Page 161 of Fought and Freed

At least if he died, he could say he knew what true love was. He was so glad he got to meet and spend time with Maddy. The only thing that pissed him off was that it took him this long to figure out what he wanted in life.

He’d wasted so many hours when he could have been making beautiful things. If he survived this, he swore he’d quit school and start making special-order wood designs.

And he wanted to marry Maddy and see her swollen with his child. Or any of their kids.

His head lolled to the side, and everything went black.

37

MADDY

Mike forced her upstairs to the second floor and pushed her through a door on the left before he followed behind her.

The room held a large screen TV and a chair. A long bench ran along the back of the room, and tools were spread out on them.

Dread filled her at the sight of them. What did he have in store for her?

Mike waved to the chair. “Take a seat, Maddy.”

Everything in her told her to fight, but right now wasn’t the time.

She walked over and took the seat.

Mike quickly ran over and grabbed the rope lying on the table. In her head, she replayed everything Harry had ever told her about escaping being bound. She wasn’t sure how Mike would tie her down with one of her arms in a cast. He could be a dick and break her arm to tie her hands behind her.

He brought the rope over and stared at her cast, a weird expression on his face as if he only just noticed it and didn’t like it.

“Amber tried to kill me,” Maddy said calmly. “She thought if I wasn’t around, she and Skylar would get back together. Did you put that idea into her head?”

“That bitch. I’m going to kill her,” he growled out. “You’re mine to do whatever I like with.”

When he tried to tie the rope with her hands behind her, the cast made the rope loose. The same happened when he tried binding her hands in front of her, and he was getting pissed.

Finally, he wrapped the rope around her waist, chest, and feet, binding her to the chair.

“Don’t go anywhere. I have more guests to get.” He strode to the door and shut it behind him.

She hoped Torr had called Lucca by now, and they were close. She tipped her arm with the cast on it down, and her knife slid out. Good thing Mike didn’t think to check her cast. He was making it too easy for her.

It took her a bit to cut through the ropes, but she finally did it.

She searched the table behind her, looking for anything useful to get Cody down. There was what appeared to be some kind of saw, though it wasn’t like any saw she’d ever seen.

Hopefully, it would work.

She quietly opened the door and peeked around for Mike, but she didn’t see him anywhere. On tiptoe, she made it down the steps and over to Cody.

He didn’t look good with his head hanging and his body limp.

“Cody,” she whispered and touched him.

He jolted awake. “Maddy?” His eyes scanned the area. “How did you get away?”

“I had my knife in my cast. Mike never checked it.” She held up the saw. “I found this. Will it cut you down?”

“Yes, it’s a hacksaw, so it should. But you should go.” He looked around the area once more. “It will take a while to cut me down.”

She gave him a get-real look, moved the chair closer to Cody, and stood on it. Reaching up, she sawed at the chain as best she could.

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