I fought past the fear and disgust, focusing on the one thing that might actually save my life. Twisting my hands, I stretched my fingers, glancing up at him from time to time. He was so lost in his own pleasure that he wasn’t paying attention to me.
I gagged as he thrust hard into my mouth, nearly vomiting on him, but I choked it back. If I threw up, he would only back away from me, and this was my one chance to save my own life.
Finally, my fingertips grazed his pocket. I latched on with all my strength and did something I knew would haunt me for the rest of my life.
I moaned.
He chuckled, shifting closer to me. “I knew you were a filthy girl. You love this, don’t you? All you needed was a man to show you a good time.”
I drowned out his words and focused on sliding my fingers into his pocket, all the while playing into his fantasies. I moaned and slobbered on him, pretending I liked it. And when my fingers wrapped around the knife, I tugged it up gently until it was wrapped in the palm of my hand.
Suddenly, he pulled back. His hand wrapped around his cock and he stroked himself, staring at me with unadulterated lust. I swallowed the bile rising in my throat and tightened my grip on the knife.
I had no way of attacking him while my hands were tied, and if he saw I had the knife, it would all be over.
He shoved my legs apart and grinned at me. My worst fears since I woke up in this basement were about to come true.
And there was nothing I could do to stop it.
46
RYDER
“How sure are you about this?”Mav asked.
I stared at the house in front of me, and then at the truck parked toward the back of the drive.
“It’s him,” Michael answered.
“We have no solid proof. If we go up there, we’ll tip him off that we know it’s him. He could kill her before we can do a damn thing. We need a warrant.”
“A warrant takes too damn long,” I cut in. “She’s in there right now. We have to get her out.”
“And if we go in there without a warrant, he walks,” Mav hissed.
“I don’t give a fuck what happens to him. Right now, I need to get Ellie back. This is about her life!”
“We can’t,” Michael said. “The law doesn’t permit it.”
“The law—” I snapped, but was instantly cut off by the narrowing of his eyes.
“We’ll head back to the station and find something on this guy. There has to be something that ties her to him.”
As Mav turned to leave, I ran in front of him, my heart beating frantically at the thought of them leaving when we were so close.
“You can’t just walk away! She’s in there!” Tears filled my eyes as I stared at Mav. “Don’t do this.”
“Sorry, Ryder. But we don’t have enough evidence. We can’t enter his house, and going up there would only get her killed. We have to be smart about this.”
“Then I’ll go,” I snapped.
Michael grabbed my shirt as I took off toward the house, stopping me before I could make it more than a few steps.
“You are not trained. You have no weapons, no way to defend yourself. All you’re going to do is get yourself killed,” he said calmly. “Ellie is going to need you. If you go off half-cocked and get yourself killed, who’s going to be there for her?”
I knew it was the truth, but I couldn’t leave her. Not when I was this close. “I can’t walk away.”
He squeezed my shoulder, leaning in close. “You know, there are people who handle things like this. Some of them even live in our town.”
