Chapter Two
Miranda kept her eyes on the man who had surprised her.
He wasn’t Kevin and he’d been nothing but nice to her, so far.
He’d removed the chain Kevin had used to keep her down here but he was big.
If he decided to hit her, it would hurt.
It might even kill her. She wished for a moment she could hope for that.
At least then she would be free. Free from this hell she’d endured for God knew how long.
She had no idea how long Kevin had kept her down here.
She’d tried counting at first but couldn’t figure out how often he came.
Sometimes he would appear twice or three times very close together, and other times, she’d thought she would starve to death there.
She assumed that was what he wanted, but then he would appear again with food.
Always, the one thing that never changed was that he would let her eat, then he would hurt her. Sometimes he even left more food after. If she didn’t eat, he still hurt her, but if she didn’t eat first, he never left food when he was done.
This new man, the one who called himself Ashes, hadn’t done either.
He hadn’t brought food, but he hadn’t hurt her either.
Instead, he’d taken off the chain. Miranda couldn’t remember the last time the cuff had been off her wrist, or the last time she’d been free to move around as she wanted.
Probably the last time she’d been out of this cell, and too long ago for her to have any concept of when.
When the second man came down through the hole, she pulled her limbs tighter against herself. She didn’t want to hurt, not if she could help it. She looked back and forth between them before turning her gaze back to the man who’d come down first.
“You won’t leave me?”
“I’ll stay as long as you need me.”
She stared at him for several seconds, trying to decide if he was lying, or if he was just saying what she wanted to hear.
“I’ll let him look at me.” Miranda kept her gaze on Ashes.
He seemed to be the one in charge. He would likely be giving orders if they changed their mind and decided to hurt her.
If she kept her eyes on him, she might get a little extra warning.
Maybe now that she wasn’t chained, she could slip away.
All she needed was a moment when they weren’t paying attention.