This isn’t going well. Marcus is between me and the door now, and I don't remember him moving there. I take a deep breath.
"I think you should leave." I try to make my voice firm. It comes out shaky instead.
Marcus tilts his head, narrowing his eyes and studying me. "Leave? I just got here." He takes a step toward me.
"Phoenix will be back soon.”
"Will he?" Another step. "Those mountain roads are treacherous. Could take him hours. Anything could happen between now and then.”
My heart is slamming against my ribs. I edge backward, my hip bumping the kitchen counter. The knife block is behind me. If I can just?—
"Don't." His voice drops, all pretense of friendliness gone. "Whatever you're thinking, don’t."
He moves fast. Faster than I expected.
His hand closes around my upper arm and he yanks me away from the counter, then shoves me hard against the wall. My head cracks against the wood and pain explodes behind my eyes, white-hot and blinding.
I claw at his face, my nails raking down his cheek. I feel skin tear beneath my fingers, see blood bloom in the scratches. He swears and his grip loosens just enough for me to twist away.
I run for the door.
His hand catches my hair and yanks me backward. I scream as I crash to the floor, my shoulder taking the brunt of the impact. Before I can scramble up, he's on top of me, his weight pinning me down, his knees on either side of my hips.
"I didn't want it to be like this," he says, breathing hard. Blood drips from the scratches on his cheek onto my shirt. "I came here to talk. To make you understand. But you just couldn't make it easy, could you?"
I keep fighting. Bucking my hips, swinging at his face, screaming as loud as I can even though I know there's no one around to hear. He catches my wrists and slams them against the floor above my head.
"Stop. Fighting.”
He pins both my wrists with one hand and reaches into his coat pocket with the other, pulling out a zip tie.
He came prepared.
This wasn't a spontaneous visit. This wasn't him coming to "clear the air." He planned this. He drove up here with zip ties in his pocket and knocked on my door knowing exactly what he was going to do.
“No—please?—“
He flips me onto my stomach, wrenching my arms behind my back. I thrash and twist, but he's got his knee planted between my shoulder blades, pressing me into the floor until I can barely breathe.
He loops the zip tie around my wrists and yanks it tight. The plastic bites into my skin, sharper and more unforgiving than any rope. I pull against it desperately, but with my hands behind me, there's no leverage, no way to fight. The tie only digs deeper, cutting into my flesh.
"There." He's panting now, his face flushed, the scratches on his cheek swelling. "That's better.”
He flips me back over, and the weight of my body pressing down on my bound hands sends pain shooting up my arms. He grabs the front of my sweater and drags me across the floor. I kick at him, my bare feet connecting with his shins, his thighs, but he doesn't slow down. He just keeps pulling until we're in front of the fireplace and he can throw me down on the rug.
The heat from the flames is too close against my back. The stone hearth is inches from my head. And Marcus is standing over me, straightening his coat like we've just concluded a business meeting.
"Phoenix thinks he can take whatever he wants," he says, his voice eerily calm again. "Money. Deals. Women. He thinks there are no consequences for people like him."
"Please." I hate how scared I sound. "Marcus, please don't do this."
"Don't do what?" He crouches beside me, tilting his head. "I'm just evening the score. He took something from me, so I take something from him. That's fair, isn't it?"
"This isn't fair. This is?—"
"This is exactly what he deserves." He grabs the collar of my shirt and pulls. The fabric tears with a sound that makes my stomach lurch, exposing my bra, the bare skin of my stomach. "And you're going to help me teach him a lesson."
I scream again, thrashing against the plastic ties, but they won’t give. Tears stream down my face as I beg, plead, say anything I can think of to make him stop.
