Page 256 of Saving Her

With everything inside me I knew it was true.

It was Luca who made me forget. He temporarily distracted me from my future. From my fate.

“Get in.” Robert shoves me with force. “Protesting won’t save you, but it will permanently destroy your beautiful face.”

“Fuck you.” I stand my ground.

“Have it your way.” He lunges for my legs, hauling me off the ground to topple me into the trunk.

Metal collides with my hip, sending shooting pain around my waist, and I cry out as my head hits the dirty interior. Neither impact stops me from scrambling to my hands and knees.

“Don’t even try it.” Robert pulls his gun on me and I freeze. “That’s a good girl.” He looms over me with a leering smile. “You wouldn’t believe how easy it was to get to you. How fucking simple when I had someone on the inside. And I can’t wait to tell you my plans for the future, but for now, enjoy the ride.” He shoots me a wink and reaches to close the trunk.

I quickly duck, missing another impact to the head as he locks me inside the darkened space.

As soon as his footsteps recede, I scramble to get a textural hold on my surroundings, panic overwhelming me.

I slide my palms over everything, searching for an end in the carpet to pull upward in the hopes of finding something beneath. But I can’t lift the floor when my weight already rests on top of it. I can’t even slide my fingers into the cavity below to search for a jack or any sort of tool.

A door slams. The engine growls to life.

I fight tears as the car moves forward, the pace increasing. Sirens wail in the distance and I set my gliding hands in search of the tail lights. I rip at the upholstery, tugging and tugging until my fingers scream in protest.

The more I rip and yank, the faster the car accelerates, sliding me around the trunk with each of Robert’s sharp turns.

I begin to pray for a vehicle collision. That this psychotic asshole will wrap us around a pole, because death by his hands would be better than a life under his fists, but then the red illumination of the tail lights seeps through, the glimpse of light in the darkness giving me hope.

I squeeze my fist into the opening. Tug at the wires. Thump at the warm metal at the back of the light. I thump and thump and thump as I’m thrown around the small space like a doll. I swear I’m about to break through, and that the anticipation has increased the static in my ear to drown out the sirens. Until I realize I can still hear the rumble of tires against gravel. The low hum of the radio.

Oh, God.

The wail of cop cars trails in the distance. Robert must have lost them.

I’m on my own.

I fight back panic as the vehicle turns and turns again, then slows… stops… The grumble of a garage door grates from right outside my spacious coffin.

Wherever we are is still in Portland. Maybe even suburbia. But far from the police that previously gave me hope. Now there’s only resignation as I slide back into the woman I once was. The victim. The slave.

From hell to salvation and back again. All in the blink of an eye.

I’d been so happy this morning. Despite the trials and tribulations, I’d breathed freely, yet I took it for granted for too long. I hadn’t embraced the gift of reclaimed life. I’d refused to grasp it in both hands.

Maybe that’s why this has happened.

Maybe my lack of gratitude has brought me full circle.

I shouldn’t have held back in telling Luca how I felt. He deserved to know he was everything to me. Not just a savior or a protector. He was my hope. My future. My life.

The trunk opens and Robert greets me with his smirk still firmly in place.

“We’re here, milady.” He reclaims my hair, making me scramble as he drags me out of the car to my feet.

I don’t let a hint of fear escape. Not one glimmer of sadness or anger.

I lock everything inside, taking on the painful build of adrenaline.

He wants me to be scared of him, so I won’t.

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