Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 85569 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85569 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
I looked at the little girl, and she lowered her head. She was surprisingly calm, and I wondered if it was because of her history with her dad, which I could see could have been a cakewalk. She was used to dangerous situations like this, or was it because she couldn’t process the extent of the danger we were in? Regardless, I gazed at her until she finally noticed I was looking at her, and then when she lifted her head, I managed to work up an encouraging smile for her.
She seemed confused by it, but she returned a tremulous smile. From the pain I could feel on the bruises on my face, I imagined that there was no way I could appear comforting to her.
"At least I don't have a gun pointed to my head any m-" I whispered. But before I had even finished my sentence another blow was struck across my face.
Anya gasped and began to cry.
“I said, shut the fuck up,” a man’s voice bellowed close to my ear.
"Do we need her?" one of the other men asked. "Isn't it just the kid?"
"Boss said we should keep both until he gives us the signal."
My blood turned to ice at their words. I was left in wonder at how casually they talked about my death right before me and right in front of Anya. She cried even harder because she heard every word. I tried to calm her down.
"I'm fine, sweetheart," I mouthed, terrified that the men would attack me again.
"Shut up," one of them shouted to Anya, but she couldn’t. She cried even harder from terror.
One of the men started to approach her then, and I yelled. "Don't touch her. She'll be fine. She'll stop."
He ignored me, and then he hit her across the cheek. It wasn’t too hard, but the sting was enough to make her go crazy.
“Jesus. What the fuck? What you go do that for, Tony? She’s just a kid,” the youngest of them spoke up.
“Ah fuck! This is just a fucking mess,” the bearded man said. He sounded totally fed up.
"If she keeps going like this, we can't continue on here," the man who had hit me said. "It's bound to draw attention."
"Let's get out of here then," came the response from the younger one.
"It's not as though the boss has ordered us to remain here. He's going to tell us to go back to the city anyway, so we might as well just start to leave now. This town gives me the fucking creeps. All these busybodies every-fucking-where.”
“I think Tony’s right. We should get out. I don’t like this place. Too quiet. And these people … they’re not normal."
"Alright, let's go," the bearded man said.
My heart clenched harder in fear. Was this a good thing or a bad thing? At least here, I still held a measure of hope, though small, that someone would come by, my Dad would send the Sheriff, and we would be found. If we left now with no one knowing there was something wrong, especially my dad, it could take even longer to find us, and by then it might be too late.
But I had no choice. I rose to my feet. My hands were tied behind my back, so I couldn’t do anything but walk.
"The kid isn’t shutting up," the man who had hit her complained, glaring at Anya who was still wailing with fear and pain.
"Gag the little shit," the bearded man responded cruelly.
My heart sank. It was going to get even more traumatic for her. I had been hoping that somehow her fright from this experience could be managed, especially with my presence, but if they gagged her now, this trauma would leave even more scars.
They gagged her with a cloth and duct tape, and there was nothing either of us could do but follow the men out. They led us out of the house and talked amongst themselves, and then to my surprise, they took me to my car. They only had one car in the driveway, and two of the men got in there.
"Go with her and the girl," the bearded man commanded.
The ties around my wrists were cut and I was pushed so roughly into the driver's seat I nearly banged my head onto the steering wheel.
"Wait," the man who had hit Anya said. He was sitting in the passenger seat next to me. Outside, the younger man was dragging Anya along with him, and I looked anxiously to see what he would do. To my immense relief, he opened the back door and threw her in.
The way they manhandled her infuriated me, but there was nothing I could do.
I caught her terrified gaze in the mirror. “Wear your seatbelt, honey.”
She didn’t move.
I nodded at her while staring at her, willing her to obey my instructions.