Page 29 of Enforcer's Obsession

This man was meticulous, and brutal.

There was no way he had left the gun here on accident.

Unless…

It had been a long day.

Long enough that I had fallen asleep in my kidnapper’s bedroom.

Sure, he was clearly used to this kind of thing, but that didn’t mean that he couldn’t make a mistake.

He’d been gone for hours doing God knew what.

Maybe he was tired.

Maybe something today had finally,finallygone my way.

That feeling, something too much like hope, grew in my chest.

I’d felt that feeling before.

Been betrayed by it.

But I latched onto it now. Listened to the faint sound of the shower, counting the seconds.

Making my decision.

I sprung out of my corner like a sprinter leaving the blocks.

I made it to the dresser in what felt like a split second and grabbed the gun.

The weight was heavy, but also familiar in my hand.

I’d held a gun before, and I hated them.

Just as I hated the kind of men who used them.

But I didn’t allow that hatred to blind me.

I’d seen firsthand what guns could do and one of the first things I’d done when I had gotten free of that monster was get lessons on how to handle them.

By the time I learned to use a gun, that knowledge was of no help to my mother, but I’d felt better. And while I still hated them and, in truth, was afraid of them, I didn’t let any of that deter me right now.

Instead, I held the gun tight, both hands around the butt, waiting as the shower turned off.

My heart was thundering, racing so fast that I thought it might explode.

Or even worse, that it might make it impossible for me to hear him.

He turned on the light, one single bulb with lighting the entire room.

It was enough.

I heard the door creak, then lifted my arms, trying to be ready.

He stepped out, his huge form illuminated from the back by the bathroom light.

“What have you gotten into, Hope?” he said.

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