Miya couldn't speak because he was right. Why would anyone believe her? The Phaedra gave him double seals, and he was about to save the long-lost princess from traitorous soldiers. If she said anything about the captain, then he was her victim. The victim of her slander and lying tongue.
“You've spent your life asking for it. You chose all of this. You could have gone home. No one will believe you. No one will care. They know what kind of woman you are. The kind who sullies the name of good men and dirties up everything she touches.”
The attack ravaged deeper than he could know, because she'd lived with that voice inside her all this time. Miya ran away for a reason. The deal her father made over her was just as bad. At least out here, Miya found some power. Or she toldherself that. But none of these justifications softened what the captain said. It felt too true. Wasn't it her fault she ended up here? Maybe she deserved this.
“You came to my room. Remember? You offered yourself to me. You can't threaten me, you fucking slut.” He gripped her chin and jerked her face toward him. “You're still mine. Hear me? Mine.”
Miya nodded, but he didn't let go, so she spoke. “Yes.”
He kept driving faster and faster. “I'll straighten you out before I give you to the Phaedra.”
Her breathing quickened too much, clouding her thoughts with panic. Had to stay calm.
For several minutes, she watched out the window, trying not to think about what the captain said, and instead focused on getting away from him. It didn't matter if he was right or not.
She wasn't surrendering.
And she didn't claw back her power at Rafferty by panicking. This was a life Miya knew.
A tear fell. She let him hear the brokenness in her voice. “You're right about me. I brought this on myself.”
His gaze lingered on her, softening. “I will miss you, Miya, no matter how much you piss me off. There's just something about you. I'll cherish our last few days together.”
She felt like throwing up, and if it happened, she was aiming for him. “I was so stupid thinking I could get away. How did you know I was the one who talked to the United?”
He drove with one hand on the wheel, the other on his armrest, close to his handgun. “It was either you or the servant. Bale and your boss would get killed going to the United. You seemed most likely.”
“That’s it? That was all you had?”
“I was right.” He rolled his shoulders. “If I wasn’t, so what? I thought you were just a whore at the time. And you ran off with another man.”
So what? Miya settled back in her seat. Life meant nothing to him.
They drove a long way. When he finally stopped, he pulled up to a small wooden cabin in the woods. He unfastened her and hoisted her over his shoulder to carry her inside, where he boarded up the windows and placed a lock on the only door.
The cabin was furnished with a few necessities, only a bed, a dresser, and a table with chairs. He let her walk freely inside and gave her a change of clothes.
The bathroom didn’t have much, not even a mirror. He'd clearly prepared this place for having captives. Her insides twisted. Had he used this cabin before? For what?
Miya clenched her muscles as she changed into cotton pajamas and threw her old clothes in the trash can. They were stained with Lance’s blood.
During the car ride, she’d brainstormed how to escape from him. No telling if her ideas would work, but she could do damage with the little she had. Whenever fear threatened to cloud her thinking, she pictured the captain’s eyes while his men died on the ground. No matter what happened, she had to do every last thing she could to escape.
And the captain had given her one idea back at the scene of his slaughter.
Miya unfastened her bra and slid it out from her shirt. She bit through the fabric near the wire until she could pull the metal free with her fingers, then bent it in half.
Okay. Miya took a deep breath and shoved both ends into the outlet. A shock ripped through her. She fell back, clenching her mouth shut to keep quiet.
Damn it! That hurt.
Next, she placed the garbage can beneath the outlet, piled the clothes up, and settled her bra over the wire hanging there.
Nothing happened.
Come on.
If she didn’t join the captain soon, he'd check on her. Miya poked her head out to see the captain placing sandwiches on paper plates at the dinner table.
