I grimace at the time blaring up at me from my phone. It’s almost nine o’clock. I’ve practically slept the entire day. Leo should be home any minute now, assuming the run sheet was followed to a T.
My aching body protests as I pull myself upright and shuffle to the end of the bed, raising my arms to stretch my back. Sighing, I shuffle out of the room, ears popping as I do the most satisfying yawn ever.
I have to grope the wall to find the light switch, and I have major regrets when the white light beams on, making the already white space fucking blinding. But there’s something... My foot stalls in midair. Something sinister skitters down my spine—a shift in the air that heightens my senses.
There’s a flash of movement in my periphery, and adrenaline explodes through my system. I launch toward the kitchen at the first slap of shoes against tile, and I scream as loud as I can for help.
Oh.
Oh God.
It’s him.
He’s here.
He’s making me pay for not listening to him.
My socked feet slide against the smooth surface, giving the intruder the upper hand. A burning ache ruptures across my scalp as he yanks back on my hair and the floor goes out from under me.
No, no, no, no.My arms pinwheel as I’m torn between trying to gain balance and hitting somewhere that hurts.
He lets go of my hair to wrap his arms around me. One of my feet comes to a halt against his shoe, and I use the leverage to get enough momentum to swing my head back. A sickening crack pairs with sharp pain that radiates from the point of contact.
The intruder’s very distinctly male grunt blasts through my ears. I throw my head back again, and he loosens his hold around me to avoid the collision.
Please, God.
I use the opening to scream again, and free one of my arms to try to catch his face. He lets go of my torso to grab my arm. I dive forward before he can, hitting the cool floor with a thump that punches the air out of my lungs.
I scramble out of his reach as he tries to grab me, and I get the first glimpse of my attacker’s face. My stomach drops.
“Jack?”
What? Why is he here?
He lunges for me without responding. A cry tears from my throat as I fall short of escaping him. Dots form in my visionand my equilibrium twists when my forehead hits the edge of the marble bench. I kick my leg back as I go down, and it finds purchase with something I can’t make out.
Fear pushes me to keep moving even though I can’t see straight. My glasses fall from my face, and the world becomes even blurrier. I can just make out the shapes of various items on the countertop, and I grab the first thing I can reach.
“Blackmailing me wasn’t enough?” I cry, throwing the glass at Jack.
The sound of shattering makes me reach for the next solid thing I can find, and the ensuing whack of the pan hitting his head only makes me feel victorious for half a second before he snatches it from my grip, stumbling toward me.
“Blackmail?”
I don’t question why he sounds genuinely confused. I run.
I aim for the ranch slider into the backyard, but he moves faster than me, blocking my path, so I’m forced to take the stairs up to the second story where all the other bedrooms are.
A gloved hand wraps around my ankle and yanks. My ribs hit the harsh edge of the wooden step, winding me. But my body is operating on pure fear and reflex. Both of my legs kick out to dislodge his grip, and I manage to nail my heel straight into his groin.
“You bitch,” he snarls, buckling over.
Jack wheezes, trying to reach for me again, but his knees give out, and that’s my sign to run, taking the steps two at a time. The warmth trickling from the throbbing in my forehead only pushes me harder.
I have no plan in mind, and I have to replay every single fucking kidnapping movie I can remember to escape this.
Fuck. I’m fucked. I’m so, so fucked. I scream for help again, shutting every room’s door I come across before hiding beneath the bed of one of the bedrooms, locking it behind me.
