Page 53 of Cruel Vows

He stands up and turns on one of the lamps in the corner, dim light cascading from beneath the stained glass shade and shining across a small patch of the floor.

It’s just enough to get a dim look at him as he stalks toward me.

I swallow hard, body tensing. “You know you don’t have to do this, right? If you want money, I can get you money. If you want a way to disappear from whoever the hell your boss is, I can make that happen too.”

The man hums to himself, wrapping the rope around my upper body and tying it tight. “You know, this is so much easier when you cooperate with me.”

Just as he kneels down to tie my ankles to the legs of the chair, I bring my knee up hard into his face.

The sickening crunch precedes his groan as he leans back. “Damn it, you stupid bitch.”

He backhands me. My head snaps to the side, a metallic taste filling my mouth and pain blossoming along the side of my face. My cheek is warm and tears sting at the corners of my eyes.

“You’re going to pay for that, you stupid bitch.” He glares at me, sounding like he’s speaking with a stuffed nose.

I spit blood at his feet, laughing when he raises his hand. “Go ahead and do it again. I’ll just kill you when I get out of this fucking chair.”

He spins on his heel and storms into the bathroom, the roll of toilet paper thumping in the holder as he pulls out a massive wad.

If I wasn’t tied to a chair with what I’m sure is a handprint on my cheek, I would think that the sight of the man shoving a bunch of toilet paper beneath his mask would be funny.

When he turns his back to me, I take a deep breath, holding back my tears.

My breathing is ragged as I shift in the chair, the rope digging deeper into my skin with the movements. It feels rough, cutting into my skin, blood appearing the more I move.

The ropes are too tight to loosen, but right now, it looks like it’s the only option I have.

Keep the man talking.

See if I can get the ropes loose enough and then try to find a weapon.

I look around, seeing the knife a couple feet away. With my torso tied to the chair, there’s no way I can get to it. I can’t even reach it with my feet to try and pick it up.

The lamps on the nightstands might be enough to do some damage but I would have to be able to get to them first. There are some heavy decorative items on the bookshelf.

And there’s a gun hidden in a little safe beneath the bed.

If I could get to that, I could end this, but there’s no way to get to it while tied down.

When the man comes back in the room, he keeps his head out of the way, leaning against one leg while tying down the other.

“Whoever sent you here doesn’t want you to kill me or hurt me too bad; otherwise, I would be missing my tongue right now. Which means that you have someone powerful pulling your strings, don’t you?”

He says nothing as he picks up the knife and stands in front of me.

The man runs his finger over the blade of the knife before turning his finger to me and showing me the cut in the leather. “Do you think this is going to hurt as much as I think it’s going to hurt you? I hope it does.”

My heart races, chest pulling tight. I want to scream but I know that he’s right and there’s nobody around who’s going tohear me. Rounds are happening, but it’s a massive property and somehow this man got in here without being seen.

“You’re a sick bastard.”

He holds a hand to his heart. “That might be the best compliment I’ve ever gotten from a woman.”

“Women don’t like you?” I scoff, rolling my eyes and knowing that it’s only going to infuriate him. “Imagine that. Women don’t like a man with a dick so tiny that he feels the need to attack a woman in the middle of the night when she’s sleeping. How pathetic.”

His eyes flash with anger as he leans closer to me. The smell of blood lingers on him from his broken nose. “The more you act like a bitch, the more I’m going to make this hurt.”

Keeping him talking and stalling him might be the only chance I have to get out of this alive since I can’t get to the gun.

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