Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 63082 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 315(@200wpm)___ 252(@250wpm)___ 210(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63082 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 315(@200wpm)___ 252(@250wpm)___ 210(@300wpm)
Nash would be frantic by now. The memory of him sleeping beside her, his protective arms around her, made her chest ache. She’d wasted so much time running from him, from them. Two years ago, she’d convinced herself that leaving was her only option.
She’d been wrong. Being without him these past years had been far worse.
And now she might never get the chance to tell him the whole truth or confess how much she regretted ever leaving him.
Focus. She had to. That was her only hope of escape.
Haisley forced herself to study the cell again. She needed to note every detail, memorize the guards’ routines. Then she could look for patterns and weaknesses, see if she could persuade anyone to help her. She refused to wait helplessly for rescue. Even though Nash would tear the world apart to find her, these bastards were good. He might not be able to scrape together enough clues to track her down.
Her best guess? She’d been abducted by the ring who used that bogus rug import business’s website to sell their prey. Would she be next—another listing, another woman to be auctioned off to a brutal, wealthy stranger to endure whatever his sick, entitled mind wanted? Haisley’s blood froze. Bile rose in her throat.
No. She refused to be just another victim. She’d observe. Gather intelligence. And the moment an opportunity presented itself, she’d be ready.
Because she had too much left unsaid, too much left undone. She had a life to get back to. A love to fight for.
Somehow, some way, she had to make it home to Nash.
Suddenly, a sharp rap on the cell door made both women jump. The metallic clink of a key in the lock had Haisley whipping around. Two male guards entered, too hulking to resist. They hauled her to her feet before dragging her out the door.
“Where are you taking me?” she demanded in a bright-white, sterile hallway. “Where am I? What’s going on?”
Neither answered, merely tightening their grips as they forced her toward a blue metal door, punched in a code on the keypad, then shoved her inside.
Inside was a sterile examination room where a woman in scrubs under a white lab coat sat behind a computer.
The middle-aged blonde looked up from her laptop and sent the guards an impassive expression. “4479?”
“Yes, doctor,” answered the goon on her right.
“I’m good here. Resume your post.”
Both sentries nodded and took up positions on either side of the door, blocking any hope Haisley had of escape.
She tried not to despair. At some point, someone in this facility would get complacent, slip up.
She just hoped it wasn’t too late for her.
The female physician picked up a clipboard and approached. “Subject 4479. Haisley Rowe. Twenty-eight years old. From Lafayette, Louisiana, where you were raised by your Aunt Cynthia, recently deceased. Mother deceased. Whereabouts of father unknown. No siblings.” She finally raised cold eyes to Haisley’s face. “Any corrections?”
Haisley’s throat tightened. They knew everything about her. “How did you learn all that?”
The doctor scowled. “I’m asking the questions, not you. If you can’t follow simple instructions, our facility is full of people who will take pleasure from your pain and enjoy torturing you. Now, I’ll ask again. Any corrections?”
“No.”
“Good.” The doctor measured her height and weight, then took her vitals, jotting down each of her findings. “Prescription medications?”
“None.”
“Date your last menstrual cycle ended?”
Haisley quickly calculated. “Ten days ago.”
The woman penciled in the answer with a nod. “Any previous pregnancies?”
The question was a punch to Haisley’s gut. “One.”
“Duration? Outcome?”
Before Haisley could answer, the cell phone in the doctor’s coat pocket dinged. With a muffled curse, the woman picked up the device. “What?”
Haisley ran through scenarios in her head in which she plucked the phone out of the woman’s hands and called for help. But a glance behind her at the guards still blocking the door while watching her every move made that somewhere between unlikely and impossible. Besides, she didn’t know how to get out of this facility or off the island. She’d have to bide her time and be smart before she made her move.
She’d only get one chance to escape.
“Fine. When?” The doctor listened to the garbled voice on the other end, then nodded. “It will be done in the next hour.”
After ending the call, the woman pocketed her phone again with a displeased sigh. “The powers that be are impatient, so we’ll skip to the important parts. When was your most recent sexual encounter?”
Heat flooded Haisley’s cheeks. “The night before I was taken.”
“Last night, then. Protected or unprotected?”
God, Nash would be frantic by now. “Unprotected.”
The doctor handed her a paper cup containing a white pill. “Plan B. Take it.”
“What if I refuse?”
The doctor snapped her fingers, and suddenly one of the guards was at her side and had a knife at her throat. “That’s not an option.”