Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 80940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Once we reached the bottom, I moved the flashlight across the room. There was nothing down here except shelves with old jars of food, some broken, some intact.
“This isn’t the place,” I said softly, a rush of relief nearly causing my body to drop to the floor. “She wasn’t here.”
Bubba sighed. “Not gonna lie, I’m glad we checked it out. The thought of women being held captive here on the ranch made me sick to my stomach.”
“Me too. Let’s get out of here.”
##
I stood in the kitchen and looked down at Piper lying in Mallory’s lap as she slept. The dog barely moved, almost like she knew Mallory needed the sleep and didn’t want to disturb her.
Bending down, I lightly shook her on the shoulder. “Mallory?”
Her eyes fluttered open, and she let out a moan. “My neck…”
“How in the world did you fall asleep on the kitchen floor?” I asked.
A long breath escaped from between her lips as she rotated her head. Piper crawled out of Mallory’s lap and headed to the back door to be let out.
“Someone was at the front door, and I panicked,” she said as she stood. She watched Piper run around the backyard through the window.
“You didn’t answer it, did you?” I asked.
“No,” she said with a humorless laugh. “No, I had an anxiety attack and dropped to the floor, and I crawled to where you found me. Piper got on my lap and…I guess I fell asleep.”
“Let me check my security cameras and see who it was,” I said as I pulled out my phone and opened the app.
Mallory rubbed her hands together nervously while I checked.
“It was Billy. He’s the foreman of the ranch and my best friend. He most likely saw my truck still here and thought I was home. He called a few times, and I didn’t answer as I wasn’t sure what to tell him.”
She frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Bubba mentioned an old root cellar across the ranch. It was one of the first barns on the property, and my grandparents had a small cabin built there after they first bought the ranch. I needed to make sure that wasn’t where you were kept.”
Gasping, her hand flew to her mouth.
“It wasn’t,” I said quickly. “I trust every single guy working on this ranch with my life. It’s remote, so I wasn’t sure if someone else had stumbled upon it and thought it would make a good place to hide women.”
“What was in the cellar?”
“There are shelves with jars of food. A giant metal door in the ground opens up, and the steps lead directly into the cellar.”
Mallory hugged herself and shook her head. “No, I was in a room that was like a basement. The floor was dirt, and the walls were bricks. When I ran through the door, I could only go to the left, which led to a staircase up to a barn. To be honest with you, I’d never been in a barn before.” She paused. “Well, if I have, I don’t remember it. Once I got to the top of the steps I ran as fast as possible through the barn and out another door.”
“What did you see when you got out?”
“Forest. Everywhere. There was a road, but I went the opposite way. I didn’t see anything or anyone. Not even a car or truck. There were no houses or any other roads, nothing but forest and mountains. I climbed up steep hills, I remember that. By the way, do you happen to have any ointment I can put on my feet?”
The way she went from subject to subject caused my head to spin.
She turned her back to me and lifted one of her feet. She pulled the fuzzy sock off, and I gasped.
“Mallory, your feet are torn up!” How had I not noticed her feet?
I took her hand and led her down the hall to my bedroom, where we entered the en suite.
“Wow! This bathroom is even nicer than the one upstairs.”
“Sit up on the counter.”
She did as I asked while I searched through my cabinets and found some Neosporin and bandages. “Let’s clean your feet before we put all this on. You have fuzz stuck in the cuts from the socks.”
Nodding, she pulled the sweatpants up to her knees. I filled the sink beside her with warm water and motioned for her to put her feet in, and she pivoted on the counter to do so.
“Does it burn?” I asked.
“No, not really,” Mallory said softly. “It did when I took a shower this morning, though.”
I lifted her right foot and used soap to very gently clean all the scratches and deeper wounds. This girl had to be pretty damn tough to run through the forest and elements without shoes.
After repeating the process with her left foot, I drained the water and rinsed her feet. Using a towel, I carefully patted each foot dry, trying not to look at her face. She was biting down on her lip, and it killed me knowing she was in pain.