AllFreeNovel
Share Us
But survival meant life-and-death decisions. It meant mental and physical control. It meant being willing to do anything, focusing only on now, not thinking about tomorrow, not thinking about yesterday, but only this moment in time. Being smart, seizing opportunities, constant planning, and if necessary, killing her kidnapper.
The idea that she might need to kill him to escape didn’t scare her half as much as it should have. Who had she become? She wasn’t the woman she thought she’d be one day.
That’s the past, Luce. Focus on the present. Worry about your mental health tomorrow.
She focused first on her breathing, on beating back the panic attack. She couldn’t make smart choices if she was panicking.
Lucy focused on figuring how to get out. She didn’t know where she was, but she preferred to take her chances on the street than with the man who’d locked her in a cage like an animal.
The panic rose again from the pit of her stomach and spread through her body like a wildfire. She’d just beat it back, but the reprieve was a lie. She was lying to herself. She’d never get out of here! She was trapped, just like she had been on the island. She was at the mercy of a sadistic bastard, and she hadn’t even seen his face.
She could scarcely breathe, and though she willed herself to get a grip, she couldn’t. She wanted to die, right then and there, because some fates were worse than death. Some things should never have to be lived through twice. Some things should never be suffered even once.
A moan escaped her chest, a physical stabbing pain that nearly tore her in two. It was her heart breaking, her strength becoming nothing but hot air. She was nothing, only a hard shell. Her shell was cracked by the man who took her, and she wouldn’t be able to put herself back together again.
She dry heaved, but nothing came out. Why, God? Dammit, why? Why me, again?!?
She would die fighting him if she had to. She would not let herself be a victim, not like that. But her hands were trembling. How could she fight when she had only fear inside?
“You’re the bravest person I know.”
Sean’s voice was so loud he might have been sitting right next to her.
Sean.
She would never be able to find out where this relationship was heading because she was going to die.
Her family might never find her. Dillon, Patrick, and Jack would all be looking for her for years, and she’d be dead and buried in an unmarked grave. She’d seen how Justin’s death had torn apart her family eighteen years ago, and now her death would tear them apart again.
Lucy squeezed back tears.
She saw Sean, searching for her, giving up his life to find out what happened to her. Bitter. Lonely. Violent.
She couldn’t let the people she loved suffer. She had to find a way out.
She focused on breathing evenly. Slowing her racing pulse. One. Two. Three. Even. Clear. She didn’t know how big this cage was, but it was longer than her reach.
Be smart, Lucy. Look for the opportunity.
The dripping water. Soap—abrasive soap. Laundry detergent? An underlying scent of coal. There was no furnace down here, she didn’t hear it, but there had been at one time. She was in the basement of an old house.
Though she couldn’t see more than shades of black and dark gray, she closed her eyes and listened to the sounds above. The hum of a heater as it warmed the house above her, but did nothing for the frigid cold of the basement.
A rooster crowed. She smiled. Dawn. That gave her some perspective. She didn’t feel particularly hungry, just thirsty, so likely only the night had passed. She’d been at the church just after five-thirty, a couple of minutes late…
A flash of a memory returned. She’d been walking into the church when a man opened the door for her. A chunk of snow fell from the building and hit her on the back of the neck.
But thinking about that now, she had already been under the short overhang of the roof. Wasn’t she? She focused on picturing the man who opened the door, but couldn’t—she’d been lost in her grief.
But…he’d seemed familiar. What had she thought? That maybe he was a cop she’d seen once before? She couldn’t remember.
Maybe it hadn’t been snow on her neck. She didn’t have much knowledge about poisons, but she wondered if there was something that could be absorbed through the skin. How long had it taken? About thirty minutes.
What it was didn’t matter now, because other than a drug hangover, she had her thoughts in order.
A sudden sound of rushing water down the walls made her gasp. Footsteps upstairs, slow, methodical steps. A shower. Her captor was taking a damn shower!
Something ran over her foot and she screamed before she could stop herself. Her heart started racing again.
