Chapter Fifty One
Raleigh
I stumble over rocks and sticks, running as fast as I can away from the people who are chasing me. I can tell that they are gaining ground, much more than I am, probably because they are familiar with the area and I am not.
Or perhaps it’s the fact that they aren’t scared out of their ever-loving minds like I am. Either way, they are closing in on me and fast.
Stopping next to a tall tree, I bring my hand to my side, trying to work out the catch that’s developed in my side, and glance around, wondering if I would be better off trying to hide instead of running, but as I take in the area around me, there really isn’t any good places *to* hide.
*Damnit*, I silently curse as I take off running again, my breath coming out in hoarse pants as the ache begins to intensify with each step that I take, but I ignore it and keep pushing on, a little pain in my side is nothing compared to what I’m going to feel if these dudes get their hands on me.
Turning to look back behind me to see if I can spot them, I run into something hard and start to fall back, but arms lock around me, yanking me back up just as I turn my head back around and catch sight of a man wearing a black mask standing in front of me, his arms locked around me.
“Let me go!” I shout as I fight against his hold on me, but he towers over me and is easily double my weight. He just laughs and buries a fist in my hair, pulling hard until a scream rips from my throat as hair rips from my scalp. “AAAaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!! Why are you doing this?”
With me at his mercy, unless I want part of my scalp to be ripped off, I stop fighting him and walk with him as he guides me back to the house. After a few minutes of silence, I try again. “What do you want with me? Why are you doing this?”
“Did you really think that it was going to be that easy to get away?” He asks instead of answering me, his voice though angry, sounding familiar, and laughs as if the thought of me getting away from him is the funniest thing he’s ever heard.
Instead of asking anything more, I remain quiet as he leads me back to the house, taking everything in around me as we go. It looks like we’re on some sort of farm or ranch or something, which makes me wonder how far from home I am because I don’t know of any that are anywhere near Rhydell, but maybe I’m wrong? At least, I hope to God that I’m wrong and that my brothers, Lincoln, *someone* will rescue me soon.
As we step out of the false sense of protection the wooded area surrounding the place provided, I look around, taking in the open area around me, my wandering eye only stopping when I get to the house, if that’s even what the building before me can be classified as.
The *house* is huge, my steps momentarily falter, a gasp falling from me as I take in its splendor. The contrast of the dark roof and shutters to the light natural wood color of the home's exterior walls is stunning.
When I fail to move, the man at my back shoves me forward, his hand in my hair tightening and causing me to grind my teeth to keep from crying out as my eyes begin to water as he grunts, “Move!”
Forcing me up the hill, I continue looking around, wanting to memorize as much about the place as I can, unease stirs in me when I find nothing but rolling hills and trees for as far as the eye can see, not another house in sight.
*No neighbors nearby means that no one can hear you scream,* I mutter to myself, wondering, not for the first or probably the last, just who has taken me.
I’m shoved up the steps of a black-painted porch and through the opened glass front door. The entryway is serviceable but opulent. From there you enter into the living area. Immediately my eyes are drawn to the large fireplace that’s the centerpiece to both the living room and dining area. It’s an impressive rock structure that rises upward toward the ceiling, where numerous windows allow the sunlight to offer plenty of light for greenery within both the living room and the dining room.
*Julia must just love tending to those,* I can’t help but think with an eyeroll, as my mind drifts to the kind blonde from yesterday.
With a huff of annoyance, my hair is retched to the side, a hiss escaping me as my body follows along as the man drags me up a set of stairs toward the second level. “That fucking hurts!” I growl, swiping out, trying to hit the man, hoping to knock him off balance and give me a chance to gain even the slightest of upperhands.
Unfortunately, I miss my target and *I* end up being the one to lose my footing instead of him as I slam to the steps, a piercing pain shooting through me as my hip ricochets off a corner of one of them. “Motherfu—” I curse, a scream ripping from my throat and cutting me off when the man carelessly keeps moving up the stairs, my scalp burning as he rips my hair from my head and drags me behind him, my bruised and throbbing hip hitting each and every step along the way.
Not stopping to catch my breath as soon as we make it to the top of the stairs, I consider launching myself at the man, wanting more than anything to make him hurt just like he’s hurt me. But, he’s twice the size of me *and* uninjured. I know when to admit defeat, even when I don’t want to. Instead, I get to my feet and breath heaving, cast the man a glare.
“Where to?” I growl as I glance around the upper level, seeing one door to my right, another to my left, and a third straight ahead down the hall. He leads past the one on my right, toward the one at the end of the hall. Taking a key from his pocket, he places it in the lock and then opens the door, my stomach turning as I take in the destruction that I caused in the room.
“Your *accomodations.*” The man says before pushing me into the room and slamming the door behind me. The sound of the lock engaging makes the reality of my failed escape sink into place and dread to fill me at just what these people or this person has planned for me.
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