Chapter 16
brOOKE
“What’s wrong, Brooke?” Bear asks, panicked.
In the background, I hear him yelling for someone to call Ink.
Before I can even answer, the door bursts open, and Jared is standing there.
I scream and rush back. My back hits the wall.
I look around for an exit, but I can’t find one.
There is a window, but it’s closed, and by the time I make it to the window, Jared will have already caught me.
I don’t know what to do. Jared is twice my size.
I have tried fighting back, but that never ended well.
I feel my breathing start to pick up as anxiety rises in my chest at Jared’s wicked smile. I shudder. That is the smile he always gave me before he hurt me. It’s his signature smile.
“Brooke? Answer me!” I hear Bear on the phone.
Fear-stricken, I can’t reply. Jared grabs my legs, and I drop the phone, screaming. I move closer to the wall, trying to put more distance between us. Jared pulls something from behind his back and taps it. The long needle squirts some liquid out.
“Oh, you aren’t getting away from me this time.” Jared walks toward me.
I look to my left and try to crawl, but Jared grabs my legs. I swing my arms, trying to hit him, but fail. He quickly grabs my arms, pushes me in between his body and the wall. I struggle to get out of his hold. Before I can get free, I feel a prick in my neck, and I am out like a light.
“Wakey, wakey, sleepy head,” someone whispers in my ear.
I groan and roll my head to my right side, hitting my arm. I realize that my arms are bound above my head by metal cuffs. My feet barely touch the hard, cold concrete below me. I have been changed into shorts and a tank top.
Pain erupts in my stomach as a fist hits me twice. I groan as the agony spreads across my torso and lingers. Whoever punches me knows how to hit and make the pain last for a while.
“I said, wake up! So, open your eyes!” the person yells.
I move my head upright, opening my eyes. Jared is sitting in the chair with an evil smile on his face.
“Oh, how I have missed you.” He stands and walks toward a table with lots of tools on it.
I take a breath in, keeping my eyes on him. He picks up a knife and turns toward me. He slides his fingers over the blade as he walks, looking up and down my body. I shiver when he puts the blade against my skin and continues to walk around me.
“Did you really think you could lock me away forever?” He puts more pressure against the blade, but not enough to break the skin.
I keep as still as possible and don’t make a sound. My chest tightens with the lack of oxygen, but I can’t bring myself to take a breath in.
“Answer me!” Jared yells, slicing the knife across my arm.
Blood trickles down my arm, and I shake my head. I wanted to believe that I could keep him away from me, but I always had this feeling, deep down, that he would find me. That he would break out of prison and take me back. Torture me until I die.
“I will always find my way back to you. You are my property,” he says.
Tears well in my eyes at his statement. I don’t want to be here with him. I want him to be back in prison.
“You have been my property since I laid eyes on you. Oh, the things I imagined I would do to you. I am allowed to do anything to my property, and you are going to love every bit of it.” He caresses my face.
I jerk away from his hands. He slaps my face and grabs it again, yanking it toward him.
“If I want to touch you, I will touch you. Don’t you dare move away from me. I didn’t give you permission to,” he yells in my face.
My worst nightmare is coming back to reality. I would rather be dead than be here with him.
“You are probably wondering how I got out of prison. Well, I’ll tell you as I slowly break your body.” He walks over to the table full of tools.
He sets down the knife and comes back to me. His right hand moves and hits me in the stomach. My body swings from the impact as pain radiates through me. I groan from the punch, but also from the metal rubbing against my wrists.
“Well, I had some deals with the Italian mafia,” he says, picking up the knife again.
He stalks toward me and runs the blade across my exposed legs. I gasp when it cuts through my skin.
“Once they found out I was in prison, they wanted to get me out and go after you since you put me in there, but I managed to convince them not to.” He makes another cut on my other leg.
I bite my lip really hard, trying not to make any noise for his satisfaction. My teeth break the skin of my bottom lip, and blood dribbles down my chin.
“Once I was out of prison, they helped me find your location. You weren’t that hard to find. Oh, do you know how angry I became when I found out you were getting close to a biker?” Anger laces his voice.
He punches me in the face, blood pooling in my mouth. I spit it out, and some of it lands on his shoulder.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” he grunts, wiping it off
He glares at me and punches me again. Pain explodes through my jaw and tears well up in my eyes. Pain radiates all around my jaw as I move it.
“Oh, I’m going to love torturing you.” He smiles wickedly.
He repeatedly cuts my arms and legs, blood pouring out of me at a rapid pace. He punches my stomach, and my whole body burns. I feel lightheaded and dizzy as he continues his assault on my body. Black dots cover my vision, and I gasp for a breath of air.
“Nighty night.” Jared punches me in the face, knocking me out.