Mia had fought and struggled and tried her hardest and she hadn’t come close to getting away. The minute he spun her around and fixed those gray eyes on her, she knew. He would either be her savior or her damnation. She didn’t know which.
It didn’t matter that his fingers wrapped around her throat, he had seen her. Peered straight into her soul and made a judgment call. There had been a moment when she had glimpsed something. A spark of humanity? Hope? Something other than cold fury and hate.
But then he had shut it down and knocked her out.
Mia whimpered. If she didn’t get out of there before he came back, he would kill her. Maybe worse.
She tugged on the cord around her wrists. Up and down, side-to-side she worked it, but no matter how hard she yanked, it didn’t budge.
Her feet were no better. Damn it. She looked around the room. Yes! An empty glass. It sat on the edge of the coffee table, waiting for her.
Could she get to it without him finding out? She turned back and looked at the kitchen. He could be in there, waiting for her. Or he could be outside…or in the shower…He could be anywhere.
She turned back to the glass. It was a risk she had to take.
With a deep breath, Mia launched herself up into the air and lunged toward the glass. She moved an inch.
Again and again she rocked herself back and forth in the chair, throwing her body weight toward the coffee table. Every time she landed, a thump shook the whole room and she turned to look at the kitchen.
Her kidnapper never appeared.
Sweat soaked her hairline and her wrists and ankles throbbed from the pressure. The rag in her mouth was soaked in her own spit. How long had she been at this? An hour? More?
Mia snorted out another breath and lunged. Thank God. She bit down on the gag and rammed the chair into the coffee table. The glass shook. She rammed it again and it fell off the edge.
It landed with a thud. All she needed to do was pick it up. It didn’t take much to topple the chair. She crashed down hard on her side, but barely felt the pain. She was running on adrenaline now.
She dragged her body and the chair closer and closer until she could grab the glass. It felt so cold in her fingers slicked with sweat. So deadly. Mia held it by the base and slammed it against the leg of the coffee table. The top of the glass shattered.
Jabbing the sharp end into the cord around her wrists, Mia rubbed.
Part of the glass nicked her wrist and she fought the urge to cry out. She rubbed harder. Another piece cut her and tears leaked from the corners of her eyes. Again and again she stabbed and rubbed, cutting herself, but cutting the cord as well.
Her wrists slicked with the mix of sweat and blood and she tugged at the looped cord. Just as she was about to give up from pain and exhaustion and hopelessness, one piece broke.
Mia laughed, as much from exhaustion as from joy. I might get out of here alive. She worked her hands out of the binding and untied her ankles before yanking the rag out of her mouth. It didn’t matter that she was bleeding or that she had on almost no clothes. She was free.
Keeping low to the floor, Mia crept to the door. She twisted the lock and pulled it open. The window shades rattled, but she couldn’t stop now. She yanked the door all the way open and darted out into the night.
Rain hit her face. The kind of rain that keeps even criminals inside. Hard and pounding, it pelted her whole body, soaked through her clothes, and chilled her to the bone. But she didn’t have a choice. There was nowhere else to go.
She took off toward the house with lights on two doors away. The pavement scraped her feet and she stubbed her toe on a crack in the asphalt. It didn’t matter.
Up into the grass of the house next door she ran, passing the For Sale sign. Her toes dug into the wet earth, the balls of her feet slipped on the grass, but she kept going. Only a little more.
The neighbor’s drive loomed ahead of her, large and full of promise. Too bad she would never reach it.
The ground rose up at terrifying speed and Mia slammed into the grass. Oomph. A huge weight landed on top of her. It crushed her ribs, pushed out her breath, threatened to take away her freedom.
She opened her mouth to scream, but the storm stole her voice. She lashed out with her arms and legs, but the person on top of her pinned her down. A hand appeared beside her head and dug into the earth.
And then she saw the sky. He flipped her over like she weighed nothing at all.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
Her kidnapper had found her. She would recognize the voice anywhere. Mia struggled in his grip. He pinned her arms above her head.
“Let me go.”
“Not a chance.”
Mia tried to knee him where it would hurt, but he shifted, his thighs coming down to rest on hers. She bucked and twisted in his hands, but all it did was dig her further into the soggy ground. If she worked any harder, she would start burying herself alive.