Chapter Eight
Faith had been there nine days and had a routine she liked. Besides the cleaning crew, there was no one else she’d heard in the whole building, and so far, she’d been able to avoid them.
The first Saturday, she’d gone into secondhand stores and Goodwill and found a blanket, pillow, and several different outfits. Everything had been marked down so low it amazed her.
It seemed like her luck was finally turning.
Fortunately, she’d also found a backdoor to the building the cleaning crew used and was able to come and go, but she didn’t take a lot of chances, afraid she’d be locked out.
The rest of the weekend was spent entertaining herself with the books she found at the Goodwill. She’d even found some coloring books and colored pencils. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt so rested and at peace.
The first whole week, Faith worked as hard as she could. The highlight of the day was eating with Rylan. The only downside to it was when she had to make up lies when he asked her questions. It always made her stomach ache.
She was so used to pretending to be someone she wasn’t or that everything was great in her world that she didn’t know how to act otherwise.
The imaginary family she’d made up when she was a child was almost real to her. But she had to remind herself several times that she had no family. No one to take care of her or give a damn about her. Until Rylan. He was so handsome with his dark hair and chocolate-brown eyes. She could have stared at him all day. The fact that he wanted to spend time with her still confused her, but she was soaking up as much affection as she could.
Not only did he take care of her more than anyone else in her life ever had, but he also made her feel like a desirable woman with the way she caught him looking at her at times. She wanted to ask him if he liked her like that or if he just saw her as a young employee he was helping. However, she was afraid he’d tell her he was nice to her because he pitied her, and that would break her heart. She’d never felt so deeply about another person as she did him, and the depth of her emotions for him terrified her.
One night, she had settled down to sleep when she heard voices outside the door. Her heart skipped in her chest when she heard and saw the doorknob twist.
She hurriedly and quietly hid her blanket and pillow behind the sofa and crawled under the desk. She pressed her hands to her mouth when the door opened, and she heard Steve and Tony.
“Fuck, where the hell is she?” Steve said. “I would have thought she’d be here.”
“This building is huge, man. We’ll just keep looking.”
“Are you sure John was right?”
“Yeah,” Tony said. “He said he never saw her leave or come into the building.”
“Maybe she comes in the back?” Steve guessed.
“Hell, I don’t know. Let’s look for a while, but then I have to head home and get some sleep.”
“Yeah, me, too. Fuck, I hope we find her. I’ve wanted to get my hands on her for a long time.”
“She’s a hot piece of ass.”
“And the good part is if we can’t scare her into shutting up, I doubt anyone will believe her if she says she was raped.”
“It’s perfect. Come on,” Tony said.
Faith listened to the door close and felt herself shake. She stayed under the desk, pressing her face to her knees as she hugged her legs against her chest, knowing they could come back at any time and catch her.
God, what could she do? They were probably right that they could gang rape her and get away with it. Although Rylan was nice to her, she still was nothing to him as far as she knew.
She held her breath when she thought the door opened one more time but she couldn’t be sure because her heartbeat was so loud it overshadowed everything else.
She had no idea how much time passed before she finally crawled out from under Rylan’s desk.
The rest of the night passed with her lying on the floor behind Rylan’s desk with her blanket and pillow. When her alarm went off, she jerked awake.
She grabbed all her things and went to the gym in the basement to shower. Even though she locked the door, she rushed through it. The last thing she wanted was for the guys to come in when she was naked.
The next few days, she got shakier and more nervous. She’d heard the two men try to find her again a few more times, and she hid in different places.
She had no idea how much longer she could deal with it or when they would catch her alone.
All she needed was a little bit more time to save up enough for a studio apartment. She’d found one relatively close for a good price, but she didn’t have the down payment yet.
God, she had to hang on a little longer because she wasn’t going to walk away from the best job she ever had and a man she was quickly falling in love with. She wanted as much time with him as she could get because to her, every minute counted.
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