Total pages in book: 180
Estimated words: 182075 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 910(@200wpm)___ 728(@250wpm)___ 607(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 182075 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 910(@200wpm)___ 728(@250wpm)___ 607(@300wpm)
And then he left the room too.
She’d fucking destroyed all of them.
10
“Ihave to go into the office today,” Billy told her as he came into the bedroom.
She was still in bed. What was the point in getting up? What did she have to do? To look forward to?
After Billy caught her trying to leave him two weeks ago, things had gotten a lot worse for her. She didn’t know what he’d injected her with or why, but when she’d woken up, she’d been in a private car with a truly terrifying man driving them.
Billy had whispered threats to her the whole drive.
By the time they’d arrived back in Birmingham, she’d been a mess. And she wished that was the worst of it.
However, Billy had been just warming up. He’d gone on to enact all of the things he’d whispered to her. For the first week after, she hadn’t even been able to get out of bed because of the pain.
Now, she just didn’t see the point.
“I don’t have to tell you to behave, do I, Indie? Because you know what happens when you disobey, don’t you?” He sat on the bed, facing her. “You don’t want to make me hurt you again.”
God.
Could he hear himself?
“I know you’ll do what you’re told. Because you don’t want me to punish anyone else for your misbehavior. Right?”
He’d threatened to harm the guys and Maggie if she tried to escape again.
“Here is your phone. I expect you to answer it if I call.” He placed it on the bedside table. She eyed it like it was a snake.
Now that she knew he had control of it she wanted nothing to do with it.
“Don’t look so sad.” He ran a finger down her cheek and she flinched. “I’ll be home soon.”
Yeah.
That’s what she was afraid of.
Indie jumped out of bed, racing into the bathroom to throw up what little was in her stomach.
She heaved up bile, her hand on her stomach. Tears ran down her face at the force of her vomiting.
God.
She needed to get to the doctor.
This wasn’t normal.
She was losing weight and she was so tired.
Tired of living this life.
Of never knowing when Billy was going to explode. She was always on the edge of that cliff, waiting for the shove.
And now the vomiting had started.
Why?
Why her?
Three weeks had passed since Billy caught her at the guys penthouse and he was spending more time at the office.
Thank God.
Indie knew she should’ve tried to get a message to the guys to let them know that Billy had been in their apartment.
But she’d been too scared to attempt it. How would she do it with him monitoring her phone? Plus, he’d taken her bank card, not that she’d had access to much money anyway.
And it wasn’t like she’d been able to get out of bed for the first week, anyway.
Indie felt beaten down and alone. Had the guys been concerned when she didn’t turn up like she said she would?
Or had they not even noticed?
Had they not even cared?
After brushing her teeth and having a shower, Indie headed into the kitchen. Maybe she should eat. It might settle her stomach.
The doorbell rang before she got there and she moved to the door. She noticed the mail on the floor where the postie had put it through the slot in the door. Picking it up, she opened the door to find a huge bunch of flowers in front of her.
“Indie Madden?” a bored-sounding voice asked.
“Yes,” she replied.
“These are for you.”
After signing for them, she carried them inside.
Billy had sent several bunches of flowers to her over the past few weeks.
However, she’d stopped believing that he felt bad for hurting her. Nope, these flowers were just another way to manipulate and control her.
Placing the flowers down, she backed away from them. Her stomach rolled again and she had to take shallow breaths to stop herself from throwing up.
She heard her phone ringing from the bedroom where Billy had placed it. Shit. It was probably Billy.
She rushed into the bedroom and checked the caller ID.
Relief filled her.
Maggie.
“Maggie? How are you?” she answered the call.
“I’m all right,” Maggie replied in an odd voice
“Are you sure? You sound strange,” Indie told her.
“It’s just . . . Uncle Willy. He’s been a bit . . . off.”
Maggie’s uncle was one of the best people she knew.
“Look, don’t worry about that,” Maggie said hastily. “We’re coming home soon. I think we’ll be back by Sunday. Wanna hang out Monday? Get a pedicure? We’re probably going to be home a week before the next job.”
“You are? That’s awesome.” She tried to inject enthusiasm into her voice.
But it was difficult with everything that was going wrong with her life.
“What’s going on?” Maggie asked, sounding concerned.
“Oh, same old. You know how it is, I’m just living the boring suburban life, not jetting around the world like you.”