Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 82068 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82068 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
It’s a garage.
My heart rate quickens. All I need is for him to open one of the garage bays and I’ll be given my freedom. I bite on my bottom lip to keep the grin from spreading.
So close.
What about Megan?
If I can get out of here, I can gather the proper resources to come back for her. I’ll never get out of here if I keep hunting for her with zero regard for my own personal freedom.
Guilt niggles at me.
I ignore it to take in the magnificent garage. There are probably twenty or thirty vehicles parked in the huge space, but I don’t see any bays that open. I’m not exactly sure how we get out of here. We walk past a champagne-colored Rolls Royce, a cherry-red Bugatti, and a pearly-white Aston Martin. None of them look as though they’ve seen the outside of this garage.
“This one,” Caius says when we come to a matte black Mercedes-Benz G-Class with strange triangular metal devices in place of wheels. He pulls a key fob from his pocket and hits a button to unlock it.
“What kind of car is this?” I ask as I attempt to figure out the crazy-looking wheels the Mercedes has.
“Your dad has one of these cars. Don’t act like you’ve never seen one.” He opens the passenger side door and releases my wrist. “Get in.”
Asshole.
He hits another button on his fob and a running board comes down. It’s still high off the ground, so I have to hike my leg up to reach it. I quickly scramble into the vehicle, careful not to flash him my nakedness under my robe. Once he closes my car door, he strides around to his side and climbs in.
The engine purrs to life. I pull on my seat belt, though Caius doesn’t bother with his. I’m eager to get out of this hotel of horrors and around some real people. Maybe Chalet de la Nuit will be somewhere in town. My chances of escape are increasing.
“Why are you people doing this to me?” I ask as he puts the vehicle into drive. “This is all just so…crazy.”
Rather than responding, he gives me the cold shoulder and pulls through his parking spot before turning right. We drive down a narrow corridor until we reach a garage bay. It must have a sensor because as soon as he reaches it, it begins to open.
So close to freedom.
When we’re out of here, I could jump out at a stoplight and flag down another car. I’m going to escape, that much I do know.
Bright white assaults my vision and for a moment, I wonder if another car is driving toward us. I squint against it and try to see. It doesn’t take long for me to realize it’s not headlights.
It’s snow.
A lot of it.
Now the strange tires make sense. They’re some sort of snow tires.
Where the hell am I?
Caius is relaxed as he drives—one hand on the wheel and the other resting on the center console. While he maneuvers expertly through the snowy terrain, I strain my eyes, trying to make sense of my surroundings.
There’s snow everywhere.
Snow and trees and mountains.
I twist around to see what I’m leaving behind. It’s a massive building but not a hotel. I’m guessing it’s a ski lodge—or at least used to be one. Now it’s where they torture their victims.
I’m unable to guess the size of the lodge and don’t care to. I turn back around to see where he’s taking us. All thoughts of running away have been extinguished. I’m not going anywhere barefoot and in nothing but a robe.
A shiver runs through me that has nothing to do with the snow outside. The inside of the Mercedes is toasty. No, the cold chill settling in my bones is because I realize I’m still a captive. The scenery has changed, but my predicament remains the same.
As Caius winds through the trees, we pass a small, typical-looking log cabin. Two deer just beyond the cabin stare at us as we pass.
“Is that Gareth’s house?”
“Recognizing things again?” he tosses back, not answering my question.
We bump along the snow-covered road, which eventually sends the deer running for safety in the thick woods behind the cabin. As we drive, we seem to be climbing higher in elevation.
It’s obvious we’re not going to the city or where people who can save me are.
We’re just going farther and farther away.
He drives through a tree-lined area of the road and when it opens back up, a large, snow-covered home stares us down. It’s enormous and beautiful.
“What is this place?” I ask as we drive toward it.
“Chalet de la Nuit,” he says in an emotionless tone. “Our home.”
Dread pools in my stomach. Nothing about this is familiar. This is not my home. I’m a college student at… My brain blanks out for half a second, sending spasms of panic through me.