He chuckled. “You’re funny.”
“Great. Now I’m entertaining a psycho. This day
couldn’t get any worse.”
“What’s funny is you thinking you can get away. I’ve got news for you, princess. You’re not leaving this place alive, so you can either give me a reason to keep you around and alive, or you’re going to be dead very soon.”
She was terrified. The calm way he gave her a death sentence—no one should be able to do that, and yet he seemed so calm, so deadly, and it was all wrong.
“You’re really going to kill me?”
“Yeah, probably. It depends who else I’m going to have to kill. I’ve got a feeling you’re a smart woman, Scarlett. Something tells me that you’re not stupid enough to go to a known criminal’s house without saying something to someone.”
She kept her thoughts to herself, praying that Lisa just forgot about her. She had thought she was being clever, and only now she saw the error of what she had done. Now she was regretting everything.
Bain finished his sandwich and stood up. “Do you like peanut butter?”
“What?”
“Peanut butter? Do you like it? That’s all you’re getting.”
“I thought I wasn’t allowed to eat,” she said.
He glared at her. “Do you want some fucking food or not?”
“Yes, I like peanut butter.” Much to her shame, her stomach started to growl, and Bain smirked.
“I remember that feeling all too well,” he said.
“What feeling?” She couldn’t help but snap out the question. After everything that she had been through today, she was really struggling to keep up with what was going on.
Her life had gone from panic to fear, to possible death.
She’d gladly worry about keeping a job than worry about being alive by tomorrow.
“Starvation. It’s a feeling I know very well.”
“You’ve starved?” she asked. The man didn’t look undernourished in the least.
“It was part of being disciplined. I wasn’t allowed food until I had earned that right.” He put the sandwiches on paper towels. She gasped as he pulled out a knife and cut the rope holding her hands together. “Eat.” He pocketed the knife and sat opposite her. She was still trapped to the chair with no way of escaping. He simply watched her as he ate, and she wondered what he was thinking.
She took the sandwich and had a bite. “You were starved? Was this in the army?”
He scoffed. “No. I wasn’t trained by no army. I was trained by a bunch of sadistic bastards when I was a kid. Everything had to be earned, and no matter how much we were desperate for food or water, we had to learn to go without. It was a hard life.”
Scarlett stared at him, unable to believe that something like that could happen. “Why are you telling me this?”
“Let’s be real, Scarlett, you’re going to die. I’m just waiting to see if there’s someone else I have to end. Now we can make your final hours pleasant, or bad. It’s entirely up to you.”
She swallowed past the lump in her throat. It had been an awful life now that she thought about it. Boyfriends had been cruel, downright hurtful, and abusive. On top of that, she had parents that didn’t love her and a job that stole her ideas. Yeah, she could see an end coming, and it was strange that she actually looked forward to it.
No!
She didn’t want to die. She wanted to live.
Everything that she had been through in the past thirty-six years were starting to get to her, and she couldn’t stand it.
Taking another bite of her sandwich, she refused to give in and give up. She was a lot stronger than this and would fight this feeling that was consuming her.