Page 10 of Fighting Shadows

Charlie hauls me up from the bed by my upper arm, his fingers digging in hard enough to create bruises. He drags me fromthe room to the bathroom across the hall, not caring that I can barely keep up from being stuck to the bed for hours with no movement.

“Hurry. Do your business, then come straight out,” he says, shutting the wooden door in my face.

I quickly do my business because I really did need to go, but I don’t flush the toilet. I'm praying I can find something in here to try to escape without him coming in.

I search everywhere as quietly as I can, knowing he’s just on the other side of the door, and close the cupboard doors as softly as I can, flinching when they creak. There’s nothing in here but shampoo and conditioner bottles and a bar of soap.

“Are you done yet?” he shouts through the door, making me freeze in place.

“Nearly!”

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I am so fucked.

I remember all the self-defense training Zander has taught me, and I know I need to try to get out of here and fight my way back to my men because if I give up, then I’m failing everyone, including myself.

The bar of soap catches my eye, and I remove my sock, shove the soap into it, and tie a knot at the top to prevent it from flying out.

Charlie knocks on the door again, louder this time, his impatience clear.

“Autumn!” he bangs on the door.

“Just a second!” I position myself by the door, my weapon in my hand, and stand in the stance Zander taught me to help me balance.

As predicted, Charlie’s frustration takes over, and he flings the bathroom door open, his eyes narrowing at me as he takes me in.

“Don’t do it, Autumn. You won’t like the consequences,” he warns.

“I don’t like whatever this is right now. I want to go home. I want my family. I don’t want you, Charlie. I never did, and I won’t just lay there on that fucking bed and let you do what you did to me in the past. I didn’t fight back then; you held Chlo’s life over me and that bitches, and I let you rape me! I’m fighting back now,” I sneer at him, baring my teeth like a wild animal that’s been cornered.

Maybe it’s because that’s what I am. I’ve never fought back before, too terrified of what would have happened to Chloe, but she’s not here anymore, and I’m not the same girl as before.

I want to live.

To go home.

So I swing, cracking Charlie across the face with my soapy sock. He staggers back a step with a groan, and I nearly smile, knowing that Dominic and Zander would be proud.

The satisfaction doesn’t last long as he turns his eyes filled with anger to me; he snarls, his teeth now covered in blood.

“I told you that you’re mine!” he shouts, blood-filled spit flying over the floor.

Charlie rushes at me, his hands out, ready to grab me the moment I’m in range.

The bathroom is small, so I attempt to dance around him, hoping to get a clear path to the door so I can make a run for it. I barely make it to the sink when he lunges for me.

I swing the sock again and again, praying that it’ll be enough to get him off me, but he only grunts, his arms wrapping around me like a vice.

“Get off!” I scream, “Let me go!”

“You’re mine, Autumn; when will you learn this? You were mine from the moment I saw you, and you will always be mine.Next time you try to run, I’ll kill you. If I can’t have you, then no one can,” he says, his erection grinding into me from behind.

I swing my head back, headbutting him, and the crunch of his nose has him letting me go.

I run for the door, not even looking back to see if he’s following. Just as my hand grazes the front door handle, his hand wraps in my hair, yanking me back.

He lets go as I hit the floor, his tall frame towering over me where I’m laid.

“I told you not to run, Little One,” he says.

---