Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 77160 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77160 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
“Hey, I don’t want her all bloody when I get to her,” Frank grumbled, sounding like a petulant child throwing a fit. A fit that he would have to look at a little blood on my face when he raped me.
How was this real life?
How did I work for such a monster?
Pain pulsed.
I could hardly think past it.
But a movement caught my eye.
The pit boss was trying to inch toward me.
I gave a small shake of my head that the men would take for a reaction to the punch. But it stopped her cold.
I glanced toward the purse, back to her, then the purse again, before settling on her, willing her to know what I was telling her to do.
Get in there.
Get the damn door lock.
Did I have high hopes for us fighting our way out of this? No. But it was better than sitting around being tortured for hours.
Her hand inched slowly toward my bag, so I glanced back up at my attacker, hoping to distract him.
“It takes a really small man to feel big by hitting little women,” I said, the words sounding funny as my lip started to swell up. “You must be… tiny.”
I braced for the strike, but he grabbed me by my hair, yanking so hard I was surprised he didn’t break it all off.
Pain sliced across my scalp, made my eyes water, but I kept my gaze on his.
“A little too true, huh?”
“Who do you work for?”
“I guess this is as good a time as any to hand in my resignation. So… no one currently.”
I didn’t see the next blow coming.
But because he’d dropped his hold on my hair, I moved instinctively, making his blow hit me near my temple instead of the cheek he was aiming for.
It felt like my skull shattered.
Like the fragments sliced into my brain.
My vision went wobbly, then flickered black before settling again.
The knock caught us all by surprise, making everyone jolt and straighten.
“Well, get it,” the man hissed as his hand shot out, closing around my mouth.
Frank looked around, eyes wild, but did as he was told, slipping out the smallest gap in the door that he could manage.
“You’re gonna talk,” he snarled at me. “Or we’ll all take turns on you at the same time until you’re screaming your boss’s name. But know this: he can’t save you.”
Frank popped his head in. “I need to do something.”
“Five minutes,” the man holding me barked.
“Right. Yeah. Okay.”
I glanced over at Frank, wondering what look I’d find on his face.
I swore I did see regret there.
But it was masked by a lot of resignation.
He was going to let this happen.
The door closed, and he released my face, but with enough force that I wobbled.
I let myself fall.
And caught the pit boss’s gaze.
She looked toward the chair I’d just fallen off of, then back at me.
A weapon, she seemed to say, even as she tightened her hold on the metal door lock.
One, she mouthed. Two. Three.
She shot up first, making the other man to yell out and causing my attacker to turn.
I jumped up, grabbing the legs of the chair, then swinging with everything I had toward the guy’s head.
He went down.
Not fully.
Just to his knees, wobbling a bit, cursing in pain, but still conscious.
My gaze lifted, watching as the other woman swung the lock into the other man’s face.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
The cracks turned my stomach.
Blood splattered.
Then one more swing.
And the guy crashed down hard.
My attacker started to rise to his feet, to charge at her.
I flew at him, knocking him forward onto all fours.
And she raised the lock one more time.
It came down with a sound that I would never forget as long as I lived.
But the guy?
He went flat.
“We gotta go,” she said, still holding the bloody lock as she ran toward the hall.
“There’s a door here.”
“There’s a dumpster across it from outside,” she said, grabbing my wrist and pulling me with her to the hall door.
She ran out, her body half-bent to one side, like something was wrong with her midsection. Her ribs, maybe?
She paused halfway down the hall, going up to the fire alarm, pulling up the plastic cover, then pulling the lever.
The sound was instant and ear-splitting.
But we were running again, heading toward the closest exit.
We burst outward just as the casino emptied out, hundreds of people running onto the Boardwalk.
It wasn’t long before bodies crushed around us, before someone shoved me hard enough that my wrist broke free from her hold and I threw my hands up to stop my fall.
It was chaos then, with people nearly trampling me until one young guy hauled me up onto my feet again.
I looked around, frantic, trying to find that mass of unique hair of hers.
But I didn’t see her.
And I was still way, way too close to the casino.