Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 137205 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137205 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
“I appreciate your attempts to reason with me, Hallie, but you should know they won’t work.”
As he says it, he releases my wrists and grabs my hips, turning me around so I’m facing the dungeon wall. Before I can do anything with my hands, he shoves me forward and uses his body to pin me against the wall.
The hair on the back of my neck stands up as he reaches down and lifts my skirt, running his hands over my ass.
“Very nice,” he says, as if appraising fruit at the market.
He’s a psycho.
My gaze flickers to the door. I’m still doubtful running will work, but I don’t know how else to keep his hands off me. If it’s my only chance to escape, I have to take it.
Rearing back suddenly, I crack my skull against his as hard as I can.
Ouch.
It hurts like hell, but he wasn’t expecting it, so he stumbles back a step.
Fear courses through me. I know he’ll be meaner if he catches me now, so I can’t let him. I lunge for the door, grabbing the handle to yank it open.
Only when I pull with all my might, nothing happens. It’s like tugging on a handle attached to a solid brick wall.
Horror floods me as I pull harder. It doesn’t make sense. I know this is a door. I came in through it. Why won’t it open?
Why won’t it open?
As if he can hear my frantic thoughts, Calvin explains, “It’s locked. You can’t get out of this room until I let you out.
Until he lets me out?
Dread blossoms in my chest.
That can’t be true.
It can’t.
It can’t, it can’t, it can’t.
“You’ll never let me out,” I whisper.
“I will, after I’m finished with you.”
His words slide over me slowly, depositing horror and dread everywhere they touch.
He says it like I should find some solace in his promise, but his promise is horrific.
Hopelessness swallows me up when he steps into sight. It’s the way he moves. He isn’t moving quickly, anxious to catch me before I can escape. He isn’t even trying to stop me like he would if I stood a chance at escaping him. Instead, he leans a shoulder against the cool wall and watches me yank uselessly on a door that won’t budge.
Tears fill my eyes. This isn’t fair. I’m literally trapped inside this room with him.
Giving up on pulling the door open, I clench my fists and beat on it instead. “Help! Somebody please help me! I’m here against my will. I’m trapped in here with a man who wants to hurt me. Please, help me!”
Still unfazed, he examines his neatly trimmed nails. “No one will come.”
This really is Hell.
My chest begins to tighten, but I do my best to fight the onslaught of panic. I have to stay focused. A panic attack won’t get me anywhere.
A little voice whispers at the back of my mind, echoing a hopelessness I can’t accept yet.
Nothing will.
No. No, no, no. I won’t accept that. I can’t.
This can’t be happening.
My mind races to fit together all of the information I have, but the picture it paints is an awful one. If I can’t get out of this room until he lets me out…
I’m at his mercy in a way that’s grossly unfair. All I want is to leave, but I literally can’t until he chooses to release me. Letting me go has to be his choice, and he won’t make it until he’s been satisfied.
I can’t win. I can’t get out of this. I’m trapped here until… until he’s finished with me.
My stomach twists up until I think I might be sick.
I don’t accept answers I don’t like, he said on the phone, and he really meant it.
He’s not just an absolute psycho, he’s cruel. So cruel he has no qualms about stripping away my ability to defend myself just so he can get off.
I tilt my chin up as he pushes off the wall and moves closer.
I’m starting to realize there’s really nothing I can do to defend myself, but my defeat is so unfair, I’m struggling to come to terms with it.
Tears glisten in my eyes. I refuse to look at him, so he grabs my jaw and tilts my face until I relent and meet his dark, unfeeling eyes.
He leans in. My heart jumps when his lips brush mine again. I didn’t really feel it before, I was too shocked, too convinced I could get out of this somehow.
Now, I’m trapped in cement shoes. I can feel the icky muck of inevitability beneath them, and I know there’s really nowhere to run.
I have no choice but to please this monster, so I kiss him back.
It feels terrifying and horrible at first, like selling a piece of my soul to the devil and praying he doesn’t demand the rest.