40. Chapter Forty
When Cameron walks to the other side of the room, my head lazily flops to the side so that I can watch him. My eyes become unfocused as the pain in my head intensifies. I blink a couple of times and then squint in Cameron’s direction. Nausea rolls in my stomach when I see another metal table with an array of tools on top of it.
My breathing quickens, my chest heaving as panic settles in.
The feel of something cold against the underside of my boob seems to jolt my memory.
Ryker’s knife.
Holy shit! Kat!
“Cameron, is Kat okay?” His hand hovers over a knife as he looks at me over her shoulder, smirking.
“I’m not sure. I wasn’t too concerned about her before we left. I had a short time frame to do what I needed to do and then get us both out.”
“Please, just tell me if she’s alive!”
“Did you know that Fraser had to pay to fuck you?” He asks, avoiding my question. He picks up a sharp knife from the table and walks towards me, swinging it around by the leather handle.
I cringe, close my eyes, and take a deep, shaky breath, trying to calm my breathing and slow my heart rate.
Smooth, cold metal slides down my leg, and I fist my hands, focusing on breathing and hoping that he doesn’t turn the knife so that the blade is touching me instead of the flat side.
“Dad owed some money, so he made Fraser pay for your services. We thought that it’d be a good way to break you, but that didn’t happen, did it, Callie? Why didn’t it break you?”
I don’t reply to his taunts.
“It didn’t break you because you enjoyed it!”
His shout makes me jump, and I feel the sharp point of the knife sink into my lower leg. When I don’t make a sound, he digs the knife in further, twisting it until I scream.
“Please, Cameron. Stop!” I beg.
“I watched you with him every single time, Callie. I know that you enjoyed it.” He pulls the knife away from me, moving to the other side of the table now.
“No. I didn’t! I hated it every single time.”
“Don’t lie to me!” He roars, slicing the knife along my left thigh. I cry out in pain, and my body thrashes against the table.
“Fuck you!” I spit through clenched teeth. Breathing heavily as my leg begins to throb, and I watch as blood begins to leak out.
“Oh, so you remember that night as well, do you?”
My body stops moving, my mouth slams shut and my wide eyes connect with his. He watches me with a crazed grin as his words settle into my brain.
“W-what?”
His head drops back as a booming laugh echoes around the room. I shudder, my eyes pooling with tears as my head starts to shake from side to side.
“No. That didn’t happen.”
His laughter stops, and the silence is haunting.
“You wouldn’t remember. You were completely out of it. I’ll give it to you, you still gave up a good fight, but it was pretty pointless, wasn’t it? I still managed to force my way inside of you. Honestly, Fraser would’ve been better paying for a prostitute because you’re quite a lousy lay.”
I continue shaking my head and my face scrunches in disgust.
“No, you’re lying! I-I’d remember.”
His brows rise and he smirks as his thumb slides along the side of my face.
“I like this look in your eye, Callie. You look sceptical and disgusted, but mostly, I can see the little cracks inside of you starting to form, and I think I know exactly how to shatter you.”
He spins the knife in his hand once more before plunging it into my thigh. My eyes roll, and an anguished cry rips from my throat before darkness clouds my vision.
My body is limp, and shivers wrack through me as my head spins. I can hear movement around me, but with my eyes closed, I’m unsure of what Cameron is doing or where he is.
The feel of thick, gloopy blood running down my leg is worrying me and my ragged breathing is alerting my semi-conscious mind that I’m slowly dying. Every time I force my eyes open, I can only manage for a few seconds before I feel like I’m close to passing out again.
I’m pretty sure that I’m now slumped in a chair instead of being strapped down to a table. The bindings are gone from my wrists and I can move my arms, but my ankles must still be tied down, or maybe my legs have stopped working from the amount of blood loss.
All the fear has drained from my body since I gained consciousness after Cameron stabbed my thigh and I passed out from the pain.
All I feel now is despair.
I know that I should still be hopeful that the twins or Brad, Nate and Ryker will be able to save me before Cameron inevitably kills me, but I’m not. I know they’re aware that I’m gone. I’ve heard Cameron speaking to them, taunting them, whilst he thinks I’m still passed out, but I don’t believe that they”ll find me in time.
Cameron stated he’s had this planned for years. His plan is simple, he wants to break me, and then he wants to kill me.
If he was being truthful about raping me, then that may very well be my undoing. I’ve been violated for years and taken against my will, but I knew about it. I’ve had time to accept it and come to terms with it. Learning that someone else has been inside of me without my knowledge, let alone that someone being a person that I always believed was my eldest brother, would completely ruin me.
Each time I feel Ryker’s knife brush against my skin, the tiniest amount of hope simmers beneath my skin, although my body”s lack of strength squashes that slither of hope.
In the past, I never would’ve thought I’d be capable of killing someone.
Now, if I could reach into my bra and grab the knife that I have tucked away, I’d use all of my strength to plunge it into Cameron’s chest.
A loud chortle sounds around the room seconds before fingers thread into my hair and yank my head up.
“Open your eyes, Callie. I know you’re awake.”
My eyelids flutter, and flashes of Cameron’s grinning face enter my vision. He tuts and uses the hand gripping my hair to shake my head from side to side.
My brain rattles against my skull, and a stinging sensation runs across my scalp.
I force my eyes wide open, hissing at the burn that comes with the action.
“That’s better.” He drops my head, strolling away from me. “I need you to keep them open, I have something to show you.”
“I-I can’t.”
“If you can’t keep them open, then I’ll force them open.”
“No,” I mumble, blinking and fighting against the burn, willing myself to keep them open and focused on him.
“You’re losing a lot of blood, Callie, so I need you to focus. It’d be really anti-climactic if you die before getting to watch the video.”
I watch him turn his back towards me, moving items around on the metal table until he picks something up and then walks over to a black duffel bag on the floor beside him.
When he pulls out a small glass bottle with a clear liquid inside, my arms and legs twitch, wanting to move so that I can get away from the impending danger.
“I can tell that you’re stressing out, Callie. It’s not fentanyl. I don’t want you to pass out on me again. I need to finish my story, and you need to watch my little movie.”
“Cameron, please. Just stop this.”
“It’s just a shot of adrenaline. Hopefully, it’ll keep you alert for a little while longer.” He walks towards me, a needle in one hand and a long metal stick with something bulky at the end in the other.
He passes me, forcing me to move my head and watch him as he walks out of the room and turns left, whistling an eerie tune.
Hope flares inside of my chest, realising that he’s left me alone with my arms unbound and I have a weapon stashed on me.
My eyes flit over to the laptop that’s placed on a small table in front of me, the paused image is of my bedroom and a quiet whimper leaves my lips when I make out a small figure slumped on the floor.
I squeeze my eyes shut, listening intently to Cameron whistle from another room, and I clench my teeth, clamping my jaw shut as I slowly lift my arm beside me. Pain radiates through my body with every inch of movement, and I feel exhausted, tempted to let my arm dangle again to save my energy, but I push through it, determined to get the knife so that I have a way to defend myself.
When my hand reaches my thigh, my fingers slide through blood, and my eyes grow wet.
If I’m going to die, then I’m going down with a fight.
Get the knife and then stay relaxed and limp.
Conserve your energy and then attack when there’s a chance.
I continue chanting inside my head until my hand slides against my skin, underneath my top. When I reach the metal underwire, I almost sob with relief. I carefully push my fingers beneath the cup of my bra until they connect with the flick knife.
The blood coating my hand makes it hard to grip, but the sound of Cameron’s whistling drawing closer has my fingers twisting until the knife drops from my bra and lands into the palm of my hand.
I quickly drop my arm, dangling it beside me again and pushing it against the leg of the chair, hopefully concealing the sight of Ryker”s knife. My head drops forward and I breathe heavily from exertion. My scalp is now throbbing and my legs are both numb, but I force my eyes open and lift my head just as Cameron strolls back into the room with only the needle in his hand now.
His eyes narrow as he observes me and then he frowns.
“Hm, you seem a little more awake now. Maybe we’ll save this for if we need it later.” He drops the needle on the table and walks over to the table with the laptop, lifting himself until he’s sat beside it.
“Do you think I can break you this time, Callie? Because I’ve tried plenty of times before and every time, no matter what, you still had this little twinkle of hope inside of your eyes. Now, I’ve seen those little cracks. I can tell I’m getting to you this time, so, answer me. Do you think I can break you this time?”
I lightly shake my head and then wince.
“No,” I croak.
His eyes light with amusement, and a crazed smile spreads across his face.
“You sound so sure.” He laughs, hopping down from the table and stepping in front of the laptop, leaning towards me. “I think I can,” he whispers. “I have two more things planned for you. If neither of those breaks you, then I guess I’ll put you out of your misery and end your sorry little life. Maybe I’ll even go after Clarissa if I don’t get caught first.”
He turns to the table and wraps his fingers around the edge, dragging it closer to me before pressing play on the video.
“You can watch that whilst I go heat something up. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did at the time.”
His words cause a tear to drop from my eye, and dread settles in my stomach. I’m pretty sure I know what I’m about to watch.
His footsteps fade, and my focus lands on the screen as I watch my bedroom door open, light illuminating my naked, bruised body on the floor and my clothes strewn across the room. I frown, confused about when this was.
My heart drops when I watch Cameron stalk into the room, silently closing the door behind him. He steps towards me, nudging my body with his foot until he uses enough force to roll me over, and then he looks towards the camera and smiles.
My blood runs cold, and my chin begins to tremble.
I stare at myself on the screen, begging myself to move or get up, when Cameron begins stripping off his clothes.
“No, please, no.” My words are quiet and tears obscure my vision as I watch him position my limp body, legs spread open, and arms stretched above my head. As his hands brush against the skin on my legs, my head rolls to the side, and I hear myself groan, but then I fall silent again.
“Please, stop. This can’t happen,” I whisper, knowing it’s useless because I’m completely out of it in the video.
Unconscious.
Weak.
Vulnerable.
Bile rises in my throat as I watch Cameron’s body move between my legs, and his hand rests on my face, pushing my head to the side so that my face is towards the camera.
My whole body trembles when I see myself wince on the screen and slowly shake my head beneath Cameron’s grip, and his responding laugh has my tears falling rapidly.
I squeeze my eyes shut, not wanting to witness anymore, but the sounds pour out from the speaker. I hear the grunts, the quiet whimpers of pain, the chuckles, and the cruel words.
My heart twists, and the bile pushes up my throat.
I lean forward as the puke pours out of my mouth, heaving with every sound that I hear until my stomach is empty.
My hands ball into fists, and the knife digs into my hand, reminding me that it’s there.
When I hear my voice shout ‘no,’ I lean back and look over to the screen again, seeing myself kick at Cameron and groggily move my arms, trying to hit and scratch him.
All it takes is one punch from him, and my body flops back down against the carpet.
Tears continue to fall down my face as I watch the remainder of the video with a sense of emptiness inside of me, keeping my eyes glued to my own face, not daring to watch anything else that”s happening on the screen.
My head feels dizzy, and my breathing becomes shallow.
The sounds of Cameron’s pleasured grunts on the laptop mix with the sound of his footsteps as he walks towards this room.
I stay completely still, keeping my dead gaze on the laptop whilst I use what little strength I have to flick open the knife at my side.
As soon as he’s close enough to me, I’ll muster every ounce of strength I have left inside of me to stab him.
I’ll be happy if it’s the last thing I ever get to do.
“Did you enjoy that?” He asks, walking in with the metal stick he had from earlier, the bulky end now glowing orange.
His eyes stare at the laptop as he asks the question, and it causes my brows to furrow.
He must catch the movement because he turns towards me, smiling.
“Oh, I forgot to tell you! Your boys have been watching from home. That part must’ve skipped my mind.”
My heart skips a beat, and my eyes flick over to the laptop, zoning in on the little circular camera at the top. My lips tremble, and a choked sob releases from me when I realise they’ve watched it all.
“I”m sorry!” I shout, my voice hoarse and shaky. ”I love you.”
“Now, here’s the best part.” Cameron steps in front of me, the metal in his hand raised, the glowing end sending a tremor of fear through me. “You’ll never be rid of me now, Callie,” he taunts, lowering the metal poker until the bulky end lands on my thigh and a piercing scream soars through the air.
Black spots enter my vision and the room slowly starts spinning as the metal burns through my skin.
My arm lifts, and I thrust it forward, watching the knife slice through Cameron’s skin as the smell of my burning flesh fills my nose. My screams continue, as well as my hand movements. I stab Cameron, once, then twice, pushing with all my might until the knife is buried in his chest, and he falls backwards, the metal poker falling away with him as I succumb to the darkness.