Page 81 of Bleeding Blackheart

Dallas breaks through my thoughts, lowering his voice. “We’ll find her. Nothing gets in our way, Gunner. Do you hear me? No challenge has ever been too big for us. We will find Montana.”

I bite my tongue, trying to hold it together while images of her getting tortured pop up in my mind.

I sit in silence beside Dallas while he drives, and after eight hours, we end up in Nebraska at some small house in the woods. I see Mason’s car, and I grab the handle to get out of Dallas’, but he stops me, locking the doors. “We don’t know what the hell we’re walking into here, Gunner. Let’s do a perimeter check, and then we’ll go inside.”

I don’t want to do a fucking perimeter check. I want to barge in the house and tear it down until I find Mason,then I want to rip him apart and burn his limbs in front of his eyes.

But Dallas is right. We get out of his car slowly, taking a look around. There’s no yard or fence, This is the only house for miles. Once we make sure we’re clear, we check the car. There’s nothing inside but some rope with blood on it in the trunk.

He tied up my baby and put her in a trunk.

I keep my hand on the trigger of my gun, eager to shoot when we approach the front door. There’s no knocking or pleasantries. We just barge in, weapons high while we storm through.

But I’m filled with disappointment before we get far. “There’s no one here. I doubt they even came in here.”

The house is barren. Dusty. Cold.

Dallas checks repeatedly, going in the rooms and closets, but he eventually gives up too.

We’ve been lead to another dead end. Another empty house with no soul. Except unlike the house Montana and I went to together, there’s nothing here for us. No clue, no note, and no idea of where to look next.

34

Montana

When I open my eyes, I see frozen meat in front of me. I’m in a walk-in freezer. My arms are bound behind my back with a tighter, rougher rope than Mason used to snatch me off Violet. I can breathe better than I did when I was on the ground, but my body still feels broken.

Each time I breathe, I have a pain on my right side that feels like it’s coming from my ribs. “HELP ME!” I scream at the top of my lungs, hoping someone, anyone, can hear me and save me. I have no idea where I am. All I remember is my father injecting me with something and then closing the trunk shut.

I screamed for a little longer, feeling the bumps from the road before I completely passed out. My screams go ignored. I have to get out of here or I’ll freeze to death. I push myself onto my knees and find a way to get on my feet, still feeling woozy fromthe drugs.

Taking a look around, I see there’s not a single thing that can help me escape. No knife, no blade. Nothing to cut my hands out of my restraints.

Feeling like I have no other option, I throw myself against the metal door, screaming for help over and over, praying that the barrier will fly open. I have no idea what time it is or how long I’ve been throwing myself at this door for, but after what feels like ten minutes, I sink down against it and start crying.

I can feel my phone’s been taken from my bra which means my father has it. I’d rest in the hope that Gunner can track me, but Mason’s probably discarded my phone by now.

My body shakes violently against the cold and from shock, and I start to feel like I’m fading again.

Maybe I should just go to sleep. If I fall asleep, I won’t have to be awake while I freeze to death.

The tears on my face add to the chill within me, and I take slow breaths in and out while my mind slips into darkness.

When I wake, I’m somewhere else. I’m in a warm room. It’s hot. I look around and see it’s a shipping container, and lamps point directly at me, making me sweat.

“There is not enough time in this life for me to punish you, child.”

I whip my head up and stare ahead, and when my eyes finally focus, I see Mason standing before me. “What do you want?”

He laughs deeply, shaking his head while he takes off his white hat. “I already have what I want, Montana. That’s you. My daughter, back with her father where she belongs.”

I spit at his shoes. “Your sperm may be the reason why I’m here, but you’re not my fucking father, you piece of sh—”

My body flies out of my chair and onto the floor from the slap he just delivered to me. Tears burn my eyes, and I cough on the ground when he kicks me in the stomach.

“I am your goddamn father, you fucking ungrateful bitch. Apologize. At once. Or I’ll make you sorry.”

The pain in my rib is worse after his kick, but I still have my voice. “I’d die before I ever apologized to you.” Right after I close my mouth, I shut my eyes, preparing for the pain of his belt. But he wraps his fist around my neck instead, squeezing it so hard that I can’t move a muscle.

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