19. Katie
Chapter 19
Katie
Okay, don’t panic.
Think about what Cage would do.
He’s not here, but he could still help…
Katie began to breath slowly. In and out. Over and over.
Gradually her heart rate returned to something approaching normal. Katie felt her mind clearing up a little. No more tears fell. Her lip stopped trembling.
It was time to work out how she was going to get out of here.
Katie had worked too hard in her life recently to end up as some tied-up cam-girl.
She had a romance novel to record and a Daddy to hug.
‘Okay, okay, I think these bindings might not be as tight as I thought,’ Katie whispered.
Saying the words out loud made her feel more confident.
It was a trick that Cage had taught her.
Verbalizing what you wanted was a great way of making it happen. Sure, it was a slightly corny Daddy saying, but there was undoubtedly a whole heap of truth to it.
Katie began to slowly work up some steam as she rubbed and pulled, her wrists slowly beginning to loosen at the back of the chair.
What she really needed to do was get them completely free from the chair legs. If she could just manage that, then she would be halfway there.
Not all the way.
But some of the way to freedom at least.
There was a loud clattering noise coming from beyond the door that Tommy had exited.
Katie froze.
‘Do not come back in here. Repeat do not come back in here,’ Katie whispered.
It was an agonizing wait.
If Tommy came back and suspected that Katie had been trying to escape, he would freak out. Probably tie Katie even tighter.
Or worse.
Tommy might do something more extreme.
Katie didn’t even want to consider what Tommy might do.
It wasn’t worth it.
Wasted energy.
Katie waited a few moments longer and began to struggle and pull at her ties even harder.
She was making progress.
It wasn’t fast, and it hurt her wrists, but she could feel the ties moving and slackening.
As Katie continued to attempt to free herself, she cast her mind back to Cage. It was impossible not to. Cage had been such a huge inspiration in her life pretty much from the moment they met.
The connection between them was the real deal.
If Katie hadn’t already realized it, she did now.
Maybe it was the drama of the situation she found herself in, but she knew from the bottom of her heart that Cage was her Forever Daddy.
Speaking of peril, Katie shook her wrists so hard that the entire chair toppled over, taking Katie with it.
Fortunately, Katie was able to stop her head smacking against the cold concrete floor. That was a potential disaster averted.
But what was she going to do now?
With one hard pull, Katie freed her arms.
Her wrists were still tied together with super-sticky tape, but she was only a meter or so away from the old car.
‘Come on, think,’ Katie whispered, her breathing heavy after the fall. ‘I’ve got a Daddy and a stuffie to get home to.’
Katie began to crawl over towards the car.
It wasn’t easy.
The floor was rough underneath her and Katie could feel the friction grazing her skin. But she was determined to do this. There was no way she was going to give up and accept her fate as Tommy’s personal cam-girl.
No way.
Katie was at the beginning of building a life for herself. There were too many good times ahead for her to give in and let someone else take that all away from her.
As she inched closer to the car, Katie spotted the exact point she would use to try and cute the rope around her wrists. The car’s exhaust was pretty much totally broken.
It was rusty.
Hanging half off the car.
But it had sharp edges.
Exactly the kind of edges that could cut through the rope.
‘Okay, let’s do this,’ Katie said, a determined steel in her voice that if it was an octave or two lower could have come out of Cage’s mouth. ‘Work methodically. Slowly but surely. I can do this!’
With that, Katie got herself in position and began to rub her wrists up and down against the exhaust pipe.
It was risky.
If Katie rubbed too hard or if she missed the rope, she could end up cutting herself badly. And given how rusty the exhaust pipe was, that could have incredibly dangerous consequences.
As much as Katie wanted to escape, she had to pace herself.
Slow and steady.
One wrong move and there could be trouble.
‘Nearly there, keep going,’ Katie whispered, still conscious that Tommy could walk in at any time.
Katie couldn’t spend any time worrying about the consequences of Tommy discovering her though. It was now or never. Katie simply had to press ahead and keep on going.
In fact, the whole situation kind of reminded her of her breakup with her old Daddy. The one who treated Katie so terribly.
When Katie had realized that she had to get out of that relationship, she felt scared. She felt afraid of how her ex would react to Katie saying she wanted to leave. It really hadn’t been a very good relationship at all.
And Katie even postponed leaving her former Daddy as she was so afraid of what might happen. Over and over. And each time she backed out of leaving, Katie just felt worse.
That was until one final day where her Daddy shared video footage of Katie with some of his other friends. It was the kind of X-Rated footage that really should stay between couples, unless otherwise agreed of course.
Katie felt heartbroken.
It had been so painful to experience.
But it gave her the final push she needed to leave.
And that was it. She had waited until her Daddy had gone to work and then simply packed up her stuff and left. Without saying a word. Without wasting a single moment. Katie knew she had to get out of the apartment and never look back.
In some ways it was the hardest step she had ever taken.
But in other ways, it was the easiest.
And now, lying on the floor and desperately trying to cut her ties, Katie knew she had one option and one option only.
It was time to get out and never look back.
‘Just… one… more… yay!’ Katie said, letting out a tiny whoop of joy as she managed to free her hands.
Success!
Katie quickly got onto her knees and using her now free hands set about untying her feet. Tommy had used extra-sticky tape on top of the rope, so it was taking time.
More time than Katie wanted to spend.
But she had no choice.
Katie was now frantically pulling and tearing the tape to get down to the rope.
‘Nearly there, come on,’ Katie said, her heart rate increasing the closer she got to finally freeing herself.
Katie didn’t exactly know what she would do once she was freed from the ropes. She cast her eyes around the garage and wondered whether she would be able to pull up the main garage door.
It should be possible.
Katie certainly didn’t want to go inside the building and risk crossing paths with Tommy.
That would be absolutely the last resort.
Ideally, Katie would be able to locate the opening mechanism for the garage door and escape out on to the street that way. Katie figured that there was no way Tommy would try and take her back once Katie was out on the street.
There would surely be people around.
And for a coward and creep like Tommy, that meant it was a no-go zone. Twisted individuals like Tommy were bullies. The second that had to do anything in public they usually retreated into their shells.
Even if he tries to grab me on the street, I’ll scream.
Louder than the loudest unicorn who’s just stepped on a sharp shell.
Come on… nearly-nearly-nearly there…
Suddenly, the rope binds snapped in two and Katie was free and able to continue on her mission to get out of Tommy’s garage.
Or at least she thought she was.
Katie heard a click.
She froze.
Then turning her head slightly, she looked up and saw Tommy standing over her. Pointing a gun directly at her head.
Katie was terrified.
Her attempted escape had all been for nothing.
And now things looked a whole lot worse.
‘Where do you think you’re going, cam-girl?’ Tommy asked, a sly smile on his face. He was enjoying tormenting Katie.
Katie was speechless.
The sight of Tommy holding the cocked and loaded gun was too much. Things were even worse than Katie had feared.
Not only was Tommy unhinged, but he was extremely dangerous too.
‘I said, where do you think you’re going?’ Tommy repeated, a menacing tone to his voice. ‘Answer me!’
Katie stuttered and stammered but couldn’t get a single word out of her mouth.
She was panicking.
Katie was officially in a state of total shock.
This nightmare had just got a hundred times worse.
With her escape attempt now officially dead in the water, Katie had no option but to do exactly as Tommy desired.
There was no telling how far Tommy would push things. If Katie had learned one thing about Tommy Franks, it was that he had no concept of boundaries. Of what society deemed as acceptable behavior.
Tommy was operating outside of the law and seemingly had no intention of doing the right thing and letting Katie walk free.
Katie’s one remaining hope was that Cage would somehow work out where she was and come to her rescue. But even then, Cage would have no idea that Tommy had a gun.
Things could get explosive.
Katie said a silent prayer.
She needed her Daddy, and she needed him right this second.