Page 62 of York

I gasped for breath and surged forward.

But a remote wasn’t much of a weapon.

Before my fingertips could touch the gun safe, I was shoved forward.

This time, his knees pressed into my back, making me choke for air once again as the crushing sensation felt like my ribcage was splintering apart.

I tried to scream, but nothing but a rough rasp escaped my lips.

I couldn’t reach him to hit, couldn’t kick, could do nothing but lie there and feel my life flash before my eyes.

Denali, being told by York that she would never see me again. The nonstop tears, the questions, the uncertainty. Denali, growing into a teenager and young adult without me. Traveling, falling in love, maybe having babies of her own one day…

I’d never get to see any of that.

Tears flooded my eyes as a whooshing sound had me jolting.

I knew that sound.

I’d heard it many times during my childhood. I’d been a reckless kid, never following the rules, always getting into little troubles.

And I had a grandfather who believed in corporal punishment, no matter how many times it never worked on me.

I knew the sound of a belt leaving its hoops better than most.

But this guy wasn’t there to beat me.

He didn’t even seem interested in assaulting me.

He just wanted me dead.

The loop closed around my forehead, and I tried to press my face to the hard floor, attempted to squeeze my chin to my neck. But all he had to do was grab my hair again, yank violently backward, and the belt was around my throat.

Tightening.

Squeezing.

The leather was more unrelenting than a hand, the frayed edges biting into my skin, the pressure even and unyielding.

My heartbeat went from a quick hammering to a slow, thick thud.

My vision darkened around the edges.

Then, suddenly, light.

Flashing around the room in a small strobe.

A voice.

“Hey!”

I wanted it to be him. I wanted it to be him so badly. But I didn’t know that voice. It sounded young, angry, but scared around the edges.

“Get off of her!”

The flashlight beam shook around the room for a second before I heard a crack as, I assumed, it smacked into the head of my attacker.

“What’s going on in here?”