“Don’t even think of trying anything,” he warned.
I didn’t dare turn my back on him as I moved down the hallway. I went into Beckham’s room first, pretending to search the floor for my snow boots. But I knew they were in the guest room.
I scanned the ground for my pants, knowing my phone was in the pocket. Rob stood in the doorway, gun still aimed at me. I bent, reaching for my leggings, and quickly swiped the device and slid it in the front pocket of my sweatshirt.
“That’s not fucking boots,” Rob sneered before something hit me in the back and I went toppling forward.
I rolled to prevent hurting my stomach, but the pain in my back had me sucking in a breath. I looked up to find his foot outstretched. He’d fucking kicked me.
His crazed eyes darted around my figure until he settled on my stomach. Right as he lunged, I screamed, trying to kick at him, but he was stronger, and he shoved between my legs with little less than a fight.
I shoved at him as his hand slid into mypocket and grabbed my phone, pulling it free. My body froze as he sat back and crouched before me.
He shook the device back and forth in my face,tsking me. “Calling anyone will only succeed in promising their death. Is that what you want?”
I swallowed, too scared to even scoot back an inch. “No.”
As if that answer satisfied him, he stood and pocketed the phone. Despite losing it on my person, the sight of him keeping it and not tossing it aside sent a glimmer of hope flickering to life beneath the fear enveloping me.
Beckham had asked me to turn my location on for him after I’d told him about the comments and messages, and thankfully, I’d done it. Wherever that phone was, he’d find it. Find me.
Rob stood, towering over me with the gun aimed at my forehead. “Last chance to get your fucking shoes or you’re losing your goddamn toes to frostbite.”
His words hit me with the realization that he didn’t want me dead or injured. If he hurt me, I could lose the baby, and that would only result in him getting no money from the state for whatever fucked-up childcare scheme he was conjuring in his head.
He needed me alive.
I could use that to my advantage and possibly get away from him somewhere outside. I had more chances of hiding somewhere out there, in the dark during a snowstorm, than I did in here.
“Okay.” I carefully pushed to a stand, using moreeffort than usual due to the ache in my back. “I think they’re in the other room.”
He nudged the gun in the direction of the door, and I moved, making no other pit stops as I went into the guest room and tugged on a pair of wool socks and my snow boots. Once they were laced, he grabbed me by my upper arm and yanked me toward the hall. The water still running in the bath assured me that at least Beckham would know something bad had happened—that I hadn’t simply left.
“You’re taking your sweet time, aren’t you?” Rob gritted out, practically spitting the words in my ear.
I said nothing because he was right.
He grunted like he knew as much. “Try any more stunts and I’ll have to put a shiny little bullet right between your boyfriend’s eyes.”
Bile rose in my throat again, the sick feeling combining with the urge to fight and do everything in my power to prevent that from happening.
Once outside, he led me around the house and out into the field. I was thankful we weren’t on the side where Tex’s pasture was, and that no harm would come to him.
The frosty bite from the storm had my limbs shaking instantly, my sweatshirt and leggings doing nothing to keep out the cold as snow fell around us in a thick sheet of white, sticking to my hair and exposed skin.
Minutes passed, and I had begun to wonder if his brilliant plan was to walk somewhere when a cluster of metal began taking form a few feet away. Visibility wasso poor, I didn’t realize it was an ATV until we were basically right on top of it.
Rob searched our surroundings—what little he could see of them—and shoved me toward the vehicle. “Get on.”
I covered my hands with the sleeves of my sweatshirt and shoved off the few inches of snow that had accumulated on the seat. Of all the nights to be kidnapped by a crazed uncle, it just had to be during the worst fucking blizzard this season.
Stiff from the cold, I managed to swing my leg over and perch on the very back of the seat. I didn’t want to touch this man in any capacity, but I didn’t have a choice on this small of an ATV.
He tucked the gun into the waistband of his pants before climbing on in front of me with ease. The silence of the snow was interrupted by the engine and a distant whinny. He took off, heading away from the house.
The tires slid with each turn, and I wondered if he even knew where he was going. But when the pines started getting thicker and closer together, and the snow got progressively deeper, I knew he was heading for the mountains.
“Where are you taking me?” I asked, forcing my voice louder than the engine. I had to squint my eyes against the snow battering my face, and by this point, my clothes were soaked through and freezing me worse than before.
