Chapter 19 #3
There were no bedrooms as far as Kara could see, but then again, it wasn’t as if Nolan was giving her the grand tour.
He pulled her over to one side of the cabin and grabbed her arm, forcing her to her feet.
He slammed her back against the wall, making Kara gasp in pain as her head made contact with the sturdy wooden slats.
He then unwound the cord on his wrist and grabbed her hands. He wrapped the rough rope around her wrists several times, then wound it around her waist, securing her hands together against her body, before reaching above her head with what was left of the rope.
She wanted to lift her head to see what he was doing, but the restraint was too tight.
“There,” he said in satisfaction, taking a step back to check out his handiwork. “You won’t be going anywhere anytime soon, that’s for sure. You need to piss, you’ll do it standing up. And if you fall asleep? You’ll hang yourself.” He laughed. “I’m gonna enjoy this.”
He turned his back on her and headed into the kitchen. When he reentered her line of sight, he had a bag in his hand. He took out a pillow, a blanket, and bunch of MREs, the kind of meals military members ate while on missions.
“It’s not the Hilton, but it’ll do for a few nights. Here’s the deal, honey—I’m not going to kill you.”
Kara blinked. Wait…what?
“You’re going to kill yourself.”
He laughed again, hard, as she gaped at him.
“It’ll be interesting to see how long you can stay awake. I’m sure you’ll do fine at first, but eventually your body will give in to the need to sleep, and when it does…” He made a choking sound and let his tongue fall out of his mouth.
“It’ll probably wake you up immediately.
But it’ll happen again, then again and again.
You’ll shit yourself, pee, maybe want to puke—but I don’t recommend it, as you’ll have to swallow that shit, since the rope around your neck is too tight for you to expel anything.
And I’m going to sit here and watch every single second of your misery. ”
“Why?” Kara asked.
“Because!” he yelled, scaring Kara with the barked response. With the abrupt difference in tone and volume. “No one leaves me! You’re nothing. You’re trash! You’re a whore who fell into bed with the first man who came along after you left me. You have to pay for your fucking disrespect!”
Nolan took a deep breath…then gave her the smile that, at one time, she’d thought was adorable and meant he was really into her. “I don’t even want to fuck you,” he continued, tone back to normal. “You’re tainted now. I wouldn’t give you my dick if you begged for it.”
Kara did her best to hide her relief at hearing that.
As he spoke, he began to remove the disguise he’d donned to trick Jen and anyone else who might recognize him.
He took off the glasses, removed the colored contacts he had in, and tugged off the wig he had on.
The man who was revealed was the Nolan she remembered.
The man who’d terrorized her before. The man she hoped she’d never see again.
“You’ll stand there against that wall for as long as you can, until you eventually give in to the inevitable and hang yourself.
There’s no one around. I looked long and hard for the perfect place to stash you.
Your body will rot here, the animals will feast on your flesh as you decompose.
In the meantime, I’ll be long gone. Across the country, finding new conquests.
I’m not even going to add you to my tally.
” He gestured to the lurid marks on his chest, hidden by the shirt he was wearing at the moment.
“You don’t deserve to be inked on my body.
Should we take a wager on how long you can last? ”
Kara shook her head the tiniest bit, the most movement she was able to make and not hurt herself in the process.
“I give you a day and a half.”
His mocking words, and his anticipation at the suffering she’d go through, hardened Kara’s resolve.
This was actually the best outcome she could’ve hoped for, under the circumstances.
He wasn’t raping her, wasn’t using a knife to carve into her skin, and wasn’t immediately putting a bullet in her head.
He was giving her a gift. The gift of time. The longer she could withstand falling asleep, the more time Arrow had to find her.
Nolan had just signed his own death warrant, and he didn’t even know it.
The only person dying in this shithole of a cabin would be him.
Not her. She’d stand there for a week if that was how long it took for Arrow and his team to find her.
Nolan had no idea the mistake he’d made.
If he did, he’d be furious and would kill her immediately.
Fuck him.
She didn’t need sleep. Didn’t need to eat.
Didn’t care if she peed and pooped herself.
Because in the end, she’d be alive. That was all that mattered.
To continue breathing until Arrow arrived.
She was no damsel in distress. No, she was a heroine in peril.
And her luck would hold out. There was no other alternative she’d even consider. Arrow would find her—he had to.
This was one battle of wits she was determined to win. She just hoped Nolan didn’t suddenly get impatient to start his new life out west. The goal was to keep him here for Arrow to find. If that meant giving him a “show,” that’s what she’d do.
Only one of them was walking out of here, and Kara was more determined than ever that it was going to be her.