Page 59 of His Obsession

I have to hide. It’s my only choice. I might freeze to death out here, but it’s better than losing myself to him. I’ll die before I am owned by him.

Chapter Twenty

Lucian

It’s been almost thirtyhours, and we have next to nothing about their location, but Sheriff Donaldson has the detective thinking that we are letting them run the show and we are patiently waiting for them to find her. That is the furthest thing from the truth.

We ended up going home once they released Elise’s car and we have the entire community set up at Luxe, going through everything with a fine-toothed comb. We discovered that Daniel Fritz started a group called the Crimson Covenant shortly after Dad forced him out. They lack all morals and do not respect consent. Their belief is simple. When a woman turns twenty-five, she is to be given to a man. He owns her in every way. Their ritual is similar to our games. The woman is hunted down, and then beaten and raped into submission. If she is chosen from outside of their community, she is to be initiated first. Thisseems to be a process where she is hooked up to something like a fucking machine, but it is meant to cause them pain, but not damage. Once she is unconscious, the leader will wake her. He will then whip her twenty-five times, rape her, and then brand her with his initials. After she will be handed off to the community so that they may rape her however much they want over a twenty-five-hour period. Six hours later, the hunt will begin.

I’m guessing that the hunt is about to. or already has, begun. Elise is a highly intelligent woman, so I have faith that she will find a way to keep herself safe. That might be in the form of hiding, but it also might mean to submit, knowing that I will find her. She made sure to say specific things in that text so I would immediately be alerted. He might have hoped that she rushed to him without notifying me, so he may take her words at face value and think I am not going to come looking. She is considered a missing person though, so it depends how much attention they pay to the news and radio. Her information is being blasted everywhere, so they won’t get far with her face plastered all over national media.

“Let’s back up for a second,” I say. “Carol… You knew Daniel. Did he ever visit anywhere before Jennifer was raped? These wouldn’t be a sudden set of beliefs. He may have already known this group, because they formed fast after he left.”

“Uh… I mean, he went hunting a lot on some private property,” Carol says. “It was owned by a friend of his. I think his name was Dalton Sparks, maybe.”

I type the name into the county GIS. I get a hit for a two-hundred acre plot out on the edge of the county. “It’s still in his name. Pullit up on the satellite map. That should show something recent,” I tell Bradley.

I stand and look at the screen he is sharing to and watch as the property comes into view. It is in the middle of absolutely nowhere. The property is surrounded by dense woods, but there are large fields on either side of a road that leads to a set of white buildings. They are all circling one main building in the center.

“This has to be it,” I say. “This image is only a few months old. That looks a lot like Jake’s truck.” I point to an older model Ford Bronco at the end of the road by the buildings.

“How in the fuck do we get in there without being seen?” Josh asks.

“They will shoot us in a heartbeat if we come down that road,” Derrick adds.

“Guerrilla warfare,” Laura says. “Kinda, only we are capturing Elise. She’s likely going to go into those woods. She’s smart enough to not stay out in the open. Jake will think she’s going to follow that road out. We go in through the outskirts of the property and just focus on finding her. When we do; we get her ass out of there. We don’t worry about revenge until she is safe. Then… We light the place up.”

“She’s going to panic if anyone touches her,” I say.

“With all due respect, who gives a fuck?” Laura says. “Do what Jake did and cover her mouth so she doesn’t give away her location. I don’t care if you have to hogtie her, get her the fuck offthat property. You can apologize and make it up to her later for scaring her. Her safety is far more important than her triggers right now.”

“How far away is it?” Carol asks.

“About twenty minutes,” I say. “You’re staying here.”

“I’m coming, but I’ll stay with the vehicles and shoot anyone who I don’t like,” Carol says, giving me no room for argument. “She’s been through a lot. She will need medical care and I can provide that.”

“Okay,” I sigh. “We leave in five minutes. If you have children, you stay here. I’m not letting anyone make them an orphan.”

Bradley and I walk out and go straight to my SUV. We already have what we need as far as guns, ammunition, first aid, and spare clothes for everyone. I already had blankets in the back, so we have what we need to help her. Carol is plenty capable of caring for her, unless she needs surgery. We’ve always made sure we are self sufficient. Our other medically trained member is currently pregnant, so Erika will be staying here. I know she will want to help when we get Elise back here.

When everyone gets to their vehicles, we head out. I am not nervous, I’m pissed. I haven’t even seen or heard what he’s done to her yet, but I’m fucking livid. Laura is right, though. We need to make sure she is safe, let her heal, and then rid the world of all of those fuckers. Every last goddamn person who touched my wife will die. I never understood someone saying that they wouldburn the world for someone, but I would light a motherfucking puppy on fire if it meant keeping my girl safe.

When we get close, we park off the road about a quarter mile away before setting off on foot. It’s dark, so we use it to our advantage and keep as quiet as we can. Everyone knows what to do. We all have an earpiece in, so we can all communicate. If we find her, we alert the others and get the fuck out of here.

Chapter Twenty-One

Elise

I have been hiding,holed up in some brush for hours now. I am freezing and weak, but I won’t let him find me. I hear footsteps occasionally, but I hold my breath and don’t move a muscle. I am violently shivering now and when I feel snow falling; I know I am fucked. I’m going to die of hypothermia out here. I don’t know what time it is, so I don’t know how close dawn is with these clouds. I doubt he will give me my freedom, anyway. It is starting to feel like thisismy destiny. Thisishow I die. Naked, cold, and alone.

I slowly get myself up and start walking deeper into the woods. I’d rather die, and no one ever find my body than for Lucian to know I suffered until the very end. I don’t want him to see my broken body and wish I had been stronger; survived a little longer. I don’t want him to grieve the loss, knowing I quit fighting.

I don’t know how much fight I have left in me. I am so tired; I just want to lie down. My breathing is shallow, and it’s almost like I’m starting to overheat. I’m getting hypothermia, and fast. The temperature is rapidly dropping as the snow falls. I feel like pushing on; I refuse to give up. I will collapse before I stop fighting.

Fear suddenly shoots through me when I hear movement behind me. Before I can scream, a hand covers my mouth. I start thrashing and fighting, but I am picked up and carried. I fight with everything I have in me to get away, but he is so much stronger. This cannot be how my life goes. This is not my destiny. This is not where my life should be. I belong at home with my husband, my people. They’re my only family. I should be with them. Not Jake, not whatever evil inhabits his body.

A hand comes off my mouth and I start screaming, “Stop! Stop it. Let go of me. Please, stop it. Please. Let go.”

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