Nowhere To Hide (Nowhere #1)

Chapter 1

One

Charlie

I pulled into the garage and grabbed my purse from the passenger seat as the garage door closed behind me.

I got out, not immediately noticing the man until he stepped out of the shadows and stood in front of me as I neared the front of the car.

I gasped and clutched a hand to my chest, fear rushing through me as I tried to step away from him.

“Are you Charlie?” he asked, his voice deep and menacing as he cocked his head to the side and studied me. His eyes traveled slowly down my body, lingering on my very swollen stomach. The teardrop tattoo beneath his eye crinkled as he grinned, pure evil radiating off of him.

I shook my head, not denying that I was Charlie, but more so in disbelief that this was happening. He wasn’t anyone that I had seen around town before, which, given how many tattoos he had that covered his neck and arms, I would have known if I had seen him before.

“My boss said you would be worth it, but I wasn’t sure what he meant. Now that I see you, I understand.” He licked his lips as his hand shot out and grabbed me by the throat, pinning me against the side of my SUV.

My hands instinctively reached up, trying to pull his hand away, but he was too strong as he leaned in, putting his full weight on me. I held back the disgust as I felt the thick bulge of his erection as he rubbed it against my thigh.

“Take whatever you want,” I gasped, struggling to get the words out as he pressed tighter on my throat. “We don’t have much. Take what you want. Just please don’t hurt me.”

“What I want is your baby.”

My eyes widened with fear as I shook my head.

“No.”

His eyes narrowed as anger flashed in them before his fist struck me across the face.

“I wasn’t asking.”

Tears trailed down my cheeks as the pain spread quickly.

Blood trickled down my face, but I wasn’t sure where it came from.

He let go as he stepped back and reached behind his back to retrieve a knife.

I knew I would be dead if I tried to make a run for it, even though he was clearly taking his time torturing me.

“Please! Don’t!” I cried, my body trembling with fear as he grabbed me by the throat again and pulled me toward him. “Don’t do this!”

He ignored my pleas as he dragged me across the garage to where there was a space on the floor and shoved me down on my back.

“It will be over before you know it,” he said, standing above me as the knife glistened in the light hanging over us.

“She’s not ready. She won’t survive if you take her out now. She needs a few more months. Please!” Tears ran down my face as I tried to move away from him before my back hit a wall. “Don’t do this. Don’t take her from me! I’ll give you anything you want; please don’t do this.”

“Unfortunately, your husband already made a deal, and my boss isn’t the kind of guy who takes no for an answer.”

Bile rose in the back of my throat as I thought about Jason and how he could do something like this. I knew he had a gambling problem and that it had recently gotten out of control, but I would never have expected him to sink as low as offering his unborn child as payment for the debt he owed.

“I can get the money he owes. I just need a little time to start selling stuff. Please. There has to be another way,” I begged, panicking as he crouched down in front of me. “Please.”

“I gotta say, I like it when women beg. Maybe I’ll stick around and have a little fun with you once I’m done collecting what your husband owes.

I bet that pussy is real tight, isn’t it?

” He leaned down, his breath hot against my ear as he spoke.

He pressed the tip of the knife against the side of my stomach as his other hand wrapped around my throat again.

I stayed still, trying not to provoke him because it wasn’t just my life that was in danger. She wasn’t even born yet, but I would do everything in my power to protect my daughter.

“Is that what you want? For me to fuck that pussy the way you need, since we both know how useless and pathetic your husband is? Do you need a big, thick dick to get you off?”

I tried to swallow down the nausea that was rising to the surface once he let go of my throat and his fingers trailed down the side of my arm. My skin prickled as goosebumps spread across it, the threat of death sounding more appealing than whatever he was conjuring up in that sick brain of his.

“I’ll take your silence as my answer,” he growled, hitting me across the face again before dragging the knife across my stomach.

I screamed, a sharp, piercing sound that echoed through the garage as the sharp, burning pain spread through me.

My eyes widened in horror as I felt the heat of blood as it spread across my shirt quickly.

I had no idea how deep he had cut me or if he had hurt the baby.

Even if it wasn’t deep enough to get the baby out, it was still a cut that could get infected and put her life at risk.

“That was just to get us started. Next time I ask you if you want my hard dick inside of you, answer me.” He pressed the knife against my stomach again, cutting slowly into it as he kept his weight on me.

I looked around frantically, desperate to find something to use as a weapon to get him off of me.

He dug deeper, moving the knife deliberately as he watched me bleed.

I knew I only had seconds before it was too late. I had to do something. Anything. There was no way that I was going to give in and let him take my baby from me while I bled out on the garage floor.

Knowing that Jason had something to do with this sent a flurry of rage seeping through me as fire singed my blood. I would make him pay for this. I would make sure that he never had another chance to hurt my daughter or me.

I shook my head, forcing myself to focus as he continued cutting my stomach. To my left was a rusty nail. It wasn’t much, but it was the only option.

My hand darted out as I stretched the best I could, given that he still had most of his weight holding me down.

I grunted as I pushed further, feeling the sharp pain as the knife went deeper into my stomach as I pulled away from him.

I felt the tears prickle my eyes as I grabbed the nail and whipped my hand around as quickly as I could, stabbing him right in the eye as he looked up to see what I was doing.

“You stupid fucking bitch,” he yelled, dropping the knife as he stumbled to the side and crouched down, holding his eye.

Once he was off of me, I scrambled away and rushed to stand up.

My heart hammered loudly in my ears as I looked around for something else to use.

If I wanted to get away, I was going to have to do more than just stab him in the eye.

I didn’t have much time, given the amount of blood I was losing from the cut to my stomach.

I was going to have to hurt him badly enough that he wouldn’t be able to get up and come after me, or kill him.

My stomach soured at the thought, but I pushed it aside, relying on my survival instincts to kick in.

On the other side of my car was a rack with various dumbbell weights that Jason occasionally used.

I grabbed the biggest one I could hold, which was barely five pounds, and rushed over to him, swinging it as a sickening thud rang out in the room when it collided with his head.

His body crumpled to the floor in front of me as he lay lifeless.

Whether he was dead or not, I didn’t know.

But I also didn’t have the time to stand around and find out.

If I was going to escape, I needed to act quickly.

I quietly opened the door from the garage into the house and stopped for a second to listen for the sound of voices.

Jason was supposed to be at work, but that didn’t mean anything.

Obviously, this guy had been given access to our house to try to kill me and take my baby, so I had no idea who or what else might be waiting for me.

I tiptoed around the corner and went into our bedroom, locking the door behind me.

I checked the bathroom and closet quickly to make sure no one was in there before rushing back to the bathroom and lifting my blood-soaked shirt to examine my stomach.

There were several deep cuts, but the bleeding wasn’t as bad as it had been a few minutes ago, so I was thankful that it didn’t appear that I would need stitches.

While it felt worse than it looked, I was relieved that he wasted so much of his time torturing me rather than actually doing the job he had been sent to do.

Never in my life had I felt more protected by a guardian angel than I had in that moment.

There wasn’t time to stop and take care of my stomach, so I grabbed a duffel bag from under the bed and began filling it with clothes and first aid supplies.

I had no idea where I was going, but I knew I couldn’t come back without risking my life.

I had to pack with the intention of never coming back to this house, ever again.

Whoever Jason was working with was ruthless, and they would make sure the job was finished, especially if I killed one of their guys.

I grabbed a few pictures from my nightstand and tucked them into the bag, reminding myself that I didn’t have time to stop and be emotional.

If I wanted to survive, I had to keep moving.

We had a small safe in our closet, but I knew it would be empty.

Nothing was safe around Jason these days, especially money.

Thankfully, he didn’t know about the secret one I had hidden behind the shoe rack that I installed shortly after finding out about his gambling problem.

I opened it and pulled out the stack of cash I had been saving for a rainy day, not knowing that I would now be heading into the biggest storm of my life.