The second thought she’d had upon waking was how she was going to get out of here. During her frenetic search to try to find a way out she had found the food he left for her alongside a detailed list of rules she was to learn.
She couldn’t care less about his rules.
All she wanted was to get out of here.
She wouldn’t allow herself to die here, alone, and leave her children without a mother. So, she had been working on the door. Logically she knew it made no sense. With her bare hands she would never remove the screws from the door hinges, but she couldn’t stop. No matter how slim the chances of escaping were, she couldn’t stop. She couldn’t give up. If she never made it home to Emmy and Mac, she at least had to die knowing she did everything she could.
Mila was so engrossed in her task that when the door suddenly swung open, she jumped to her feet, thinking she had succeeded, and ran right into a man.
“Enough.” He grasped her shoulders and shook her. “Stop trying to escape, you're hurting yourself.”
Stunned by the man she had known as SC suddenly being here in front of her, Mila just stood there. By the time she snapped out of her shocked haze, he had closed the door and was locking it behind him. She wanted to fight him for the key that he put on a chain around his neck, but she sensed that fighting him would make him angry. Possibly angry enough to kill her, and she couldn’t do that to her children. So, she bit her lip to keep quiet and just stood there, unsure what to do. Whatdidone say when alone in a room with their kidnapper?
“I thought you would stop,” he said.
He thought she would stop? Had he been watching her? Were there cameras in here? The thought made her shiver.
“I’ll bandage your hands.”
Her hands? Mila looked down at them and saw that they were covered in blood, and most of her nails were ragged and partially ripped off. She hadn’t even realized she’d hurt them. She had no time to worry about that, her sole focus was getting away from here alive.
“Come. Sit.” He took her arm and led her toward the sitting area.
Unable to fight against it any longer, Mila pulled back and tugged herself free from his grip. “Don’t touch me,” she spat.
She couldn’t see his face because he was wearing a black ski mask, but she could feel the anger rolling off him. He didn't like her talking back to him. Well, that was too bad, he could take her against her will and lock her up here, but he couldn’t control how she felt about it.
“Didn't you read the rules?” he asked tightly.
She stared defiantly at him and shook her head. She didn't care about his rules, she didn't care about what he wanted from her, she just wanted to go home. His arm twitched like he wanted to hit her, and she tried not to flinch.
“You will read the rules while I tend to your hands,” he instructed.
The way he said it like it was a foregone conclusion angered her. He thought he could break her down and make her become his ideal woman, but she wasn't playing that game. She just didn't know how far to push him, and gauging it was harder because she couldn’t see his face.
“Go and sit down.” He pointed to the armchairs by the fireplace.
He was testing her, seeing how compliant she was going to be. The sensible part of her brain said to do as she was told, but the part that hadn’t allowed another adult to order her around since she had become an adult herself screamed at her to resist. “Let me go, please. I have two children, they need me. Please, I want to go home.”
“If you had bothered to read the rules I left for you then you’d know that you don’t speak unless spoken to, and if I tell you to do something you do it.”
No longer thinking whether the choices she was making were smart or not, desperation descended on her and she threw herself at him. “Let me go, please. Why are you doing this? Why did you lie to me? Why did you pretend to be someone who wanted to date me? I don’t understand. I thought you liked me. I liked you, I thought we could have been happy together. I don’t understand why you kidnapped me, I don’t understand why you brought me here, I don’t understand any of this. Let me go, please, let me go, let me go, let me go.” She began to sob and sank down to the floor. She couldn’t take any more of this.
“Stop it.” He grabbed her roughly and dragged her to her feet. “This ridiculous behavior is unacceptable.”
He bent her over his arm and delivered a hard blow to her backside. Mila yelped in surprise and tried to wiggle out of his arms. The man tightened his hold on her and delivered several more blows. Then he released her, and she crumpled to the floor.
There were plenty of times in her marriage where her husband had made her feel like less than nothing, but she had never felt likethisin her life. The fear, the humiliation of being spanked, she wanted to curl up and die. Only she didn't. She wanted to live. She wanted to go home to her children.
“Youwilllearn to obey me.” He put his hands under her arms and carried her over to the sitting area and deposited her into an armchair.
Mila didn't fight back.
The fight had temporarily drained from her.
Was he right?
Would she really learn to obey him if it was the only way to stay alive?