Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 103431 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 517(@200wpm)___ 414(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103431 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 517(@200wpm)___ 414(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
“You know, it didn’t have to be this way. If you would have just noticed me from the start.... But you didn't. So, here we are.” He morphs before my very eyes, from man to monster. It’s almost as if he’s a real-life Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde. “And now, you have to atone for your sins.”
He releases his grip on me with a forceful shove, once again sending me to the ground. I spit a glob of blood that lands on the floor inches away from him. “You're actually blaming me?” I wrap my arms around myself if only to keep my thundering heart from beating right out of my chest. “You're insane.”
He laughs, the sound dark and maniacal. It makes my skin crawl. “I'll show you insane,” he grits out the words as he digs in a drawer from the overturned desk.
I rack my brain, trying to think of a way out of this, but the sound of my pulse pounding in my ears proves to be too distracting.
Playing along didn’t help. Fighting back certainly isn’t either. But sitting here, hoping and praying Ellis makes it in time feels... wrong.
What would Nora do? I ask myself, forcing myself to calm down. Panicking won’t help.
“We will be happy together, you know?” He asks, finally locating whatever he was looking for, but I pay him no mind.
At least, outwardly. On the inside, I’m aware of him down to a molecular level. But maybe ignoring him altogether will throw him off enough to give me the upper hand.
“Did you hear me?” he bellows, nostrils flaring. “We will have everything. You were always meant to be mine, and there’s nothing, I mean nothing, I won’t do to keep you.”
He stomps to a stop right in front of me, looming over me so close that he fills my vision. “Do you understand what I mean?”
I try to stand strong, to hold my tongue, but Clint’s not having it. “I said tell me!” He leans forward, squeezing my jaw in a bruising grip with his right hand.
I shake my head as best I can with my face immobilized.
“That’s okay I’ll put in the time to make you understand.” He pulls his left hand from behind his back, revealing a tangle of rope and a wicked looking knife. “I’ll make you love me.”
“I'd rather die,” I shout, trying to lunge for the knife.
But he anticipates my movement, and I end up belly down on the floor with his knee forced painfully into my spine. My ribs scream from being pressed against the floor.
“If that’s how you feel,” he says, making quick work of binding my wrists. “It can be arranged. But first, I’ll bleed your love out of you. Drop by precious drop. Make no mistake.” He skims down the length of my arm with the tip of his blade. “You will be mine. I tried to give you a choice, Petal. But you’re too damn stubborn for your own good. So now, I’ll take it—by force.”
He pierces my skin with the blade, slicing down the same path he just traced.
I scream out as white, hot agony engulfs me, trying and failing to buck him off of my back.
“I’ve long since grown tired of your foolish games. After I kill you, I’ll hunt down that piece of shit who stole you from me and kill him too.”
“Then I still win,” I sob. “Because if you kill us both, we’ll still be together and you’ll be exactly where you belong—alone.”
Clint flips me to my back with rough hands, my arms screaming from the pain of their binds and this angle. He straddles me. “If you won’t walk down the aisle to me in this dress, what purpose does it serve other than keeping you from me?” He pokes the tip of the knife through the neckline of my dress, the cool metal making contact with my skin.
Fear coils around me like a boa constrictor, winding tighter and tighter, closing off my windpipe, choking the air from my lungs. as he pokes the tip of the knife through the neckline of my dress. “Get off of me,” I screech, nothing but sheer panic coursing through my system. “He’s gonna find you and he’s gonna fucking kill you.” My words are a prayer and a taunt.
Even if Ellis doesn’t get here in time, I refuse to go down begging for mercy.
“Shut. Your. Whore. Mouth,” he growls, slicing open the front of my dress, nicking my chest in the process.
I open my mouth, but my scream never comes out.
Clint falls eerily silent, staring intently as a bead of blood wells up between my bare breasts. He groans, rubbing himself against me as he presses either side of the cut, causing more blood to trickle out. “I bet you taste so good.”