Chapter 32 #2
A soft smile lifted her lips. “If you don’t give me the file, I’ll kill him too.”
“You really suck at motivational speeches,” I said. “You should have held back the part about him not wanting me to come home before you threatened to kill him.”
“But you’re so desperate for him to love you, you’ll save him anyway,” she said, “even though you know he wouldn’t do the same for you.”
“Do you know how to use YouTube, Nicole?” I prodded. “Because if you can figure it out, you need to binge some Brené Brown videos.”
“You think you’re so cute,” she said in a mock cheery tone. She set her gun on the chair and pulled a leather belt out of her purse. Then, as if remembering her son was behind her, she turned and said, “Don’t you have business to attend to?”
His body stiffened. “I’m doing it.”
“Hardly,” she scoffed, folding the belt in half and clutching it near the end by the buckle. “You failed here, and you’re in danger of the exchange being interrupted. What are you doing to prevent that from happening?”
“We’ve beefed up security,” Knox said defensively. “He’s one man and we’ve already captured her.” He flung his hand toward me. “We’re fine.”
Had he forgotten I’d told him James was turning over evidence on his illegal activities?
She glared at him for several seconds before she said in a chilly tone, “If this gets screwed up, it will be on your head, Gerry.”
Then it hit me. Gerald Knox wasn’t running the family business. Nicole was.
I started to laugh.
Nicole swung around to face me, her lips pursed in disapproval. “And what do you think is so funny?”
I slowly shook my head, ignoring the sharp stabs of pain in my neck and head. “You. Him.” I nodded toward Gerald. “The world thinks he’s in charge, yet it’s really you. But you’re a woman, and the big bad men won’t respect you, so you need to use your son like a puppet.”
Fury filled her eyes and she slapped my bare upper right arm with the belt.
Fire spread across my skin, but I grinned up at her. “Oh, the truth hurts.”
She took a step closer, leaning over me. “Not as much as this belt will hurt you.” Then, to prove her point, she hit me in multiple places on my body, her strikes becoming more forceful with each hit.
Stings screamed for attention all over my body—my arms, my upper back, my legs, even one on my cheek. Tears filled my eyes, but I refused to give this woman the satisfaction of seeing me cry.
“Okay, Harper,” she said in her mock polite tone. “Let’s try again, shall we?”
“You’re wasting your time,” I forced out, trying to ignore the pain. “I will never, ever tell you where the file is.”
“Oh, you underestimate me, my dear,” she said with a gentle laugh.
I suspected she was right, but I wasn’t about to admit it.
She swung back to the chair and set her purse and the gun on the floor, then scooted closer to me, so there were only inches between our knees when she sat facing me.
“I was gentle with your mother,” she said with a kind expression. “She refused to talk, but I knew the papers were in a safe deposit box. I merely had to access them. Your name was on the box, so if I couldn’t get them myself, I knew I could get them from you.”
She paused and gave me an encouraging nod while still smiling sweetly, the image of a stereotypical, cookie-baking grandma. Which only made her more terrifying.
“But you, my dear, are the end of the line for getting access,” she said primly.
“And I will get those papers. If I have to keep you in this room for months and punish you multiple times a day, you will eventually tell me.” She lifted a hand and gently caressed the burning welt from the belt on my cheek, intensifying the pain.
“I promise you,” she whispered tenderly. “It will become so much worse.”
Panic and terror stole my breath. I believed every word she said, and I knew she’d take great pleasure in every ounce of pain she doled out.
A knowing smile lit up her face. She’d seen my fear and she reveled in it.
Hopelessness swept over me, suffocating me.
The light in her eyes showed me she saw that too.
She brushed a thumb over the welt on my cheek, pressing down to make sure it hurt. “I’m quite creative, Harper, and truth be told, it’s been a while since I’ve been able to play.” Her sweet smile was back. “I’ve missed it.”
She wasn’t angry. She was enjoying herself.
I didn’t answer, because I wasn’t sure what to say. Goading Gerald had frustrated him. Goading Nicole would only feed her hunger to hurt me.
But Nicole was already hungry. And she told me so over the next hour—maybe longer—with every crack of the belt, then jabs with a cattle prod a guard brought in. I lost track of time. I didn’t know how long she kept at it, but eventually I lost consciousness.
I jerked awake when a large splash of freezing cold water hit my face.
I blinked, panic surging through me, which only intensified when I took in my surroundings.
Gerald was gone. Nicole was standing in front of me, flecks of blood dotting her white sling. A small table was against the far wall, and two guards were moving toward me.
“You had a little nap,” Nicole said. “It’s time to play again.”
One guard moved behind me and cut the zip ties holding my bound wrists. The other guard squatted in front of me, using a long-bladed pocketknife to cut the zip ties on my legs. I considered trying to fight him, but I didn’t think I had the strength to overpower him, let alone run.
I was going to die here.
Would James be disappointed that my lessons with Tex had been for nothing? Would he be disappointed that I couldn’t find it in me to fight back?
The guards must have been given orders before they woke me, because the guy in front of me tied my wrists together in front of me with a thin nylon cord.
A renewed sense of hope swept away my hopelessness. I could work with this. With my hands in front of me, I could open doors or even put up a fight.
But then they hauled me to my feet, and the guard behind me grabbed the bottom of my tank top and ripped the fabric upward, leaving my back bare. Next, something cold and metallic traced between my shoulder blades, cutting through the band of my bra.
As he worked, the man in front of me was unfastening my jeans and tugging them down.
A new panic swamped my head. I tried to pull away, but the man behind me wrapped an arm around my stomach as he used his other hand to cut my shirt and bra at my shoulders.
I began to thrash, trying to pull free, but the man behind me held me tightly to his chest as the guard in front of me knelt and tugged off my jeans and underwear. The man behind me lifted my feet off the ground as the other one pulled my jeans and panties free.
I tried to kick him, but he just laughed and batted my legs away.
Then the guard in front lifted my bound arms over my head, and for the first time, I saw a giant meat hook hanging from a chain in the ceiling.
I kicked furiously, but they easily lifted me up and hung my cord from the hook, my feet over a foot off the floor. The strain on my shoulders was unbearable, especially after having my arms tied behind me, and I cried out in pain before I could stop myself.
Nicole moved in front of me, her gaze lowering over my naked body, then back up to my face, sadistic pleasure in her eyes. She held a riding crop in her hands. “You’re not as young as I prefer, but one makes do with what one has.”
It took a second for the meaning of her words to sink in.
She pressed the tip of the crop to the bottom of my chin. “We’re going to have so much fun.”
“Go to hell, you evil bitch,” I spat.
Her brow lifted in amusement. “That was very naughty, Harper. It’s time you learned to obey, and lucky for you, I’m just the one to teach you.”
And then she began.