I went into the store with my book of coupons and the list of what I was going to buy. Early in the mornings, the stores weren’t ever busy, so I could take my time without dealing with long lines of people.
After checking out, I headed toward my car, hitting the trunk button on my key ring.
As I started unloading the groceries, I heard someone come up behind me and grab me. Something hard pointed into my side. “If you fucking scream, I will kill you right here.”
I froze, trying not to make a sound as he pushed me toward the passenger side of my car. The man opened the door and shoved me inside. “Don’t look up. Keep your god damn head down.”
I looked to the floor, hoping and praying he would just take my purse and leave me. I didn’t want to die. I couldn’t even remember if I had told Colt how much I loved him this morning. How could this be happening to me? We lived in such a small town.
“Please don’t hurt me. Just take my whole purse. There is over a hundred dollars in there and several credit cards. I won’t say anything. I swear.” I pleaded with my eyes closed the entire time, just praying to myself that he would listen.
My body began to tremble and I could feel my teeth chattering, not from being cold, but from being completely petrified. I started crying out loud and I felt the car door slam next to me. For a brief moment, I thought he had left, but then the driver’s side opened. At that very precise moment, I had looked up to see if the coast was clear. I got one brief look at the perpetrator before feeling a blow to my face.
When I came to, I tried to move, but my hands were restrained behind my back. Something was tied around my head and stuffed into my mouth. My tongue lay dry against it. I began to gag, but no one came to help me or relieve the bindings. I sat there on some sort of dirty basement floor and cried, with nobody to hear me.
Some time had passed before I was awoken suddenly to someone slapping me in the face. I realized that I must have fallen asleep from crying so badly. I looked up to see the shadow of a man standing behind me. He was tapping on something that looked big and long in the shadow. As he smacked it repeatedly against his hand, I could tell that it was not metal, but more of a plastic sound. His country accent filled my ears. “You just sit still and mind your business and I won’t hurt you. I bet you thought you were lucky marryin’ someone like Colt Mitchell. Miranda thinks she can just get me locked up while she is livin’ all large somewhere, well that shit is about to change. I seen her and that cousin getting’ all cozy. It’s kinda funny how I wasn’t good enough, but they accept her havin’ some kind of incest relationship.”
Oh God! I have been kidnapped by Tucker Chase.
“That is some kind of sick shit. It don’t matter to me who that little whore is bangin’. I’m gonna gets me some of that money and get the fuck out of this town. Once I gets mines I will let you go.”
This can’t be happening to me. I just want to go home. I want to forget this day ever happened to me.
I was mumbling words from beneath the cloth shoved in my mouth, but Tucker never relieved me from it. I could hear him pacing behind me and when he began to talk again, the sound of his voice startled me. I hadn’t noticed before, but my head was throbbing and when I moved my eyebrows, my forehead and cheek felt weird, like when I wore face masks for my skin. With the pain coming from my eye, I realized I must have had dried blood from where he had originally hit me to knock me unconscious.
Tears streamed down my eyes as I listened to Tucker talking on the phone to someone. “I did everything as planned. Yeah, I gots her tied up, what do you think I’m an idiot or somethin’? No Mamma, she is fine. YES, I WILL GET THE DAMN MONEY. Stop your whinin’. Do you think I would have been lyin’ low all of these months if I wanted to get caught? I had Charlie make the call already. It’s all takin’ care of. Just calm down and wait for my call.”
What the fuck? His mother was also in on this?
Tucker must have got off the phone. He stopped talking and even pacing. He was so quiet for a few seconds that I considered he was right behind me, preparing to kill me here on this dirty floor, with whatever object he was holding in his hand. I could see his shadow and he was just standing behind me.
I tried to silence my tears enough where my body wasn’t trembling so much, but I was afraid for my life and it was just impossible to try and be calm. Eventually, I saw the dark shadow move and finally heard him climbing up the steps, and then shutting a door. As soon as I heard that door shutting, I tried to wiggle my way around to decipher just how my hands were bound and if there was any way, I could possibly free myself.