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Chapter Seventeen
Kinley fought to suppress a whimper as a metallic echo scraped overhead. Her left temple throbbed, and her arms were so numb that they didn’t feel attached to her body. She’d always known he’d find her eventually. Hoped and prayed that his milky blue eyes wouldn’t be the last thing she saw. Maybe it was a blessing that one eye was swollen completely shut. She could see out of her right, but her vision was blurry at best. She was being held in some kind of sparse decontamination room with a primitive shower and a drain just in front of her bare feet.
When she came to the first time, she’d been quaking with cold, dressed only in her bra and underwear. The grinding of old metal sounded again, and filth fell like ash over her body. The hatch above opened, and she recoiled from the faint stream of light. The pain in her head was so extraordinary, moisture welled behind her lids. The left side of her face pulsed as tears tried to force their way through the swelling. Metal squealed as her captor climbed down a steel ladder, his muddy boots descending toward her. Her heartbeat was thready and far too fast. Calm down. At this rate, she’d go into cardiac arrest before finding a way out of this.
“I’ve dreamed of this.”
That voice. That horrid voice had starred in her worst nightmares, and suddenly, all thoughts of fighting her captivity fled. The high-pitched whine broke something inside her, and she started to sob. There was no escaping this. Easton and Gus probably didn’t even realize she was missing yet, although she had no idea how long she’d been out. Long enough for the blood to dry on her face, plastering her hair to the side of her temple and cheek. Each time she breathed, the tight skin pinched and pulled. She had to keep him talking. The alternative was her being in some kind of excruciating pain. “The fifth victim. Sana Das. Meredith Calder is her child, isn’t she?”
The man looming above her sneered. “She was older than I thought. Bitch got pregnant.”
“Why did she think your brother was her father?” Each word tasted vile on her tongue. “Did you ever tell her it was you?” Her voice was white-hot and spewing with decades of hate. “That you raped and killed her young mother?”
His foot flew into her hip, sending shockwaves rippling through her. “Quiet! If it were up to me, I would’ve killed her the second I found out, but Max said no. He was always saying fucking no! Wanted to keep the baby. Wanted to raise her as his own. Never what I want! Wouldn’t let me near her.” Spit drippled from his mouth, chest heaving.
Thank God for that. Merry had been spared this man’s poison.
“I knew I’d find you again. Do you remember how you escaped?” A horrible smile stretched over plump, ruddy cheeks. His gut jutted out, testing the buttons of his shirt and revealing his pocked underbelly.
She wanted to tell him to go to hell, but her voice was paralyzed with fear. He patted the pocket of his filthy sweatpants, and right then and there, she wished for death. She didn’t consider herself weak, but she’d been strong enough to endure his torture the first time and knew with intimate detail the cruelty in store for her. A dull silver object swayed in her line of vision, and terror snaked over her bare skin. A hammer was hooked to his pocket. “I see you remember. It’s the same one.”
Before she had time to flinch, he’d gripped the handle and brought the tool down on her shin bone. Stars exploded behind her lids as the bone snapped and shifted. Searing pain radiated up her legs and into her thighs. Someone help me.
He raised it high over his again, poised to strike. “No, please. No more,” she sputtered as he slammed it into her other knee. She fell back and rolled to the side, unable to breathe, unable to think of anything but pain.
“Not gonna escape this time. We’re going to have a lot more fun before I let you die.” He stepped over her and jerked the tap. The shock of ice water beating down made every muscle constrict. The separated fragments of bone in her leg and knee screamed. Panic drove through her as water clogged her nose and throat. Breathless jerks wracked her body.
Help!The hollow space echoed with the drum of water and shrill, manic laughter. When the water abruptly turned off, she was gagging and shaking uncontrollably. Everything hurt, and the cold penetrated her body so deeply she wanted to shed her own skin to escape it. Without another word, he climbed slowly to the top of the ladder. Steel scraping steel as the hatch door opened was a torture all its own, and when a gust of autumn air rushed into the space and coated her freezing body, a cry of rage built in her throat, turning to a meager squeak as it passed her lips.
Blessed darkness began to swallow her. Why was this happening to her? Wasn’t enduring this horror once enough? Let me die. Please, please.
When she stirred, the darkness still surrounded her. If she was in some kind of doomsday shelter, it made sense, but at some point, there had been light in the space. Maybe her vision had failed. She no longer felt pain or cold, and while it was so much better than the alternative, she knew she was dying. Temperatures were too cold outside, and combined with the freezing water, she’d be lucky to make it another few hours. Her body had lost too much heat and couldn’t replace it nearly fast enough. She could no longer tell if she was shivering. Closing her eyes, she pictured Easton. Dark eyes that snapped with hunger when he looked at her. The same eyes that softened when he kissed her so gently like she was something precious. If she concentrated hard enough, she could feel his soft hair between her fingertips, just long enough to plunge her hands into. She loved the deep timbre of his voice. The odds he’d defied to become the man he was. Good to the core despite a torturous upbringing. It was at that moment that she realized what he’d given her.
Everything.
In the short span of a week, Easton had cared for her, protected her in a way that gave her a deep sense of peace, and offered his friendship. Had shared his family with her. His love. He hadn’t said the words, but she recognized the emotion filling up his gaze when he was inside her. She hoped he saw it reflected in her eyes as well. She loved him. A profound, irrevocable emotion. Her only regret was not finding him sooner. Fighting her feelings for him and wasting time when she could’ve been wrapped up in him. Of not being able to hold him when something was weighing heavy on his shoulders. Of not sharing more smiles and laughter. The whole time they’d been together, it had been him giving everything. Holding on tight so she didn’t break apart. She wanted to be there for him, too. Wanted to be a patch sewn on the quilt of his family.
The thud of feet tromping over hollow earth made her throat tighten. How far down did the numbness go? Would she feel it this time when he hurt her? The hatch opened, and the strobe of a flashlight illuminated the space.
“Fuck! Oh, fuck. She’s here. Gus, she’s in bad shape. She’s…”
She’d never hear Easton sound so broken. Easton! Her heart would break if her mind was playing tricks on her. There was a thud, and the stomp of feet.
“Oh, God, baby. I’m so fucking sorry.”
Inside, she was screaming with joy, but she couldn’t get her body to respond. She was able to see him, hear him, but her brain and body were on lockdown. She was trapped inside herself, unable to do anything to aid in her rescue. There was another thud behind her.
“Wrap her in this. Did you get a pulse?” Gus’s voice was thick and pained.
“Weak, but it’s there,” Easton choked out.
“Our girl is strong. Paramedics are going to lower down a backboard. Calder is in custody.” Their voices drifted in and out. As long as she could hear them, she’d be safe.
“We’re going to cut the ties binding your wrists, baby,” Easton said. “Kills me, but it’s going to hurt once the blood starts circulating. Just know a paramedic is climbing down now with morphine. I won’t let you feel any more pain.”
She felt her arms release, but with nothing but numbness, so limp, Easton and Gus had to position each appendage to shift her onto the stiff board. Something popped in the distance, but she was safe. Easton was here.
“What was that?” Gus’s tone should’ve alarmed her, but she was so tired. A commotion above registered somewhere in her brain, but this time, she didn’t have to wish for darkness to pull her under, it swallowed her whole.
