PART 4–CHAPTER 177
JESS
My breath came in ragged gasps, each step through the snow slower than the last. The cold bit my skin, and my legs
screamed from the effort, but I couldn’t stop. Not yet. I pushed myself forward, heart pounding in my chest as I glanced back over my shoulder. The flashlight beam sliced through the darkness, closer than it had been before.
Eric was right behind me.
I stumbled, the uneven ground and thick snow pulling at my feet like they were trying to swallow me whole. My lungs burned with each breath of freezing air. I had to keep moving, I had to find a way out of this nightmare. But the snow was so thick and the cold so deep that it felt like every step was draining what little strength I had left.
Then, I heard it.
A deafening crack tore through the air, and in the same instant, a searing pain shot through my right leg. I gasped, stumbling forward, then crumpled to the ground. I screamed, clutching my leg, the agony so intense I thought I might pass out. Blood soaked through my fingers as I pressed them to the wound, my mind unable to process what had just happened.
I’d been shot.
He’d shot me.
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“Fuck!” I cried, pain radiating up my leg with every frantic heartbeat. The snow beneath me was stained red. My thoughts were spinning, pain blotting out everything else, but through the haze of agony, I heard his footsteps approaching.
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.
Eric moved slowly, deliberately, as if he had all the time in the world. His boots crunched through the snow, getting closer and closer. I looked up, blinking against the blur of tears, and saw the beam of his flashlight cutting through the night, aimed right at me. He stood over me, his face illuminated by the cold light, and all I saw was the shadow of a predator.
“Jess, Jess, Jess,” he tsked, crouching down just out of my reach. “What am I going to do with you?”
“Go to hell,” I hissed through clenched teeth, the words barely audible through the pain that was crashing over me in waves.
Eric smirked, his eyes gleaming with something dark and twisted. The gun in his hand gleamed under the beam of the flashlight. He stared at me for a moment before, with no warning, he pulled back his fist and slammed it into my face.
The impact was brutal. My head snapped back, pain exploding in my skull. Stars danced in my vision as everything spun around me. For a moment, I wasn’t sure which way was up. My mind screamed at me to move, to fight, to do anything, but my body wouldn’t listen.
I felt his hands on me then, rough and unyielding, as he grabbed me by the waist and hoisted me over his shoulder like a sack of flour. I wanted to struggle, to kick, to scream, but the pain in my leg flared with every jostle, and my body was too weak to resist.
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Blood pounded In my ears, and the world around me felt distant, as if I was floating somewhere far away.
“This is your fault, you know,” Eric’s voice cut through the haze, low and cold. His breath was hot against my ear as he carried me back toward the cabin. “If you’d just stayed where you were, none of this would’ve happened.
I squeezed my eyes shut, biting back a sob that threatened to escape my throat. Every step he took sent a jolt of pain through my leg, but I refused to give him the satisfaction of hearing met scream again. I wouldn’t let him win, no matter how broken I felt.
“You always make things harder for yourself, Jess,” he
continued, his voice dripping with disdain. “But it’s okay. We’ll fix this. You’ll learn your lesson.”
I felt my consciousness slipping as the cold air bit at my exposed skin. The pain was too much, my body shutting down in response. The last thing I remembered was the cabin door creaking open and the warmth of the fire hitting my face before everything went black.
When I woke up, everything hurt. My leg throbbed, my head pounded, and my mouth tasted like copper. I blinked, trying to focus, but my vision was still blurry, and my head felt like it was stuffed with cotton. Slowly, I became aware of the ropes digging into my wrists. I tried to move, but my hands were tied tightly behind my back, and my ankles were bound to the chair I was sitting in.
Panic shot through me, sharp and cold, as I looked around the dimly lit room. It was the same cabin, the same place where this nightmare had begun. The fire crackled in the hearth, casting
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flickering shadows on the walls. My heart raced as my gaze landed on Eric, who was crouched in front of me, his focus on my leg.
He was bandaging it. The wound where the bullet had torn through my flesh was now wrapped tightly in white gauze, stained pink with blood. He looked up at me then, a slow smile creeping across his face.
“There you are,” he said softly, his voice almost tender, but there was something chilling in the way he said it. “Beautiful.”
I swallowed hard, my throat dry and scratchy. “What…what are you doing?”
“Taking care of you,” he replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “I told you, didn’t I? We’ll fix this. Everything will be okay.”
I stared at him, my heart hammering against my ribs. He was insane. Completely and utterly insane.
“Eric-” I began, but he cut me off.
“Shh,” he said, pressing a finger to my lips. “You don’t need to say anything. Just rest. You’ll feel better soon.”
I turned my head away from his touch, bile rising in my throat. The ropes bit into my skin as I tugged uselessly against them, fear settling like a stone in the pit of my stomach. How the hell was I going to get out of this?
“You’re mine now, Jess,” he said quietly, his voice filled with an unsettling certainty. “There’s no running from me.”
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28A (Vouching
Terror gripped me as his words sank in. I had to find a way out. I
had to escape.
Before it was too late.
PART 4–CHAPTER 178
