Chapter 42
NYX
Now with my blindfold off, and their identities discovered, I know the likelihood of escaping are slim.
I have been handcuffed to this damn bed for at least a day.
It was midafternoon when we were taken, and outside of a couple of guarded trips to the bathroom room I haven’t been able to move off this damn thing.
The mattress is so musty and the springs are constantly stabbing at me, I am shocked that I am not bleeding.
I have heard them having conversations when they think I am asleep. I haven’t been able to make out much of what they are saying, but I know Jack is concerned. He is having second thoughts. I can see it in his face every time he looks at me.
Outside those original slaps and the gut punch, Nick hasn’t laid a hand on me. He’s been actually uncomfortably nice. Saying things like, “Babe, imagine the gorgeous life we could live,” or “Our children will be absolutely gorgeous with your dark hair and light complexion.”
He thinks things will just be fine, and I will go crawling back.
Not only did he cheat on me, which I would never forgive him for, but he has now kidnapped my best friend and I.
Not many checks in the pro column for him.
I am pretty sure they have left the cabin, and it is just Kyra and I trapped here.
Not long after we heard the truck start up and drive away, I knocked on the wall next to the bed and Kyra knocked back.
“Hey Kye, are you doing okay over there?” I speak loud enough to be heard through the wall.
“I’m alive over here. Jack seems to want to keep me as a plaything but still has enough of a conscience to have not raped me yet. Although I’m not sure how long his morals will last.” She sounds like she has stopped crying, but I can still hear the fear in her voice.
“Well, that is a blessing. Nick has stopped hitting me, so there is that, but he seems to want to ‘take care of me’ despite being chained to this bed ninety-nine percent of the time. I do think Jack is feeling conflicted about everything. I can see it in his face.”
We both try to just keep each other company for a while. We share stories. I tell her more about Dee and Graham. She tells me her dreams of opening a bookstore one day. We will get out. I refuse to spend our last days here. I need to see how things go with my men. She yawns loudly.
“Get some sleep, Kye. Rest up while you can.” I tell her. I know I won’t sleep, I have to find a way to escape.
I zone out for twenty minutes, or it could have been two hours. It’s hard to tell when this cabin is in the woods, and I barely can see the sun. I hear the truck pull back down the driveway, and everything in my body tenses. They are back.
“Baby girl, I’m home.” Nick calls from the front door. “Did you miss me?”
I open my eyes, and he is standing in the doorway to the bedroom with an evil smirk on his face.
Not the type that makes you fall for the villain like in the books but the kind that makes your skin crawl and wants to stab their eyes out.
That last part may be just because I hate Nick with everything I have.
The asshole destroyed every single book I own, including my signed and special editions.
You don’t fuck with a book girls books. I don’t care why you touched them.
“Oh look, the tiny dicked man with a God complex is back.” I roll my eyes and look at anything but him. I know I’m in no position to be a bitch because he could just kill me, but I’m hoping he wants me too much to do too much damage.
His boots slam against the creaky wood floor as he storms across the room. His open palm finds my face. SMACK. Goddamn it, he slaps like a bitch in a catfight. The split on my lip re-opens and I can taste the tangy metallic of my blood.
“What do you want, Nick? No amount of hitting me, or slapping me like a damn bitch, will make me do anything you want.” I wish this was one of those cartoons so I could see the smoke rolling out of his ears.
His face looks like a beet, that furious gleam in his eye could light me on fire if we were in a fantasy world.
“Ok, look here, Bitch! Do you want to do this the hard way? Let’s go.” He grabs the chains that have kept me restrained to this bed and unlocks the cuffs. Yanking me off the uncomfortable mattress with zero fucks given if he dislocated a shoulder.
“Oof, fuck off Nick. Have you thought about trying to be nicer? Maybe I might think about liking you.” We both know that’s a lie, so he just laughs and pulls me out to the living room again. Both my wrists are clamped in one of his hands. The other has the back of my neck in a vice grip.
Two chairs are set side by side, wooden, stiff backs but they have arms. He pushes me down into the chair, and I land hard on my tailbone.
Fuck, that hurt. He ties my hands to the armrests with a rough rope.
If I try, and struggle too much, I know this will eat through my skin ‘til I bleed.
He secures my ankles to the chair with that same damn scratchy shit.
He tests both my wrists and ankles to ensure his rope is secure, causing the material to scrape away at my flesh.
He disappears into the room that Kyra is in, and I feel my heart in my throat.
With his fist locked in her blonde matted hair, her head pulled back at an uncomfortable angle, he marches her back into the main living area.
Tears streak her face, and my heart breaks.
I can take all the abuse in the world from the egotistical dick head but she is such a sweet girl.
She has fire inside her, but I’m pretty sure this has snuffed that out for now.
“Let’s play, Kyra. You have always been a thorn in my side.
Telling my Baby Girl that she deserves better.
You probably had something to do with Julia tempting me and Nyx walking in.
” He starts to rant as he secures her arms and legs to the chair.
He grabs her face, cheeks pinched between his thumb and fingers, like a parent scolding a small child.
He continues to ramble, while I see him getting angrier and angrier, I have to get his attention.
“Nick, she has nothing to do with any of this. I didn’t even get out of work early that day, it was no surprise that I was going to be home. Just fucking let her go. Call Graham or Dee and give them a pick up spot for her. I can make sure they don’t come after us.”
His head snaps to me, and if I thought his glare was evil before, there is a look in his eyes that makes my stomach roll and fear climb up my spine.
I haven’t felt this level of straight fear since I was in my first firefight.
I should have never been in a firefight.
I wasn’t infantry, but we got ambushed. I shake off those thoughts, needing to stay focused on what is going on here.
He storms across the room, rage written all over his face.
His boots thunder across the flimsy wood floor.
I swear, if he’s not careful, he will fall through.
He grips my shoulders so hard that I know there is going to be fingerprint bruises tomorrow.
His face is so close to mine I can smell the remnants of a cigarette on his breath, with a hint of his aftershave.
I used to think his aftershave smelled so good.
Now, it just makes my stomach roll. He pulls so hard on my hair I can feel some of it rip out of my scalp.
His face is so close to mine that I could bust his nose if he would just release my hair.
“Aww, the strong Nyx trying to save her friend. What will you do to save her? Jack may not be here, but I will take her for a ride if you don’t want to play.” His sneer straight-out of my nightmares.
“What do you want, Nick? What do you need me to do? What will make you happy?” I can hear my voice shaking, the fear oozes out of me, and I can no longer contain it.
“I want you, Baby Girl.” His words make me throw up in my mouth a little.
“Nick, I can never love yo-“
“I don’t need love, Bitch.” He punctuates his sentence with a slap across my face. “I need my inheritance back. I need my family's company to go back to me. I need a hot woman on my arm for the country club, and parties.”
His ramblings have given me a few moments to wiggle my wrists almost loose, the ropes tearing at my flesh, but I can’t let him rape me or Kyra.
“Nick, even if I come back, who's to say your family will give everything back to you.” I need to keep him talking.
“They took me off everything. Gordon Industries is now run by my dad and little brother. I should be the one working side by side with him, to learn everything.”
“Yes, but do you think after all the indiscretions the board will just put you back?” That might not have been the best thing to say. His open palm flying at my face again confirms that. Fuck this asshole slaps hard. This split is never going to heal.
“You will tell the whole family it was all a misunderstanding and we have worked it all out.” I try to contain the laugh that bubbles out, with a cough.
“What about Julia? What about Avery? They won’t just disappear.”
“I took care of them already. They are not a problem.” My jaw goes slack, and the creep runs his pointer finger around my parted lips. I shake my head away from him.
“What do you mean you ‘took care of them’? Nick, tell me you didn’t murder your family.” He can’t be serious.
“I could tell you that, but then I’d be lying.
You will call your men, tell them you can’t be with them.
Then we will leave this cabin. I have a jet that will take us to Vegas to get married.
” I have underestimated this man. He will murder anyone who gets in his way.
I’m honestly surprised he hasn’t killed his brother yet, to remove the spare heir.
“Nick, you know I can’t do that. I can’t marry you. You’d have a miserable pretty girl on your arm. Is that the life you want?” I got my wrists free enough to slip them out.
He leans close enough to be within striking distance. I slip my hand out quickly and ball a fist, punching for his temple. His reflexes catch my hand before it can make contact. The second his left hand catches my right, his right punches me. As the world goes dark, I hear Kyra scream.