Chapter 38
Something was wrong. Frankie’s thoughts seemed jumbled, and she was having trouble moving. She opened her eyes, but it was dark.
She tried to pull her arm up so she could wipe her face, but she couldn’t move her arm. There was something around her wrists.
The hard surface below was unforgiving, and she pushed with her legs to stretch out, but that pulled on her arms. Were her arms tied to her feet? What had happened?
The last thing she remembered was the fire. She’d saved Sonja. Relief slid through her. She’d at least saved her friend.
What was going on? She wasn’t in a hospital or an ambulance, but they were moving. They hit a bump, and her hips flew up an inch or so, and came down hard, sending pain straight through her.
Forest had shown up and hit her. She guessed he’d knocked her out, and now she was trapped in the trunk of his car.
A few moments later, the motion of the car slowed. Could she escape? What did the bastard have planned for her?
No question, Forest would kill her if he thought he could get away with it. She would have to be cunning and play it smart to escape him again.
The car sped up and then slowed down a few more times before it started moving at a consistent speed for what seemed like forever, but it could have been twenty minutes. She had no idea because her sense of time was off. Being tied up in the trunk of his car was very disorienting.
When the vehicle finally stopped, she heard a car door slam. She waited for him to open the trunk, but seconds ticked by and stretched into what had to be minutes. She wasn’t sure how long she waited, but it seemed interminable.
The car door slammed again, making her jump. Waiting for him to pop the lid of the trunk was nearly painful, but him popping the lid and pulling her out would only lead to more pain, she was sure of it.
Would he do that thing gangsters did in movies, where they shot up the trunk, killing her? That seemed like the coward’s way to kill another person.
Her body shook, whether from fear or cold, she didn’t know. Her mind was clearing, and she remembered what had happened after escaping the fire. Forest had Sonja in a headlock. That had stopped her in her tracks. She didn’t want Forest to hurt Sonja. She hoped he hadn’t killed her friend.
The amount of hate she had for Forest was like a volcano. She wanted him to suffer. If he died today, she would be thrilled. Maybe it was wrong to wish for his death, but she had little hope he would ever reform.
And if he actually killed Sonja, she would track him down and…what? She hadn’t been able to do anything to him when they’d been together.
The car door slammed again. Her muscles tightened as she waited for him to pull her from the trunk, but nothing happened. She let go of a heavy sigh. All this tension and worry, and nothing was happening.
She had to pee, so she hoped he would get her out of the trunk soon. Maybe he wasn’t ever going to let her out. She didn’t want to die here.
Having her eyes open or closed didn’t make a difference, but closing her eyes made her feel more at peace. This wasn’t the way she thought she would die.
For years, she believed she would die at Forest’s hands, but not without extreme violence. Suffocating in the trunk of a car wasn’t how she thought she would go.
She’d just about given up when the trunk popped open, light splashing into the small space. She blinked against the brightness, trying to make out the figure blocking the light.
Then another person walked over, and he turned so she could see it was Stone. Just great, Forest’s insane brother was here. This wasn’t going to end well.