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I can’t stop the whimper that escapes me. Everything is already hurting so much. My wrists are bleeding. My chest is burning and I just want out of here.
“That’s it.” His hand on my hair is almost reassuring, coaxing me into giving in to his commands. “Give me some tears, Elisabeth.”
My heart skips a beat when I hear the shift in his tone. The threatening voice has given way to something else. Something dark and lustful. When he talks about my tears and about hurting me, there’s an excitement he barely seems able to contain. Something terrifying and electrifying.
I want to cry and give him what he wants. For it all to be over. But I have to be stronger than him. Because none of this is up to him or his friends. This thing ends when my father decides to give the money or find me.
“Open your eyes.”
My lids flutter open as I force myself to look up at him. He smiles down at me as he keeps caressing my hair, pushing dirty strands away from my face. “Maybe a video call with your dad would help? You could beg him to come get you like I told you to do.”
My throat is too dry to speak, so I just shake my head.
He sighs, faking disappointment. “Alright, then. Let’s keep playing.”
“I need the bathroom,” I rasp. It’s true, and it’ll delay whatever sick thing he has in store for me.
“Someone will take you.” He straightens up, takes a step back, and lets another one of the men grab my arm and pull me up.
The man guides me outside the room and across a hallway. Everything is dusty and broken.
“This way,” he pushes me forward, letting go of my arm. “It’s at the end of the hallway.”
The wallpaper has been ripped off the walls or covered in spray paint. It smells of cold cigarettes and mold. I hiss when my bare foot catches on something. The old wooden flooring is split in many places, and I just walked on multiple splinters.
The pain disappears the moment I see the stairs. We’re about to walk past them. This is my chance. Now or never.
Without even looking or giving him a hint, I change trajectory the moment we walk past the stairs. Going down two at a time, I fly off the last few. I’m slower than I would like to be with my hands tied behind my back, but I still manage to crash into a wall downstairs before he registers what happened.
“She’s running!” I hear shouting upstairs. A second later, heavy steps are after me. I hear them all descending the stairs, but I don’t stop. I have to find a way out of here.
I run to what should have been the front door, but wooden boards are blocking it. They must have come in another way. Running off to the rest of the house, I panic when all I find are boarded windows, barely letting any light in.
No, no, no. That’s impossible.
Which way did they come in?
Running into a different room, my heart accelerates when I notice a back door that hasn’t been condemned. I sprint, knowing my life depends on this.
But I’m not quick enough.
A hand lands in my hair, dragging me back and making me cry out from the violence.
“No!” I wail, refusing to process my escape was cut short so easily. I feel my body flying as he grabs me and throws me over his shoulder.
“Oh, Elisabeth.” It’s him. That mocking voice. Their leader. “And here I was thinking we were starting to warm up to each other.”
“Let me go!” I scream. “Let me…” A sigh leaves me as I give up mid-sentence. He won’t. Why even waste my breath?
The moment we’re back in the upstairs bedroom, he throws me on the dirty mattress.
“Didn’t they teach you to save your energy and wait for a safe opportunity? That was reckless. Stupid, really.”
I’m panting from the run, and I stare daggers at him. “And now you’ve pissed me off,” he growls low. “And turned me on.”
My heart stops completely. Did he just say…
“Lucky for you, I’ve got a solution to all our problems.”
