Total pages in book: 140
Estimated words: 129207 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 646(@200wpm)___ 517(@250wpm)___ 431(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129207 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 646(@200wpm)___ 517(@250wpm)___ 431(@300wpm)
My father locks the door behind him as I try to scream, but with his grip around my throat, not a single sound comes out of me. As a young woman, I learned the hard way what would happen when I tried to scream. It’s a lesson I took all too seriously, but I’m no longer his imprisoned toy to destroy. I set myself free and am no longer bound by his monstrous rules.
Desperate for air, my knee comes up, but he springs back, knowing my tricks all too well.
“I’ve been looking for you,” he growls, using his grip on my throat to push me deeper into the room. He reaches the bed before throwing me down, and I desperately gasp for air as I crash against the mattress. “I’d almost given up until you decided to whore yourself out to that boy in front of thousands of people. And then it was all just a game of following the breadcrumbs. You led me here, Raleigh. And then your friend, Jessica, was all too happy to point me in the right direction.”
A deep sense of betrayal hits me right in the center of my chest. I knew Jessica hated me, and after being fired today, I knew she would be feeling some kind of way, but surely he’s lying. Surely she didn’t tell him exactly where to find me.
“I should have known you’d be with him,” he says, almost as though he can’t believe he hadn’t thought of it sooner. “It was always him, but that’s where you’re wrong, Raleigh. You’re mine. You’ve always belonged to me, and now I have no choice but to remind you of that, and once I’m done, I will end your miserable life.”
I scramble, trying to get off the bed to find something . . . anything that could be used as a weapon, but he moves like lightning, his steps surer than ever before. He’s stronger, more determined, and while I can still smell the whiskey coming from his pores, there’s something else there, something I don’t recognize.
As I scramble away, crying out for help, he grabs my ankle and pulls me back. “No,” I scream, kicking my foot back and slamming it against his chest, only he doesn’t budge, he just laughs instead.
“Ahhh, it seems you’ve regained some of that fighting spirit your mother used to have.”
The fuck? Did he used to hurt my mother like this?
There’s not a moment to dwell on it before he yanks me down the bed toward him, twisting my leg so hard that I have no choice but to roll onto my stomach to avoid dislocating my hip. I try to grasp the bed sheets to find leverage, but he comes down over me, rendering my attempts at freedom useless.
“The whole world thinks you’re a filthy whore,” he says, reaching over me and gripping my wrist. He pins it behind my back before fighting for the other, and before I even get a chance to try and pull them free, they’re bound with a rope. “Why don’t we show them just how much of a whore you really are.”
My father laughs as he pulls the ropes so tight the fibers dig into my skin, and I cry out, tears welling in my eyes.
This can’t be happening. Not again.
I try to buck him off me, but it only spurs him on. “Calm down, my filthy little slut. I know you’re fucking hungry for it, but there will be time for that. Let’s wait until we have our eager audience.”
The fuck is he talking about? Eager audience? It’s the second time he’s spoken about having an audience, and the thoughts of what he’s going to do make me sick. Is he planning to record me and post it online? If he’s so willing to show the world exactly what he’s done to me over the years, it’s confirmation that he was the one who leaked the story to the media.
His hands dig beneath me, violently searching for the button of my jeans between my body and the mattress, and I cry out again and again. “GET OFF ME, YOU PIECE OF SHIT.”
My protests earn me a solid blow from his elbow, right in the center of my spine. A sharp cry slips from my lips as the pain takes me right back to those abandoned years.
“You’re going down for this,” I vow. “No matter where you run, you won’t escape me. I’m going to make your life a living hell.”
Every ounce of my soul is spoken in those words, and yet all he can do is laugh. “We’ll see about that, princess,” he mocks. “Once I’m through with you, there’ll be nothing left worth saving.”
He makes me sick.
The button on my jeans pops open, and as he pulls back off me, he viciously yanks my jeans down my thighs. I take the moment to strike, whipping myself over and kicking out, slamming my foot across his face, listening to the satisfying way his nose crunches under the impact, just like the first time he ever touched me.