Before I knew it, he had my arms tied to a branch above my head. He tied it so tightly that my feet barely touched the ground.
I wriggled against the bindings but knew it was useless. I tried to pull on it. The fabric stretched but didn’t give way.
“Please just let me go,” I begged, my voice hoarse.
This didn’t feel like this was happening to me. It didn’t feel real, but I knew it was. I was reminded just how real when the fabric of his tie bit into my skin, the soft material digging in painfully.
I looked at him through blurry eyes, my heart wanting to claw out of my throat when I saw him pull out a knife.
He used it to cut my shirt open.
I tried to move away from him as he tore the tattered fabric off my body, letting it fall to the ground and leaving me in only my jeans and bra.
His lust-filled eyes took me in.
“You are even more beautiful now than you were back then.”
I was going to be sick.
Especially when he started fumbling with his belt.
“Please,” I begged, but he didn’t take off his pants as I thought.
He tested the belt out with a snap. “Ready for your punishment?” he asked, walking behind me.
He didn’t wait for my response.
He pulled back the leather belt and let it slap against my back in one brutal lash.
It made a terrible noise as it hit me, and nausea started to build from the pain.
My back arched as the leather bit into my skin, and I opened my mouth and let out a blood-curdling scream.
30
ROMAN
I jumpedoff my bike when her car came into view, but I couldn’t see my girl anywhere.
Where the fuck was she?
I would have tried calling again, but if she hadn’t picked up the last dozen calls, I doubt she would answer now.
I pulled on my hair in frustration as I got to the edge of the cliff, hating the way my heart jumped as I looked over it.
I didn’t see her there.
I let out a long exhale. I didn’t know why I thought she would be at the bottom, but a small part of me had been terrified that I would be confronted with the same image from seven years ago. The broken body of that little girl had haunted me for close to a decade now.
I looked left, then right. If I picked the wrong direction, I could put her in even more danger.
Fuck, which way should I go?
Then I heard it.
The sound had my heart running cold.
Her scream came from the left.
