She could feel the twine burn as she continued to tug on it. Her heart pounded as soon as Ray’s footsteps had faded down the hall.
This was her chance to try to get free now that he was distracted by something else. Butdamn it,he had tied the rope well.
She’d never been one to be impressed by knot skills, especially since she never cared how to get in and out of them in the first place. Being a knot tying person was never something she would use to describe herself.
But now that she was in this current predicament, she wished she had been. Or at least a little savvy in figuring out how to properly get out of any sort of restraints.
Groaning, Augusta leaned back in the chair and sighed to herself.
While he didn’t tie the twine around her wrists particularly tight, it was enough that it felt impossible to get out of now that she’d been tugging on it as much as she had. It had grown noticeably tighter, making her fingers feel tingly.
She wiggled her fingers, wincing at the static that raced through them.
Looking around, Augusta couldn’t help but feel a quiet kind of panic start to come over her.
What was going to happen to her? Ray had seemed like the type of man to do whatever he wanted to getwhathe wanted. So what did that mean for her future, exactly? She wasn’t sure. Dealing with the mob and hits like this, you always needed to play the long game, or else you’d be outmatched as soon as you started to feel comfortable.
Maybe she could try to seduce Ray into letting her go. She knew she was good-looking as well as charming under the right circumstances. And while he had been rough with her, he hadn’t been cruel.
There was another … maybe kinder … side to him other than the brute that had shown up at her door and demanded answers from her.
Maybe that could be the side she appealed to. Something that would get him to soften up just a little for her to run away and hide before he could catch her again.
It’d be risky, but it was better than being tied up for god knew how long. Or sold off for information regarding what she’d witnessed.
Even if Ray seemed like the kind of guy that would hesitate to do that, she didn’t want to take any chances.
She might hate herself in the end for giving her body to a man she didn’t trust … let alone a brute … but it might be her only way to survive this mess in one piece.
Footsteps coming down toward her room made her open her eyes and sit up straight. The telltale signs of someone opening her door and letting it swing up made her heart thump in her chest.
This is it.
She breathed out slowly, trying to calm herself.
Ray closed the door behind him, the latch clicking with a softness that she could pick up with her good hearing, even from all the way across the room.
He walked slowly toward the bathroom, stopping in front of the doorway so his figure was shrouded in shadows. It made her heart lurch, his silhouette tall and intimidating even from here.
He headed farther into the room and sat on the side of the bed by her chair. She sucked in a breath when he leaned over her … his woodsy scent filling her nose and making her body feel hot. Augusta was more confused as to why she smelt another scent, like one you would smell if you were in a wildlife preserve. It wasn’t unpleasant, as a matter of fact the scent made her feel safe, like she was protected.
She felt his fingers pull at the twine around her wrists, tugging at it until she was free.
She was so shocked she blinked, it was all she could do.
Is he letting me go?shewondered as she pulled the tape from her mouth.
That thought felt too surreal to even think.
She watched him carefully, leaning back against the chair and rubbing her wrists where the skin felt raw. Eventually, she’d need to lather them with lotion to soothe the sore skin, but for now, she was just glad she wasn’t tied up anymore.
Ray studied her with an almost grave expression. His eyes slowly moved over her whole face while he took in every inch of her features. It made Augusta feel strangely exposed. Like he was looking for something to focus on that she wasn’t exactly sure was even there.
Had he actually found something that corroborated her story?
“So …” she couldn’t help but mumble.
“I know what happened at the crime scene.”