Page 69 of Bound By Redemption
“Legs only,” he ordered, stepping away and motioning with his hand for some of his minions to come forward. He barked orders at them, and my legs were freed, feet standing on the cold cement floor. It was a start, not where I needed it to be, but a start. We needed to celebrate the small miracles. It was the only way to keep going.
Daniel stepped forward. “Now you can wrap those luscious legs around me while I fuck you.”
He began to pull his belt fully out of his dress pants, the strap falling to the ground. I needed to stall. Stall. Stall. Stall.
Think, woman. Think!
His lips touched mine again as he picked my legs up by my thighs, all the weight of my body going into my shoulders. While it did hurt, I might have overexaggerated when I broke away from the kiss and cried out loudly in pain.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, looking at me up and down like he actually cared.
“My shoulder. I think I pulled it out of place. Help me.” I really did not have this damsel in distress thing down and hoped he wouldn’t catch on. Living on my own and protecting Remy, I’d had to grow a thick skin. The damsel thing was not me.
Manipulation. Hell, whatever worked.Please let this work, dammit.
I needed to get him to release me and over to that small table. I’d worry about everyone else around me later. They were all following Daniel’s orders, and I didn’t think they’d interfere. At least not yet.
“Arms,” Daniel barked, and as my wrists were untangled, I cried out in real pain. Who knew how long I’d been hanging there, and pins and needles pricked at my skin hard and fierce. The limbs fell in front of me as I tried to rub them and wake them up.
Body, do not fail me now.
Daniel touched my shoulder, and I cried out again, this time for pretend. If he thought I was hurt, it would give me a small advantage.
“Can I lay down please?” I asked it demurely as if I’d completely given into him and what he wanted. That I just wanted to be comfortable.
“Of course. We need you well to carry our child.”
Idiot. Stupid fucking idiot. He’d already told me he would have all his buddies take their turns with me. That my friend, would not be keeping me well.
My mind raced back to all those true crime stories Katie had listened to from this Bailey Sarin chick. Katie listened to her every Monday and had roped me into it on several occasions. The woman did her makeup while telling a true-life crime story, and some of that shit was wacked. Interesting, but there were some seriously fucked up people out there.
There were so many different stories she told, but one that stuck out was a stabbing.
I babied my shoulder, making him and everyone else, hopefully think I was wounded and wouldn’t be able to fight back.
Carotid artery. That was what I needed to find. It was in the neck, if I remembered correctly. It grossed me out, but I was going to do it. This wasn’t about me as a person or how I’d feel about doing anything and everything to protect us.
No, this was survival. To stay among the living, I had to do whatever it took, even if the consequences of it kept me up at night. At least I’d still be alive for my little girl.
Sucking in a deep breath, I went for it, pure adrenaline taking over and guiding my actions.
Everything happened in the blink of an eye. One moment Daniel was carrying me, and the next I was on my feet, and gunshots rang out. Not looking to see where they'd come from, I grabbed the needle from the IV bag off the small table just as Daniel put his arm around my chest and pulled me to him.
My heart beat out of my chest as I looked over to Dryerson, but he was alone. Sure, he had a gun, but there were twenty or so men down here. He couldn’t take them all on.
“Who the fuck are you?” Daniel barked, jostling me around and using me as a human shield. I clutched the needle in my hand, waiting. He had to give me an opening. As he jostled me around, I feared I’d drop the damn needle. It was my last hope.
You’ve got one shot at this. Aim for the center of the neck, between the front and back. Do it hard, and pull the needle down. If you have to, keep stabbing in and out of the same spot to make the hole bigger.
Never in my wildest imagination did I ever think those words would come from my brain. I was actually planning on taking another human’s life.
Could I do it?
One look at Katie who was crying and pleading with Dryerson, and I learned I could. I banished every thought from my head except the task in front of me. Therefore, I took my shot.
Stomping on Daniel’s foot as hard as I could with bare feet, unaware, he grunted and loosened me just a bit. I turned, the look of surprise on the man as I took the needle and plunged it into his throat, yanking down hard. Not once. Not twice. No, I didn’t count the number of times I'd stuck him, and I didn’t stop until the man had rivers of blood coming from his neck. Nothing else mattered in that moment besides making sure Daniel was incapacitated.
Daniel fell to the ground, his hands around his neck trying to stop the blood flow and not having much luck considering it was flowing through his fingers.
