Chapter 7
ALEX
Zach hadn’t returned since he’d come and gone with lunch and another water bottle. As each dark second ticked past with no sound of life coming from above me, I started to panic.
Where had he gone?
When was he coming back?
Was he even coming back?
The scenarios plagued me. The what-ifs. What if he’d wrecked his car and was laid up in the hospital somewhere? I couldn’t care less about his well-being, but until someone found me down here, I was at his mercy. I needed him for survival, and I hated it.
I was close to needing a paper bag to breathe into when I heard it. The faintest of sound. A door opening. A thump. Feet on the stairs to the loft bedroom?
He was back.
And then, for the longest time…nothing.
I railed at the darkness surrounding me, fought tears that begged to fall for the hopeless isolation that trapped me. I was going mad down here.
I was going to die down here.
“Please, please, please, please…” The chant was a whisper on my parched lips. A friend to my lonely ears. It had been a day since I last saw him. Maybe two.
It felt like a fucking eternity.
And I knew I was in trouble now that I welcomed the sight of him. Now that my sandpaper mouth yearned for the water he could give me, and my belly grumbled for the food he could provide.
Footsteps.
Above me.
I tilted my head and imagined the nondescript ceiling from my perch on the cot, free of spackle or other interesting patterns that could keep a person company, if only there were light to see by.
Another footfall landed, and I tracked the noisy movement above me.
A few moments later, the cellar door creaked open.
Sharp light flooded the space, and I blinked until the ache in my temples subsided.
The way his boots hit each step, with deliberate and careful footfalls, set me on edge more than usual, because his presence owned the air around me. Zach managed an unhealthy dose of smugness in everything he did—the way he talked, the way he smiled, the way he moved.
The way he was moving now.
I braced myself for another interaction with the monster as he came to a leisurely stop on the other side of the bars.
“Sorry I disappeared for so long.”
I was scared to ask, but I recognized his game. “Where did you go?”
“I paid Rafe a visit.”
The mention of his name sent my heart into a tumble. I sat up straighter, interest piqued. Knowing Zach the way I did, this wasn’t good news, but I thirsted for any information on my husband.
“Is he okay?”
Zach let out a bitter laugh. “Of course that’s the first question you’d ask.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a key, dangling it from a gold chain I remembered all too well. “Maybe you should have asked why I went to see him.”
He didn’t have to elaborate. My gaze latched onto the familiar key, and I swallowed a lump of terror. Locking myself inside this prison, sacrificing my pride for more time…
It had all been for nothing. Now the standoff was over, and there wasn’t a thing I could do about it.
Zach pushed the key into the lock and turned, and I barely heard the echoing click. I was frozen, held captive by the loud buzz in my head—the alarm giving me a warning I was incapable of heeding.
“He didn’t give that key to you.” Certainty infused my tone. No way did Rafe give that key up willingly, and the realization grabbed me by the throat. “Did you hurt him?”
“I didn’t have to.” Zach pulled the door open and stepped inside, and a telling tick went off in his jaw. He didn’t like where this conversation was headed. “He knows what the stakes are.”
“So you used his son against him.” I didn’t have to ask the question—I already knew the answer.
“Don’t look at me like that, Lex. I don’t want the kid hurt any more than you do. Fortunately, Rafe knowns when to cooperate.” He took another step toward me, and I shrank away, pushing up against the wall.
“Don’t touch me.”
With a sigh, he crossed his arms. “We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. Either way, you’re coming upstairs with me.”
“Why? So you can take me off the island?”
“No,” he snapped, grabbing me by the shoulders and hauling me to my feet. “So you can wash that bastard off of you.”
“Let me go!” I screamed at him as he dragged me from the safety of the prison, my voice escalating in panic with every hard-earned foot Zach won. We were halfway up the stairs, my feet dead-weight underneath me, when he backhanded me.
I gulped down another hysterical plea for him to stop, and the resulting silence rang in my ears.
“Goddamn it, Lex. I don’t want to hurt you. Don’t make me fucking hurt you!”
“Please let me go. Please.”
He kept pulling, and I dug in my heels, determined not to let him take me from the cellar. But he was too strong, and as he dragged me through the cabin Rafe had built for us, as if I weighed nothing, the panic inside me bloomed, shining a spotlight on the futility of the moment.
I couldn’t stop this.
Inevitability wound around me, enshrining me in helplessness as he forced me up another set of stairs to the loft bedroom. Sunlight poured through the skylights, washing the room in a late afternoon glow. Drawers stood open, contents spilled. The closet had been unlocked and ransacked too.
My eyes veered to the dresser where I’d left my folded wedding dress.
Gone.
Just like Rafe.
Just like hope.
Zach pushed me to the end of the bed, and I bit back a sob as he grabbed a contraption that resembled a collar. He must have set it there, because I sure as hell hadn’t spotted that thing the morning I awoke to find Zach in the kitchen.
“Wh-what is that?”
He pressed into my back, effectively pinning me to the mattress, and snickered in my ear. “Guess who had a shock collar locked inside one of those drawers?”
“No! Get off of me!” Screaming at him, I pushed against the bed, frantic to buck him off my back.
Zach was like a fucking tank, armed with the type of obsession that made him immovable.
Strength slowly bled from my limbs, and I muffled a defeated sob into the comforter, going limp underneath his weight as he worked the collar around my neck.
The locking mechanism latched into place, and the fit was snug, ensuring the prongs of the electrodes bit into the back of my neck.
“Rafe will kill you for this!”
Zach laughed. “It’s poetic, really. I had no idea he was so twisted.”
Betrayal stormed through my blood. This was Rafe’s fault.
He’d left me here in his depraved funhouse of sadistic kink, and then he’d given the fucking key to Zach, allowing him free rein.
Even knowing that Rafe was in an impossible situation didn’t stop the rage from simmering, because now Zach had access to each one of my husband’s twisted ideas.
Rafe had left knowing what I was facing. The knowledge sank in a little more, and my heart ached…scorched and burned as if he’d stabbed it with a knife made of ginger.
It didn’t matter that logically, I knew why he’d done it—knew that he hadn’t had a choice without harm coming to his son. I still hated him for leaving me, even though the same protectiveness for our unborn child ruled my actions.
Zach’s lips brushed my ear. “Just give in. Stop fighting. He’s not coming back for you.”
Another sob rose, became a hiccup caught in my throat. “I don’t love you. I’ll never love you.” His frustrated sigh rustled my hair, and as he rose to his feet, I pushed off the mattress and turned to face him. “Why would you want someone who doesn’t love you?”
“Even a feral animal can learn to love the hand that feeds them. I’m all you’ve got now.” Dread strengthened in my gut as he held up a remote. “And I don’t want to do it, Lex—swear to God I don’t want to hurt you—but I will if you don’t cooperate.”
“Is this the best you’ve got?” I raised my chin, clinging to false bravado. “This plan of yours to keep me prisoner in my own home? Rafe’s brother, or someone else, will find me here eventually.”
“Adam is out of town, just like Rafe’s prison buddy. We’ve got time.” His eyes darkened, taking on a stony hue. “And get this. Lover Boy has this place wired. If you go beyond the doors, you’ll wish you hadn’t, so don’t try running.”
The weight of the collar cinched like a vise around my neck, slowly squeezing the hope and breath from my being. But I had to hold on to the silver lining, because Zach wasn’t taking me off the island yet.
“For the last four days, I had to wait.” He reached for the buckle of his belt. “I’m done waiting.”
“No.” My voice was unnaturally high, on the verge of hysteria. “No, Zach. I’m telling you no.” The words shook off my lips as I placed a hand over my belly. Protecting the life growing inside me had become instinct.
His gaze zeroed in on my wedding ring. “Give it to me.”
I hid my hand behind my back, fingers locking into a fist. “No.”
“Yes,” he hissed, taking a step toward me. “Unless you want to test the effectiveness of that collar.”
My heart broke at the thought of taking off my ring. I still remembered in vivid detail the day Rafe had slid it onto my finger for the first time. Alone in the woods, naked against a tree.
It’d been one of the happiest days of my life.
“Please, Zach.”
Not my wedding ring.
“Do as you’re told, and I promise I won’t hurt you. It’s as simple as that.”
My eyes stung as I pulled the ring off my finger, but I couldn’t bring myself to drop it into his outstretched hand.
Not yet.
Eyes downcast, I fisted it, and the jade stone dug into my palm.
“Now, Lex. Hand it over.”
I lifted my arm, forcing my fist closer to his.
Giving him my ring was harder than submitting to a blowjob.
It was harder than standing before him naked because that piece of jewelry symbolized the commitment between Rafe and me.
It made our vows real and not a figment of my imagination; reminded me that no matter what Zach did to me, no matter how long he kept me prisoner, I still belonged to Rafe, and he belonged to me.