, the wonderfulness with Saul, followed by the awkwardness that still made my heart crumble despite my confusion.
Then, yes.
My dark home.
Trix on the floor.
Moving shadows.
Him.
My eyes flew open, but the brightness all around me was like knives stabbing my pained eyes, making me squeeze them shut again.
But I couldn’t keep them closed.
Not when I had no idea how long I’d been unconscious or what had been happening to me while I was.
I inched my eyelids open, ignoring the sharp stabs of pain and the nausea that rolled through my stomach, making bile rise up my throat.
It felt like it took a lifetime for my eyes to adjust.
But when they finally did, my stomach sank and twisted.
Because I was in a prison.
One that explained all the long days and nights of hammering, sawing, nailing, and sanding.
Coach Dover had been building a place where he could keep me. Not just for a few terrifying hours, but for an extended period of time.
What should have been cinderblock walls were instead bright blue and yellow soundproof tiles affixed to sheets of plywood.
The color choice wasn’t lost on me.
It was the old team colors.
The same colors I’d been wearing when he’d seen me for the first time.
Beneath me was unexpectedly soft, and when I looked down, I saw a mattress sitting on the cold cement floor.
No sheet.
No blanket.
The pillow behind me had no cover.
Everything smelled musty and dirty.
Now, it seemed, even I did.
My gaze slid to my wrists, finding zip ties around them.
Further down, my ankles had two interlocking zip tie cuffs as well, pulled so tight that I worried about circulation.
Not that circulation was at the top of my list of worries. Not as I heard the stomp of footsteps directly above my head.
What was he doing?
Getting supplies to torture me with?
My lower lip trembled, wondering what his plan was now. He’d never gotten me alone long enough to do any kind of real damage.
Was he going to hurt me? Rape me? Keep me like a girlfriend for days? Weeks? Months?
Would anyone ever find me?
Tears welled up and flooded my cheeks before I could try to stop them.
I turned my head, using my shoulder to wipe them away.
This was no time for tears. If I had any hope of getting out of here, I had to keep my wits about me, stay sharp, and look for any opportunity to get free.
I let my eyes slide closed, focusing on my breath, releasing all of the panic, all of the useless what-ifs.
Only when I didn’t feel dizzy with worry did I let my eyes open again.
Just as I did, I heard my name.
“Este!”
Saul.
Saul was at my door.
Sucking in a breath, I opened my mouth and screamed.
Once.
Twice.
Saul’s voice moved overhead, walking through my apartment, hopefully finding Trix.
Trix.
I screamed and screamed.
I pleaded for Saul to just sense I was right there, below his feet.
But… nothing.
Eventually, everything went silent in my home above me.