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“Always,” he murmured against her hair. “I’m not leaving you or letting go, Annie. We’ll figure this out. I won’t let her hurt you.”
Taylor had a bad motive for coming here on the sly. She’d already proven she couldn’t be trusted. They had the deck stacked against them in so many ways, but this new wrinkle might be even worse than the situation with Kylie. And that wouldn’t be a fun thing to try to straighten out.
Four
Michelle tried to keep the scream bubbling in her throat locked down, but the pain in her right leg was overwhelming. She rolled on the surface—a cot?—and tried to see in the gloom. How long had she been unconscious? Hours? Days? Her mouth was so dry, and she felt weak and shaky.
She ran her fingers down to her leg and found massive swelling. She’d broken an ankle in volleyball when she was in high school, and the snap her leg had made was unmistakably the same as then. The swelling and pain were more confirmation that her leg was broken. And where was that man?
That poor girl had died too. At least Michelle thought so. There’d been no pulse. Maybe she’d broken her neck in the ATV’s tumble over the hillside.
A sliver of moonlight poked through the naked windows, and Michelle saw rough cabin walls and a pine floor. The space was small—maybe ten by ten. She desperately needed to use the bathroom, but was there even one here? And how would she get to it? Maybe she could crawl.
Squinting in the darkness, she spotted what appeared to be a darker area along the wall opposite the cot. It could be a door that opened to another room, and it was her best shot at findinga bathroom. It was possible there was an outhouse somewhere, but she didn’t want to try to crawl outside in the dark.
She swung her feet to the floor, and the metal cot rattled. Her leg immediately screamed with the influx of blood to the area. She waited until the agony ebbed a bit, then extended her leg in front of her as she eased down to the floor. The floor smelled like mouse and raccoon, and she heard the scuffling of tiny claws to her right. The original occupants were still here. Keeping her right foot extended, she dragged herself backward across the rough wood toward the opposite wall. It was too dark to be sure there was another room that direction, but all she could do was try.
As she neared the darker area, she paused and saw a glimmer of light coming through a small window above what appeared to be a composting toilet. In spite of the dire circumstances, her spirits lifted a little that she’d been right about this one small thing. It took some finagling and pain to relieve herself and yank her shorts back into place, and she had to lie on the floor until the pain eased a bit.
When she got a little strength back, she went in search of water. Though her stomach growled, her parched mouth was her main priority. She kept close to the walls since she suspected a hand pump would be somewhere near the outside. She found a cabinet with a dry sink and a hand pump, but she couldn’t get onto her feet to try it. The only thing in the room was the cot.
She made her way back to the cot, and her hand touched something plastic near the foot of the bed. A water bottle! After making sure there was only one bottle around the bed, she uncapped it and sniffed. No odor, so she could only pray it was good. She forced herself to just take a few sips in case it was the only fluid she would have.
She crawled back onto the cot and felt around for something to prop under her foot. Elevating her leg would help ease the pain, but there was no pillow. Though she was chilly, Michelle took the rough wool blanket and rolled it into a bolster, then stuck it under her leg.
The pain was almost more than she could bear. If only she had some ibuprofen.
Gritting her teeth, she tried to power through by thinking about something else. Who was the man who’d come toward her before she fainted? She’d been too fuzzy with pain to remember anything other than a dark form. The fact that he’d brought her here instead of taking her to the hospital wasn’t a good sign.
No one would be searching for her. Only her former boss knew she was working on a magazine article, and she wouldn’t be expecting to see her anytime soon. Going off grid had its negatives. So if she was going to get out of this mess, she’d have to do it on her own.
A sound outside caught her attention. The growl grew louder. It was an engine. Maybe an ATV. Her pulse fluttered and she sat up. Her jujitsu could be helpful. She might be able to disable an attacker from her place on the cot with a chop to the throat or a kick to the groin with her good leg, but she couldn’t run while the guy was on the floor.
Her leg raged with pain again, and she inhaled as she tried to deal with it. The engine cut off outside the cabin, and heavy steps approached the door. A key grated in the lock, and moonlight flooded the interior as the door swung open. Her heart tried to jump from her chest as she struggled to see the face of the man in the doorway.
“So, Michelle, you have something I want. Where are your belongings?”
His question made her freeze. He knew her name, so this wasn’t some random abduction. She’d been targeted. She swallowed past the lump in her throat and licked her parched lips. She couldn’t think.
“Cat got your tongue?”
“I don’t know what you want.”
“You can’t answer a simple question?”
“If you know my name, you know I was living at the women’s shelter. Did my husband send you to kidnap me?”
“Just answer the question. Your belongings—where are they?”
She didn’t intend to tell him anything. Giving him what he wanted was likely to end up with her dead. “Do you have any ibuprofen? My leg is broken.”
“It will heal eventually.” Something thumped on the floor. “Let’s see if a little more time will loosen your tongue.”
The door clicked behind him as he left with a finality that made Michelle want to scream. What did he want from her? Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good. She had to get out of here.
***
Annie had always found the Whisper Creek Condos picturesque. Built three years ago, the condo complex spread along the banks of the creek and had velvety grass with a beautiful heated pool. A microbrewery was at one end of the property along with a hockey rink for the residents. Several ice-fishing huts matching the architecture crouched along the water with gear for the residents’ use.
