Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 76396 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76396 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
The deliveries.
The picking up.
The cash handling.
All of it. If I don’t get it right, my whole family will suffer, starting with Lincoln.
And then I’ll have to live with that devil on my shoulder.
And I’ve had enough of that little bastard.
So, I have to do it right.
~15~
NOW – ELLIE
“Please,” I say to the young man, named Riley. This is the first time he’s been left to come down here alone. Master has never trusted anyone else except himself. This man might be the only person who can get me out of here.
I think that he is Master’s son, but I can’t be sure.
Riley glances at me, but says nothing as he delivers my tray and turns towards the door.
“Please,” I say again. “I know you can hear me. You’ve seen what he does to me, Riley. He trusts you, please, I have a family too, I don’t want to spend the rest of my life here.”
“Be quiet,” Riley orders, opening the door and then stepping out, slamming it.
I try over the course of three weeks to get Riley to talk to me, but to no avail. Slowly but surely, though, he stops telling me to be quiet. So maybe, just maybe, he’s coming around. Maybe he’s thinking about my words. Maybe he’s wondering if he can help me.
The door swings open.
I’m sitting on my bed, knitting. It’s the only thing he’ll allow me to do, but I have to place everything down when he enters the room, or he’ll take it all away from me. I place my work down, and stand when he comes in. He’s angry, really really angry. I can see it in his face. It’s red, and his eyes are bloodshot. He comes storming over to me and grabs me by the throat, slamming me against the wall.
My head hits so hard I see stars.
I don’t scream anymore.
It only makes it worse.
“What are you saying to him?” he bellows.
“I don’t...I don’t know what you’re talking about, Master?” I slur my words, my head is spinning.
“You’ve been speaking to Riley, he told me so himself. Trying to get him to let you out. He’s not going to let you out, you stupid, imbecile.”
He slams me against the wall again, and tears roll down my cheeks, but I make no sound.
“You’ll be punished for trying to escape me. You know how much I hate it. You know what I said I’d do to you, if I found you trying to escape again.”
“I wasn’t...I wasn’t-”
A hard slap across my face sends my head whipping to the side. He drops me, and reaches around, pulling out a long, hard, terrifying piece of metal. He raises it up, and then swings. It hits me across the temple, sending me flying. This time I scream, I scream so loudly my throat burns. Blood fills my vision and the pain nearly takes me to my dark place, the place I need to get when he’s like this.
I keep my eyes clenched shut, my whole body shaking with agony, waiting for the next hit. It comes, a blow to my ribs, one that takes the breath right out of me. Then he’s lifting me by my hair, bringing me to his face, panting with rage, not caring that my blood is splattering all over him with every scream.
“You so much as ever even fucking think about escaping me again, I’ll cut your fingers off, one by one. Then your toes. Any anything else I can remove from your body without you dying. You’re mine, Raven. And you’ll spend the rest of your life being mine.”
He drops me to the floor, and the pain is so severe, I’m screaming.
I can’t stop.
I need it to stop.
Make it stop.
“Ellie!”
Someone is grabbing me. Shaking me.
I scream harder and fight, pushing the hands away. No, it already hurts too much. Please, he can’t be back already. I can’t take anymore. Someone, please help me. Riley.
“Ellie!”
Another shake.
My eyes fly open and it takes me a long moment to realize I’m in a dark room, and someone is shaking me. As I come out of my horrific nightmare, I remember where I am, and Slater’s voice penetrates my mind.
“Ellie, it’s me. It’s Slater. It’s okay.”
Slater.
Not Paul.
I’m here.
Not there.
I’m panting, and I’m soaked in sweat. Slater is clutching me, his big hands around my shoulders. As I come further into the realization that I’m not back there, I start to cry. Big, angry, heavy tears. They just roll down my face. Then come the sobs, the broken, pathetic sobs.
“Slater,” I croak.
He moves quickly.
He scoops me into his arms and brings me close to him, and in my haze, I don’t think about anything else except the way he’s making me feel in this moment. So safe, like not a single person in this would could get through him to me. That’s a feeling I want to cling to for the rest of my life. So, I let my body lead. For the first time, I just go with what feels right. I forget everything else. I forget what I’ve been through, and the horror that clings to my heart, and I just let my body take the lead.