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Now was the time. Sage … Jack’s murderous older sister … was gone. The woman’s appearance in the ice cream parlor had really taken Nora by surprise. There were very few scenarios that she hadn’t expected in her life, and this was not one of them, no matter how many mysteries she read.
“Other women go for pedicures with their sisters-in-law. Mine ties me to a chair before I can everbe hersister-in-law,” she said out loud to Jack’s empty cabin.
Surely, her boyfriend would eventually return home, wouldn’t he? Jack and everyone else in town hadn’t seen her for a while, and surely, someone would notice that Nora was nowhere to be seen. Of course, it would have been so much better if the electricity hadn’t completely cut out.
Jack was going to find her eventually. He would have to come home, and he would either find Nora alone, or Sage would be back to do god knows what to Nora.
The bile in her throat rose, threatening to make her cry, but Nora wouldn’t allow herself any tears. She might be a shy little wallflower. She might even have a hard time talking in a room full of people. That didn’t mean she was weak. She had a whole lot of strength inside her just waiting to be used.
“You’ve got this, girl,” she cheered herself, scanning the cabin that had been her home for the last three days.
She knew the space as well as if it were her own. She knew where Jack kept the knives and any other thing that could be used as a weapon. That wasn’t the problem. Her hands weren’t just tied behind her back, but her ankles were also tied to the chair, basically making it impossible for her to move.
Nora had already tried multiple times to free her legs to no avail. All she could do was strain against them and hope the duct tape would rip.
Or she could be even braver and make the chair fall. Maybe from the ground, she could find a way to kick out from the chair. It was all theory until she actually managed to throw herself down.
It was scary, and she could hurt herself.
“You know what’s dangerous?” she asked herself out loud. “Murderous sisters are dangerous too. I’d rather take my chances with the floor.”
With her eyes closed and her breath held, Nora tipped all of her weight to one side of the chair. It worked, and she wobbled to the side. She did it again, grunting under the strain of it.
It still wasn’t enough.
Nora pushed all of her weight back before pushing it all to the one side. She teetered and teetered until, finally, she crashed to the ground with a loudthud.
It was soon accompanied by a crack, and though Nora waited in silence for a few seconds to feel the pain of a broken limb, it never came.
It was one of the chair legs that had broken, effectively freeing one of her ankles.
“Victory!” she shouted. “Kinda.”
One of her legs might be free, but it wasn’t useful at all to be on her side, tied to a chair with only one leg free. She kicked it out and moved it around, bringing the coffee table closer to her. Why? She had no idea, but it seemed like a good idea to her.
The top of the table was glass, and maybe, just maybe, one of the corners would be sharp enough to cut through the tape on her wrist. It took some doing, but she managed to kick the second chair leg keeping her prisoner. Then, she could sort of stand, half-bent. Still, as fast as she could go … which was pretty damn slow … she made her way to the kitchen, where she opened one of the kitchen drawers with her mouth.
Nora looked down at the knives and the other pieces of cutlery. This was the hard part.
Try as she might to release herself somehow, she wasn’t able to.
It wasn’t until she was able to start using the corner of the wooden drawer that the duct tape on her wrists was damaged enough for her to free herself.
“Ha!” she shouted to the still-empty room. “I did it. I saved myself. Now to save my man …”
Nora could only think there was a reason Sage had kept her alive. It was probably to mess with Jack somehow, but she wouldn’t let the evil woman use her for her own nefarious ends.
If Sage wanted to hurt her to get to Jack, she would have to find her first.
Good thing Nora knew exactly where she could hide.
TWENTY-ONE
JACK
Jack glared at his sister, but he didn’t move. He watched in horror and fury as Sage took a step toward Jade, smiling her smile that always reminded him of Zak’s funeral.
“What are you doing here?” he hissed at her.
