She had wanted to sound strong when Zayan had called him. Cool. Calm. Like she had everything under control. But the second she heard Alexandros—his teasing greeting and his warm voice—her confidence had vanished like smoke in the wind.
Tears pooled and slowly ran down her face as she tried to cling to a tiny fracture of hope. She closed her eyes and focused on the image of Alexandros’s face. He was worth fighting for. He was her future. She had to stay strong.
Her grandfather’s words came back to her:“When I saw your grandmother for the first time, I knew I’d never be the same.”
Her chest clenched.
Alexandros…
She had felt the same.
Tears blurred her vision.
If he still wants anything to do with me…a small voice whispered.
But then she laughed—a short, breathless sound.
No, a man who dove off a yacht to chase me isn’t the kind to run from danger. He’ll still want me. I’ve got to believe I’ll see him and Gramps again. If I get out of this, I’m going to see what we have. It’s special.
She tried not to think of her parents. If she did, she knew she would give up. She couldn’t go into that dark place again. What she felt for Alexandros was different. What she felt couldn’t be like what her parents had.
She breathed, trying to calm the panic rising in her throat. Alexandros wouldn’t run from a situation like this. Especially not from some sick, twisted freak like Zayan.
She shifted, and the mattress beneath her crinkled with a hollow, scraping sound. She opened her eyes, and her gaze drifted down, searching for the cause. A flash of something clear and smooth caught her eye.
She used her heel to pull the edge of the mattress back a little farther.
The flash caught again.
Dani froze, her eyes widening with hope.
She leaned forward slowly, peering beneath the edge of the mattress—and there, barely visible, was a jagged shard of glass.
Her pulse kicked like a drumbeat.
Glass. From the window above…
She stretched her fingers, straining, desperate—until her fingertips brushed the edge. Closer. Closer?—
Yes!
Carefully, she wrapped the shard in her skirt to dull the edge, twisted her wrist, and began sawing at the strap attached to the pipe.
The sound was almost imperceptible, but her breath came in broken sobs.
Her fingers slipped more than once. Blood coated the glass. The strap stretched, groaned, resisted.
She didn’t dare stop.
Minutes passed before the strap loosened, and her arm fell free.
She whimpered, clutching her wrist. Her fingers were numb, tingling with returning sensation.
You don’t have time to rest, Dani. Get free!she told herself.
She turned her attention to the strap binding her ankles. Her hands were shaking now, the glass slipping in her slick grip, but she sawed through it, frantic, every second filled with the creeping dread that Zayan might return before she was free.
Snap.
