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Right.

Needing to distract herself from her racing thoughts, she pushed out a frustrated groan and walked over to the dingy shower stall. Throwing back the clear plastic curtain, she reached down and pushed the temperature dial to almost scalding. Turning the water on, she dropped the white pill hidden between her fingers on the drain in the center of the stall. Waiting patiently until the tablet had fully disintegrated, she stepped into the steamy shower and turned her face towards the hot stream. Holding herself still under the water, she let the initial evidence of her lustful sins rinse off her skin.

If only it were that easy to clean your memory,she thought to herself before picking up the green bar of soap and scrubbing her skin raw.

CHAPTER SEVEN

“Kade?” Lexi called out, running the towel through her wet hair. “Are you back?”

Making her way down the hallway, she paused halfway to his room and waited for a reply. She had lost all track of time in the shower, cleaning her body and washing her hair again and again until the water ran cold. Secretly, she hoped that her abductor had returned without her knowledge and was disappointed when she didn’t hear his deep voice bellow from the bedroom. What if something had happened to him while he was gone? No one knew she was trapped, and she had no way of getting out. What if he got into a car accident, or was mugged, or was lying dead in a ditch somewhere? She would die in this prison.She would die alone in this hell.

“Stop it, Lexi,” she scolded herself. “Just stop it!”

Pursing her lips into a thin line, she pushed the manic thoughts from her mind and walked down the rest of the hallway. Crossing the threshold of her captor’s room, she tossed her gray towel on the bed and began to hum a comforting tune. It was a song that Leo often sang to her early in the morning, when the day was young, and nothing mattered but their bodies pressed languidly together. Oh, how she missed him.

Don’t worry. You’ll see him again, and you’ll live happily ever after. You’ll have everything with Leo that you’ve ever wanted in life,her mind offered.

“Yeah, right,” she argued aloud, pacing around the room. “Like he’s going forgive you forfuckinganother man? Don’t be so delusional! Leo will never want you again...nope. Never! You’re tainted goods, now. You’re a cheating whore! But Kade...well, he does want you. Sure, he’s insane and has murdered some women...but you’re the one he has always wanted! So maybe you should just be a good girl and be quiet...do what he says and let him love you. Yeah?”

Halting her steps, she struggled with the conflicting thoughts raging through her mind. She hated Kade, only she truly didn’t. She loved Leo, only not enough. She wanted to escape, but was afraid of what her life would look like once she did. She wanted Kade. She wanted Leo. She needed Leo. She needed Kade. Leo. Leo. Leo. Kade. Kade. Kade. Freedom. Freedom.

Freedom.

“Stop, stop, STOP!” she screamed, cupping her hands over her ears and shutting her eyes.

Swallowing a sob, she stood ramrod straight and gave herself a long moment to calm down. She was under an extreme amount of stress and letting her emotions get the better of her. If she could just tame her thoughts and collect her wits, she still stood a fighting chance of making it out from under Kade’s thumb alive. She just needed to breathe, sleep, and eat.

Oh. Food.

Not realizing just how famished she was until the thought ran across her mind, she dropped her hands to her stomach. Almost on cue her stomach growled, letting her know that she desperately needed something to eat. Kade did say he was bringing home breakfast, but she didn’t know how long he intended to remain gone. It could be hours, or even days until he returned. She couldn’t wait that long. Her body needed foodnow.

Hurrying to the wooden dresser situated on the opposite side of the room, she began to systematically open each drawer and comb through their contents. She was certain that Kade had a stash of food somewhere and was hellbent on finding it.

Rifling through the contents, her frustration bubbled as she only found his clothes within the first three drawers. Yanking open the fourth drawer, she felt a phantom slap to the face when she noticedherclothes folded neatly inside. Intimate articles that had gone missing from her apartment over the past few months.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” she said in bewilderment.

Searching through the drawer, she was shocked to find a collection of her unwashed bras, panties, and sleepwear. Items she had lost her mind over trying to figure out where they had gone. She wasn’t crazy after all. Someonehadtaken her clothes. Only that someone was a murderous lunatic, not a friendly house elf as Leo had suggested.

Son of a bitch.

Digging through the piles of dirty cotton and lace, her fingers smacked against an old shoebox. Arching a curious brow, she pulled the box from the drawer and set it on the cold floor besideher. Taking in a deep breath, she opened the lid and exclaimed a wicked curse.

Reaching into the shoebox, Lexi picked up dozens of printed pictures. Quickly flipping through them, she realized how unscrupulous Kade was in his hunt. They were all of her, taken candidly in various locations. At work, out shopping, at the park, and in restaurants. There were even pictures of her inside her apartment. It didn’t matter where she was or whom she was with, he was always near her. It sent a cold shiver down her spine.

Setting the photos on the floor, she dove back into the box and found a set of keys attached to a familiar beaded keychain. It only took her a split second to recognize that they were the spare keys to her apartment. Keys that she hadn’t noticed were missing. It unnerved her to finally know how he had broken in. She wondered just how many times he had set foot into her home without her permission.

Moving past the keys, she focused her attention on the last two items in the shoebox: a red velvet jewelry box and a black linen bag with something rectangular inside. Grabbing the jewelry box first, she flipped open the stiff lid. Honing her eyes on the white gold infinity necklace inside, she felt her heart stop. It was the necklace that Leo had given her on their one-year anniversary. All her cocky confidence flew out the window when she realized the implication.

Kade had stolen her necklace in anticipation of doing to her what he had done to his other victims.

You think you’re so special, huh? Yeah, right. He’s probably chomping at the bit to add this necklace to hisshrine, you idiot! You aren’t playing him, he’s playing you.

Closing the jewelry box, she dropped it onto the floor next to the pictures. Panic settled deep within her bones, ramping up her anxiety. She needed to get the hell out of his prison, only now she didn’t know how.

“Don’t worry. You’ll think of something! Just stay calm,” she encouraged herself before yanking the velvet bag from the shoebox. “Just stay calm.”

Opening the rope drawstring, she pulled the fabric open and physically jumped from the floor. To her complete shock, her cell phone was tucked neatly inside. It made no sense to her why he would have kept her cell, but at that moment she didn’t care. This was her chance at being rescued, and she intended on taking it.

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