“It breaks my heart to torture and hurt you, but I will do it to get the information I want,” he states.
I know it’s a lie. He doesn’t have a heart to feel anything. He has always enjoyed beating me and even said it when we were dating.
“I’ll give you a break from me asking you about the club.” He takes a step away from me. “Let me tell you why I set you on fire. I never got the chance to. I thought you would have died from that. I wanted you to die from that.”
I keep my head hung, trying not to remember that awful day.
“Oh, I enjoyed watching you burn and relished your screams. I could get off from that memory. That’s what got me through my year in prison. Such a sweet memory.” He steps closer to me.
I shut my eyes tightly and try to block out his words, but it’s hard when I am so tired and can barely think about anything.
“I was so angry at you!” he yells, punching me in the stomach.
I gasp for breath as the wind is knocked out of me. My stomach aches with every punch he throws.
“You were never perfect! You fought back and didn’t do what I told you.” He hits me in the face this time.
I did everything he asked me to do. He would tell me to make dinner, and I would do it. I had breakfast ready when he woke up. I put everything in my life on hold to please him. I didn’t want to get on his bad side, but even when I did everything right, he still abused me.
“If you were perfect, I wouldn’t have had to punish you, but you always managed to do something wrong.” He moves the knife slightly out of my leg and jams it back in.
I let out a tiny scream, but quickly bite my tongue to stop.
“Ah, there is that little scream I wanted. I should have done that a while ago,” he chuckles.
I can barely see through the tears and almost swollen shut eyes.
“Kill me,” I whisper my first words to him.
I just want to die, so I don’t have to go through this pain. It’s too much for me to bear, and I just want it all to end.
“Kill you?” He full-on laughs. “And why would I kill you? I want to keep you forever. Take you away where no one can find you.”
I hang my head. He has already done so much to me since taking me, I can’t imagine what he will do to me if I am with him for the rest of my life.
“Now, I want to hear you scream again,” he says.
I take a deep breath in as he comes closer to me. I bite my lip in anticipation for the pain. He reaches for the knife in my leg,but before he can touch it, there’s a loud noise from outside the room.
“Ooo, let’s see what that is. I bet it’s those bikers in the wrong location,” he says, walking away from me.
He walks over to the table and picks up an electronic device. He taps on his screen several times as he walks over to me.
“I sent them photos of you with the wrong IP address. They are currently walking into a building full of my men. They will all be gunned down soon enough,” he says, showing me the screen.
I can barely make out the people in the video. There are muffled voices from the device, but it’s so quiet out.
“Oh, this is going to be my favorite part. They are about to open the door and get killed,” he says excitedly.
Tears form in my eyes at the news. They have been nothing but nice to me. Taken me in and helped me out when I was too ashamed to ask for help. I couldn’t live with myself if they all died because of me.
“Watch or I’ll stab you again!” Jared screams as he turns up the volume on the device.
I force my eyes open a little more, but I still can’t see anything. Everything is blurry, so I rely on the sound. I can hear everything clear as day. One of the bikers has his hands on the doorknob and twists it, opening the door. Right as the door opens, a gunshot goes off, and I cringe in fear.
20
BEAR
