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As Stone walked toward the rear door, anger churned in his belly. Under normal circumstances, he'd probably talk with Leo first.
However, he wasn't going to waste any more time, not when it was Reika's life at stake. He'd vowed to protect her, and he was bloody well going to do it. No matter what.
As he walked into the bright morning light, he scouted and found his first contact. Heading toward the boy who sold papers, Stone pushed every bit of fear, and dread, and bloody terror down, deep down.
It was time to save his female. And once she was safe, he'd fucking make sure the bastard who dared take her would regret it forever.
ChapterNine
Reika woke up in a dark, windowless room, the only light coming from an oil lantern propped on a large wooden crate.
As she tried to sit up, she noticed her hands were tied in front of her with rope, a little too tightly, and she could barely feel her fingers.
The moldy smell, the sound of scratching—probably from rats—and the male laughter outside her door made her heart race.
Everything that had happened came rushing back to her and she realized she was now a prisoner, with no idea what they'd do to her. She was still alive, which was something. But there were tons of things they could do to her that were nearly worse than death.
She shivered as a few nightmare scenarios flashed inside her head.
No.She couldn't fall apart. Shewouldn'tfall apart.
Taking a deep breath, she tried to calm her heart a fraction. Maybe someday, if she got out of this, she could laugh about this moment. After all, never in a million years would she have thought revenge for getting fired would mean kidnapping the new hire, and then doing who knew what to her. It was like a bad movie or something.
Although as the sound of tiny claws drew closer, she backed up further against the wall at her back, trying to make herself as small as possible. She hated rats and spiders. And as the sounds of tiny claws continued to scratch against wood, she wondered if in the end, she'd die by becoming rat chow.
Stone's strong, tall image flashed into her mind. If only he were here to help her. True, from everything she'd heard, he was pretty good at finding lost people, or rescuing those who needed it. The housekeeper had done nothing but sing his praises.
But Reika had no previous ties to this time period. And if that maid, Ida, had fled after her kidnapping, then no one would be the wiser about her disappearance.
No one would ever find her.
Her eyes heated with tears, but she shook her head.No, no crying. Be strong and see if you can save yourself. You don't want to be the stupid chick in the movie who thinks freaking out will help. Look, study, find something you can do, anything to help, no matter how small.
A few more deep breaths, and she pushed away everything that could go wrong and focused on what she could actually do.
As some of her fear receded, Reika's mind started to work again.
Her eyes had adjusted to the dim light, and she studied the room more closely. A series of crates, ranging in sizes, littered the small space. Some were open, others not, and several of the lids were propped against the wall.
Thanking the stupidity of her kidnappers for not tying up her feet, she slowly walked over to the open crates, careful to keep any noise to a minimum.
Even if the containers were empty, some of the lids sat haphazardly propped against the wall. And she spotted at least one protruding nail.
If she could cut through the rope on her wrists, then maybe she could use some of the crate lids as a type of weapon.
If all the males she'd seen near the cart, back before passing out, were outside her door, she wouldn't be able to win.
However, she wasn't about to cower and simply let them kill her—let alone rape her—without a fight and maybe taking one down with her.
This, right here, was one of those situations Reika had never imagined being in—planning how to survive even if it meant harming or killing another.
And yet, despite the odds against her, she desperately wanted to fight and try to live for so many reasons. To be able to let her mother know she was safe, to do her best to run a business in this time period, and of course, to kiss Stone, hold him close, and make him laugh while they were naked in bed.
There was too much unfinished business. She needed to try and escape some way, somehow.
Her inner pep talk over, Reika went over to the crate lid with the nail and maneuvered to the floor, all without knocking anything over. As she sawed at her ropes, hoping she was up to date on her tetanus shots in case she cut herself, she still wished and hoped that Stone could find her. She was all for fighting for her best chance, but she would most likely need help if she were to get out of this situation alive.
However, the best she could do was be less of a weakness if Stone did find her. And so, despite the ache in her shoulders and the mind-numbingly slow progress on cutting the rope, Reika kept at it. She wasn't about to let a disgruntled cook ruin the future she could see on the horizon.
