Page 22 of Things Get Dark

I also know they won’t be far behind me.

The wire fences rattle in the wind. There to keep the public out, but the graffiti covered walls proves their lack of protection. And it won’t stop me. Not when I know she is in there. It’s hardly a challenge as I leap over, landing on the impacted dirt beneath on the other side. I stay quiet, hoping to hear her, but there isn’t a single sound alerting me to her presence. A growl vibrates through my throat as I stalk to the closest entrance.

I will protect what is mine.

With chains left dormant on the floor by the nearest door it’s easy to make my way inside. Quietly, I stalk my way through the lowest level of the building. Windows line the doors, and I check each of them as I pass, I grow more frantic. Boxes of junk, desks and chairs left uncaringly by the previous owner of the building.

But no sign of her.

A shadow casts across my path and my eyes narrow as I pause my movement. It’s not until I see the cocky little shit Kai waggle his fingers at me briefly that my shoulders relax, and I realise just how tense I have become. He points upstairs and then puts up two fingers. The other two are upstairs searching from the top floor down. I nod. This is how we work best. A team, forged by madness and bloodshed.

Room by room, floor by floor, we scour the building in our hunt for her. Finally, on the fourth floor, I hear her, relief is overtaken by gut-wrenching panic when her words hit my ears.

“Pimple-popper! Pimple-popper. You win okay, I’m scared, please, enough, enough. Please. Stop.” Her little cries hiccup into a sob, it has my heart pounding as fast as my feet, Kai right behind me. Whoever our little mouse is with, isn’t going to listen to her ridiculous safe word like we would. She doesn’t understand. Doesn’t know she is in serious danger right now.

The two of us look through the window of the office and Kai pulls back, cursing at the masked man under his breath. I can’tmake out who it is, but Kai clearly is aware of exactly who we are dealing with.

I want to get in there, but the knife perilously angled at our little mouse’s throat gives me pause. I grind my teeth, my brain in overdrive at how to deal with this situation. The slight gap between the frame reveals the bolt locking the door. I could easily kick the door in, but the surprise could make him accidentally kill her.

A hand comes to my shoulder, and I know the others are here. I step back giving them a chance to see within the square window. Abel’s shoulders tense, and Sergio raises his fingers to his lips. She must have seen him, and for that I am grateful.

She knows we are coming for her.

Chapter Eleven

Lexi

Ihad suspected thismasked man wasn’t one of them. Now I know as I spot Sergio through the window of the door as he raises a finger to his lips. I close my eyes, scrunching them up to stop the cascade of tears. They are here, all of them, and now I must be strong. Which is easier said than done with a knife held at your throat.

I want them to come in and stop this, to save me from the nightmare of this reality. Though it doesn’t take a genius to understand why they can’t. One jolt from this blade and I’m a goner. They need to find a quiet entry, or an opportunity to rescue.

They don’t realise I am waiting too.

He finally got the knife to my throat when I ran out of objects to throw, the arsenal now surrounding the door. As he moved closer, I kicked out my legs, ignoring the pain in my ankle as it connected. I used my teeth and nails as weapons, but nothing aided me as he swept in.

As he raised the knife to my throat, I attempted the safe word. I knew in my heart it wouldn’t work. That this man who hadbrought me here, trapped me with him, wasn’t one of them, but I was willing to try anything after exhausting everything else. I don’t think I have ever fought as hard as I have in these long minutes. He had waited for his moment, and he won. I am petrified.

I love to be scared, but I don’t want to die.

“Open your eyes, you little slut.” They spring open, my eyes scanning his, my brain working out where I heard those words before. It comes to me. The icky guy telling me to enjoy the ride. I knew there was something off about him, a girl should always trust her instincts. I shudder. How many women has this man led to their doom before? Something must show in my eyes.

“Figured it out?” The hand not holding the blade removes the mask from his face, revealing a cruel smile. “Don’t worry though, I’m not interested in touching you. Not without my knife anyway. I mean, you did consent to knife play in your form. You should always read the small print.”

His laugh is an evil thing sending a chill down to my bones, a dark sadistic noise I will hear in my nightmares for years to come if I am to survive this. Salvation may be behind that door, but it seems so far away when the knife edge nicks my throat. Blood pools briefly on my skin before it rolls down to my collarbone, I shudder, but I dare not move.

While he hovers above me, staring at me so intently, I resist flicking my eyes to the window. He must see the fear and absolute horror that is no doubt clear in my eyes. I want to shut them and squeeze them so tight he won’t have the satisfaction, but it would be foolish.

Swinging a leg over me, he straddles me, a position I was in earlier tonight. A fucked-up reminder of a deal that has gone awry, a safe word that doesn’t exist within these walls, and pleasure that will not come.

I want to scream, to cry, but even swallowing the saliva that has built in my mouth is impossible with the blade so perilously close to my throat. Delicately he drifts the blade across my skin and my eyes water as sharp pain blossoms over my neck, and his smile widens.

“Don’t worry, it’s a small cut, barely more than a papercut. I want this to last a while.” His explanation holds an edge of excitement in his tone, his dark eyes no longer watching my fear but the knife he wields in awe. I need to distract him from the blood. From my pain.

I need an opening to get this madman off me.

Chapter Twelve

Lexi

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