Page 22 of Monster

I had no idea how long I’d been at this man’s place. Every meal he ate in front of me was torture. The chewing and the swallowing. That cheeky little grin of his I wanted to claw off his fucking face. The only thing that brought me solace was how deep those gashes on his face were. I still had his blood clogging the underbelly of my fingernails. And the scabs across that peachy little face of his always brought me a modicum of joy to see.

But, I was growing incredibly hungry. And I couldn’t let this asshole smoke me out.

I wasn’t completely unprepared for this circumstance, though. All my life, I had taken self-defense classes and gone to preparedness conferences my mother insisted I attend. I wasn’t sure why I needed to know all of this information at the time. However, I was glad my mother had pushed and pushed until I caved to those damn things.

I mean, the risks of my job and the high-profile clients of my mother’s firm should’ve been enough to convince me.

“Semantics,” I murmured.

“What was that?” Lyle asked.

I snickered. “Nothing you need to be concerned about, Brutus.”

“It’s Lyle.”

“All right, Lucas.”

I had been down in this basement long enough to figure out both Lyle and Mr. Ten Mil’s schedules. So, I knew when they were coming and when they were going. It took me almost three days of slowly sneaking around to find something small enough and maneuverable enough for me to use. But, once Lyle finally went upstairs for the evening to sleep himself, I dug out the bobby pin I found in the bathroom.

I didn’t even want to know who’s head it had fallen from.

I was just glad it was there.

“Come on,” I whispered.

I finally slipped the end of the bobby pin into the lock on my handcuffs and strained my shoulders to get it to work. But, after a few failed tries, I felt exhaustion settling into my muscles. I hadn’t eaten in days. My stomach was practically devouring itself. And as a wave of nausea rushed over me, I had to lay down for a moment to catch my breath.

However, I finally freed my wrists.

“Damn it, I’m good,” I murmured.

I bent forward and quickly unlocked my ankle cuffs, and for the first time in God-only-knew how long, I stood to my feet. I felt wobbly and off-kilter, but I was free. And as I stumbled over to the basement door, I prayed to any God listening that it was unlocked.

And to my shock, it was.

“Holy shit,” I whispered.

I inched my way up the steps and found myself standing on a landing. I wasn’t quite up to the first floor, but there was a small window that peeked out over the ocean. Wait a second, I was at the back of the house?

I could’ve sworn I was at the front.

I couldn’t pull my eyes away from the view, though. The full moon, hung heavily over the undulating waters as waves softly crashed against the white, sandy shoreline. It felt like I could reach out and touch the water, it seemed to close. I wasn’t done with my escape attempt, though. I had to make it out of this place.

But, when I turned and looked up the other set of steps I had to climb, fear froze me in place.

Then, out of nowhere, my cheek quickly pressed itself against the cold glass as my chest went slamming into the wall.

“Fuck!” I exclaimed.

I felt something force my legs open before a massive hand clamped down against my neck. Effectively pinning me to the wall.

“You really are impressive, you know that?” Mr. Ten Mil growled.

I bucked back against him. “Let me go.”

His grip against my neck tightened. “It’s cute, your attempt to escape. But, it seems the view will be your undoing, yes?”

I tried to kick him, but whatever was between my legs slid out and trapped itself in the crook of my knee. Every time I tried to move my leg higher, that stupid sensation moved with me. Until my leg was up so high that I knew for certain my bare pussy was out for the world to see.

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