Emily’s POV

I was starving.

Honestly, I couldn’t tell you how long I’ve been sitting in this dark room. It could have been hours or it could have been days. Most of the time I’m knocked out cold, which I think is from the water they give me to stop me from screaming.

And if I wasn’t so thirsty all the damn time I would stop drinking it but, maybe being knocked out is better for me. I know most people would be afraid of what they would do when you’re knocked out but I don’t think they would do anything like that to me.

From what I gathered, this Mia girl had a major crush and grudge against Alexei, and hurting me would hurt him. Fortunately, they haven’t done anything yet but I won’t see myself as lucky just yet. I’ve seen little of my kidnappers since they took those pictures of me.

Twice to bring water and once to take me to the bathroom. Which I’m very thankful for because all the water I drank was laying heavy on my bladder. Then about an hour ago the man came back and untied me from the chair.

I would have attacked if I didn’t see another man at the door or if I was more energized. But my limbs were weak and I could barely keep myself upright when they moved me to a cot against the wall.

So here I was, in the dark, with a grumbling stomach and a freezing body. The darkness was cold, like something you would expect of death. Maybe this was how death felt; cold, alone, and dark. But I was not giving up. I knew that even if I was trapped for months, I could get out of this.

If my parents didn’t hear from me, they would try to find me. I was optimistic about that. I also haven’t given up hope that Alexei might save me. He was after all the reason I was stuck in this. I’ll be honest that as the hours past I started to worry that maybe he won’t come, after all, I was just a fuck buddy.

But then I smack myself against the head and tell myself that Alexei was a good man and he showed me kindness every time we were together, so there had to be a chance that he would come to find me. I closed my eyes and wished for sleep to overtake my mind.

« • x • x • x • »

I was jolted awake when the door to the room opened and hit the wall, “Well, it looks like your Knight-in-Shining-Armor came for you. Stand up!” The man pulled me to my feet and started dragging me deeper into the dark.

“Help! Help!” I was able to get out to shouts before the man hit me across the face and clamped his hand over my mouth. After the pain in my cheek subsided, I moved my mouth, trying to grab a piece of flesh to bite down on.

“Fuck!” He shouted once I was finally able to grab skin. “I’m going to make you regret that bitch!” I rolled my eyes at how cliché his statement was. If I had any say in this, it would be I who made him regret this.

He pulled his arm back in then punched me in the ribs, causing me to gasp for air as I fell down on my knees. While I was having a coughing fit he drew his hand back and gave me another hit across the cheek, causing black spots to appear in my little to known vision.

‘Stand up, don’t stop fighting, stay awake’ I chanted in my head. I could taste the metallic in my mouth. Fuck I hope he didn’t break a tooth. I laid on the ground, waiting for him to come closer. When he finally made his move to pick me up again, I rolled.

My body bumped his feet, causing him to trip over my body. As he went down, I pushed myself to stand up. I wasn’t giving up. With the man on the ground, I kicked him in the ribs, or where I hoped his ribs were.

I could hear shouting and guns in the background. If I didn’t want to get out of here I would have been hiding from the gunshots. I kicked the man once more and heard a sickening crack of what I hoped to be his nose of the jaw and then took off running.

I run as fast as I could for the door. It felt like a tunnel where you could see the light but didn’t know how long it would take you to get there. Luckily the door was still opening, guiding me to the light. The shouting and the guns got louder.

I followed the sound as the light got brighter. I was obviously in the basement. I took the steps 2 at a time and could feel the last of my energy leave my body. I needed to find a place to hide and rest or get out of here before my legs gave in.

I burst through the door that leads me into the main house. Looking around me I tried to find a door or hiding place. It was then that I could distinguish where the shouting and guns were coming from. With seconds I chose to run to the sound, remembering that the man said they came for me.

As my fingers touched the doorknob, I was ripped away and against a body. Internally I shouted ‘No’ a hand clamped around my mouth again and my neck was turned in an uncomfortable position as I was dragged away from the door.

I finally laid eyes on the woman called Mia. She was beautiful and had a gun pointed at my forehead. “Oh, look who came to play.” As she finished the sentence the door to the how opened with a bang and there stood Alexei.

His suit was wrinkled and he had blood smeared on his face. “You came,” Mia stated with a smirk on her lips. “It took you longer than I thought it would.” Mia turned to face me before pulling the trigger.

**Copyright © 2020 by Grace Write**