“Thanks.” I hung up and pulled my knees to my chest. When I flopped my head back, it hit something that crinkled. I picked up the glossy magazine I’d seen on the back table about the hotel. I turned to page four and scanned to the Rooftop bar ad and saw it was open twenty-four hours. After a moment of thought, I reached for my phone and decided to order room service since it was safer than going out or starving.
After I ordered a large pizza, a garden salad, and a cheesecake, I turned on the fireplace and flipped through the channels on the huge TV. I settled on a show calledSchitt’s Creek. Wyatt seemed to like it, and with the closed captioning I had an easier time making out the conversations.
After about five minutes, I lost track of the show and found myself looking outside at the stormy night. My mind drifted back to that awful day.
Pain burst through my chest as I picked up a picture frame from the floor and brushed my finger over the broken glass. I tucked the photo in my bag and bolted for the woods. I lost all sense of direction, but I didn’t care. I just needed to run.
As the branches thinned out, I gained speed. Colors and sounds blurred together, and just when I thought my lungs would burst and my legs became Jell-O, I came to a screaming halt in the nick of time.
“Whoa!” I screamed and dug my heels into the dirt. I should’ve backed up, moved far away from the edge of the cliff, away from the jagged rocks below that foamed at the mouth like a wild beast. But I didn’t. Instead, I flirted with death, let him hold me by the hand and let him decide. Just as I felt myself begin to tip forward, I caught a movement on the other ridge and froze. A baby roe deer was staring at me. He looked just as alone as I was, and dangerously close to the edge, too. In all the years of living here, I had never seen a deer, let alone one so close. It was almost like he was saying, “You jump, I jump.” A suicide pact.
He was so young, and I was sure his parents were close by, thinking he was just playing in the tall grass.
“Fine,” I huffed. Feeling like his death would be my fault, I pushed back and bent down, letting go an Earth-shattering scream that tore through me. I screamed until there was nothing left inside me. I panted and struggled to drag some oxygen back inside over my raw throat.
When I looked back over, I saw the deer hadn’t been frightened off. He stood on the edge of the forest, and just before he disappeared, he glanced over his shoulder as if to make sure I was all right.
I needed a new plan, one that would get me out of there now.
A knock at the door had me on my feet and rushing across the hotel room. Lack of food and a wild, emotional night had me in its hold when I threw open the door.
“Please come in.” I welcomed the bellman, but when I went to close the door behind him, someone’s shoe blocked it from closing.
“Sit.” Jacob Raine ordered the bellman to sit on the couch as he pointed a gun at me. I squelched a scream and held up my hands. “Don’t even think of making a move.” Jacob waited for two of his men to join us, blocking the doorway.
“I don’t know who you really are, Anna.” He gently touched the swollen cheek that Elio had hit earlier in the night. “But something tells me you’re important to Elio.”
“No.” I shook my head. “I’m really not.”
“See, here’s the thing, I think you are, and you are going to get him to sign this damn contract.”
“No,” fell out of my mouth like a damned idiot.
“You should know I don’t do well with that word.” He slipped on a pair of gloves and came closer to me, and my bones rattled with fear. “So, let’s try this again.” He shoved the contract in my hand.
“I don’t think I can get him to sign it.” I knew I was testing my luck, but I was revved up from my memory, and once again I was flirting with death.
He nodded calmly then grabbed a handful of my hair and yanked me backward. I was tossed on the couch and pinned to the seat. His leg covered mine so I couldn’t kick out. Again, that horrible nightclub smell lingered on his clothes, reminding me his men were probably not that far away.
“Just because your boyfriend sucker punched me doesn’t mean I don’t know how to inflict pain myself. You either get him to sign the contract or I will find another way to get it.” His free hand moved inside my robe and massaged my breast.
My skin shivered as a wave of anger tore through me.
“Don’t touch me.” I spat in his face, and his eyes went wild. He reached back grabbed the whiskey glass and smashed it on the table. I yelped at the loud noise. My nerves were pretty much splattered all over the room at this point. He held the jagged edge to my arm and smiled like the crazy man he was.
“As sexy as your sass is, Anna, I don’t like to be disrespected.”
He pushed the glass into the skin of my arm, slicing through the top layer like a painful papercut. I gritted my teeth, afraid I would jump, and it would dig in deeper. Fear raced through me. What else would he do if I didn’t agree?
“Listen to me.” He pushed down and sliced deeper, and I cried out, seeing the bellman’s face go pale. He looked like he might be sick. “Shhh.” He kissed my temple, and I shook harder. “Will you do as I ask?”
“Yes,” I whispered through my trembling lips.
He glanced down at the blood that oozed and slid the sharp edge across again, cutting even deeper as I struggled.
“Good girl.” He inspected his handiwork, then I shrieked as he sliced again but harder. He tossed the glass aside and grabbed my face and kissed my cheek hard. I closed my eyes, holding back my stomach, and when I finally heard him leave, I waited, frozen in position.
“Miss?” The bellman’s voice broke through my fear. He looked horrified. “Should I call the police?”