At night I’d lie awake and think of Lyric, my family, and my friends. I tried pretending Lyric’s arms were wrapped around me and I was safe. That even from afar he still could protect me somehow. But his shirt was losing its scent and I was losing hope.
Somehow, I had to get back to him. We had so much more to do together and if I got back home, I wouldn’t waste another second on making my dreams come true. I wanted to be Mrs. Knight and I wanted us to adopt Autumn. And I wanted to have more children together. I also desperately needed to get back to my family.
But how was I supposed to do that when there was no way out of the room I was in? There were steel bars on the outside of the window in the bedroom and bathroom. And only one door that was locked at all times. How long had this been planned and who was the boss?
Then, on the second evening another woman walked in I hadn’t seen before. She rolled in a rack of clothes with one hand and carried a suitcase in another.
“Pick out something nice for dinner and get ready,” she said briskly. She walked back toward the door. “You will be changing throughout the night. A private modeling show. What my boss wants, he gets. And that’s you.”
And then she was gone.
I opened the suitcase to find it filled with shoes, makeup, hair products, and more. It also contained expensive jewelry and my heart started to pound in my chest. Someone was seriously crazy and they had their eyes set on me.
My eyes scanned the clothes hanging from the rack. Top-of-the-line evening dresses and lingerie filled the metal hangers. And then my eyes landed on a wedding dress. It was the one I’d worn at my last photo shoot.
Dread filled my stomach and I ran to the bathroom where I lost any nourishment I had in me.
* * *
I can’t do this.
I’d tried to be strong but my hands were shaking so bad I couldn’t even put on my makeup. My mind kept going back to the wedding dress.
How did he get it? Was he there the whole time? What does he want with it?
My chin quivered and I felt the first set of tears pool in my eyes. I hadn’t cried yet since I’d been taken. If I broke down, it might pull me under like a sinking ship. But it was getting harder and harder to stay positive.
I stared at myself in the mirror. It was time for a pep talk. I took a deep breath, swiped at my eyes to clear the salty liquid, and squared my shoulder.
You can do this. Lyric won’t stop looking and you have so much to live for. You are strong.
After taking a couple of deep breaths, I finished getting ready, and then I sat down on the end of the bed waiting for whatever was to come.
I picked a more simple, white, wrap-around dress and black heels. It was the least fancy of the items brought in, which is what I was going for, but still too nice to be dressed in for anyone but Lyric. If I didn’t get ready, I feared I’d be pulled from the room in nothing, so there I was. As the minutes went by in silence, my stomach rolled with nausea and unease.
I’d been locked in the room against my will, but I hadn’t been harmed since I’d gotten there. I was served food—even if I didn’t feel like eating—that was fit for a king. The bed was massive, there was a tv, the bathroom was state of the art, and I had finally gotten clothes.
All of it was creeping me out.
And the wedding dress weighed heavily on my mind.
What was the end game?
Amid all those thoughts, the door to my room banged open and there stood a man I’d hoped never to see again. The grin on his face was wicked and his deep chuckle sent shivers down my spine.
“Let’s go, time to meet your new man.”
The guy was delusional. There was not going to be a new man. I had Lyric and he’d be the only man I’d ever love.
Mr. Delusional walked over and grabbed my wrist, yanking me to my feet. “Move.” He proceeded to drag me from the room.
Not wanting him to touch me, I ripped my arm from his grasp. His hands not being on me was short-lived when he placed his palm on my back and pushed me forward, guiding me wherever we were going.
We went down the hall passing several bedrooms, descended a spiraling staircase, and ended up in a huge foyer with a marble floor and an enormous chandelier that hung in the middle of the room from the vaulted ceiling. I thought the house was large and expensive, and I was right. But even from the small glimpse that I’d gotten so far, that was nothing compared to the great room he led me into.
There wasn’t a word big enough to describe it. Who needed all this space? I could fit my whole house into this one room. It was sad actually. If a family got together it seemed like you would have a football field between you and need walkie-talkies to speak to one another.
The floor-to-wall windows that lined one wall were kind of nice but it was evening and the darkness outside at that moment added an eerie touch to the already frightening situation. And the massive stone fireplace burned bright, the fire flickering and lighting up the sinister look on the man’s face who stood next to me.
