Nobody hears my cries. Nobody is coming to save me.
I’m still screaming as I remember my dad telling me bedtime stories when I was younger. The princess always found her way out. She would realize that she was strong, strong enough to take on anything that came her way. After that, I always hated fairytales that ended with the prince saving the day. I almost forgot that I don’t need anyone to save me. I’ll save myself, just like the princesses in the stories.
I sit down across from the door. I wipe my tears. I’m not going to cry. I’m going to be the princess my Dad believed I was. I won’t let Kohen break me. Eventually he’ll open this door and let me out. I know that. I need a plan. Because the first chance I get I’m running and I won’t look back. I’ll either get away, or I’ll die trying.
The light stings my eyes. I squeeze them and cover my face to block the sudden blinding light. They snap open when his hands brush my cheeks. He cradles my face so gently that if I wasn’t locked into a dark hole, I would think he feels guilty. I’m not falling for that again.
“I’m so sorry, Em. You just made me mental. I’m so sorry. Forgive me please. You just have to listen and I’ll never hurt you again.” Kohen kisses my sore cheek.
Reaching up, I cup his face. “I know. I shouldn’t have talked to you like that. You were right.” I’m positive that I’m about to throw up that I cover my mouth. I pass it off as a sob and lean my head against his forehead.
Play nice. You need to escape. Fake it.
“I can’t believe I hit you. You make me so mad. Promise me you won’t anger me anymore. It kills me to hurt you, Em.”
There’s that name again. I don’t bother asking who she is. I’ve seen the movies. She’s a girl that I resemble. A girl that he’s killed. How many Ems have there been before me?
“I promise . . . Can . . . I . . .” I pretend to stumble over my words.
Caressing my face, Kohen places a chaste kiss on my lips. Somehow, I’m able to stop from grimacing.
“What? All you have to do is ask, Adalynn.”
So now I’m Adalynn again. I shake my head.
“I’ll give you whatever you need.”
“No, I don’t deserve it. I shouldn’t have said anything,” I whisper.
Another kiss. “Please talk to me, baby. I’ll do whatever you want.”
“I wanted to ask if I can come out . . . to spend the night with you . . .” I force myself to draw a calming breath before I say the biggest lie in the world. “I can’t sleep without your ams around me.”
Kohen stills. I scoot closer until our lips touch.
“I just want you to love me,” I say against his lips.
Do not throw up.
“I love you so much,” Kohen says against my lips.
Not being able to say the words back, I kiss him. I drown everything out. I drown out that I’m stuck in a hole with a lunatic, that I’m probably going to die soon like the other Ems, and focus on the only thing that makes me able to hold on. I think of Jax. I picture his face, his lips. My imagination is running wild that I can actually smell him. I pretend that Kohen is Jax and kiss him like I would be kissing Jax right now.
When Kohen pulls away, we’re both breathless, but for different reasons. He enjoyed the kiss, I tried not to throw up in his mouth.
“It’s late. Let’s have dinner before we go to bed.”
The way he says bed makes my chest tighten. I feel like I can’t breathe. He has no plans of sleeping tonight. The tears prickle but I force them back. I wipe my eyes before we leave my prison.
I wrap my arm around his waist and rest my head against his side. “What do you want me to make you for dinner?”
Kohen laughs, a laugh that I used to think I could love one day. I was so terribly wrong. “You’re too cute. I’m going to make us dinner. I want to cook for you for the rest of our lives. I’ll always take care of you.”
I step away from him but clasp his hand and kiss his fingertips. This is easier if I pretend that he’s Jax. I can almost stomach it.
“I know.”
He snatches my hands and tugs me back to his side. I remind myself to stay calm, but I’m still trembling. He knows I’m lying. He’s going to hurt me again. Distract him. As soon as that idea blossoms, it dawns on me why he’s angry again. My knuckles are bleeding from punching the door.
It isn’t until he strokes underneath the bleeding flesh that I feel the pain. “What did you do?”
I cast my eyes down, hoping that he thinks I feel guilty. “I just wanted to be with you.”
He tilts up my chin with his now blood-covered finger. “You did this to yourself to be near me?”
Instead of kicking him in the balls, I lean into him. “All I’ve ever wanted was to be close to you.”
His blue eyes shine with happiness. I match my smile to his. Inside I’m screaming, YOU’RE FUCKING CRAZY! He leads me the rest of the way to the kitchen and pulls out a chair for me.
“Don’t move, I’m going to get my first-aid kit.” He says it sweetly, but I know he’s threatening me.
Once he leaves, I move to the patio doors. They won’t open. I turn the locks, but they it still won’t budge. Glancing up, I notice another lock at the top right hand corner. There’s no way this will be my escape unless I have a key. I haunt everywhere for some kind of weapon. Bingo! The knife rack. I tiptoe towards it then fling myself back into my seat when his loud footsteps near. I calm my breathing so that he doesn’t notice anything is wrong.
He sets the first-aid kit on the table and then takes the seat next to me. “I wish this afternoon never happened. You’ll never know how sorry I am,” he says as he inspects my knuckles.
“Stop that. If you didn’t, we wouldn’t be here. You didn’t mean to hurt me. And now that I understand how much you love me, it won’t happen again. I will never act like that again. I can’t stand it when you’re angry with me.”
Yeah . . . because you like to smack me around.
I force my attention back to Kohen instead of the shiny object that will help me escape. I can’t let him realize my plan. If I have any hope of leaving him, he needs to buy into my lies. I keep my smile firmly in place as he rambles about our future. I ignore every word and replay Jax telling me he loved me for the first time nine years ago.
All too soon, Kohen carries the first-aid kit into the bathroom. Before returning to my side, he snags an icepack from the freezer. “Here. This will help the swelling.”
“Thanks.”
Setting the ice pack on my face, I watch him with love shining through my eyes. I’ve mastered wearing a mask for so long that it slips easily into place. Every smile and every kiss I blow his way, he believes. He doesn’t detect the pure hatred I feel for him. He doesn’t see that I’m planning my escape. I imagine sinking a knife into his chest where his heart should be.
Half-way through dinner, I squirm in my seat. I wait for Kohen to notice. It takes a lot longer than I expect. When he acknowledges me I ask, “May I be excused to use the restroom?”
Kohen nods his approval. “You know you don’t have to ask.”
I rest my hand on top of his. “I know. . . It’s just that I didn’t want you to think I was leaving . . . I can’t believe that you thought I could leave you. You know I don’t think that’s possible, right?” I don’t even have to lie. I know that there’s little hope for my escape.
His smile is anything but charming as he says, “Cause you know I’ll find you again?”
Leaning over, I nip his ear with my teeth. He moans and I imagine stabbing him in the throat with his fork.
“No, because I could never leave you. You love me,” I whisper before walking away.
I force myself to calmly head to the bathroom. I see the front door, but I don’t make my move. Not yet. I need to prepare. I don’t even bother with the lock as I shut the door. I don’t want to give him any reason to hit me, or worse, lock me back into my prison.
As quickly as possible, I open t
he drawers. I smile triumphantly when I spot the small white first-aid kit. Grabbing what I need, I secure it in the side of my bra so he doesn’t notice. I flush the toilet and wash my hands. I make sure that everything is tucked away before I join him back in the dining room.
When I’m almost done with dinner, I yawn then wince.
“Are you okay, babe?”
I nod and wipe away an imaginary tear. Kohen springs out of his seat and squats in front of me before I can blink. He’s fast. I need to remember that.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m just sore.” I look away and wait for him to pull my face towards his.
Bingo.
“I want to be with you. I just wish that it could be . . .”
I smile in my head when he asks, “What? How do you want it to be?”
“Since it’s our first time, I just wanted everything to be perfect. I want it to be perfect for you . . . I’m not perfect right now.”
Kohen’s eyes gleam with regret. “I’m so sorry ba—”
I cut him off. If I hear him call me baby one more time, I might lose it.
“Don’t be, it’s my fault. I just wish that we could wait.” I place my lips close to his again. “But don’t worry. It doesn’t have to be perfect. I’m just over-thinking it.”
Kohen yanks me out of my chair. He crashes his mouth against mine and kisses me roughly. Keeping up the act, I kiss him back. I even go as far as moaning into his mouth and clinging to him like I’m desperate for him.
Kohen breaks away first only because I force myself to keep kissing him. I have to make this believable. Tonight is the only night I have. I won’t let him have me. I won’t be his prisoner. I will either escape or I’ll die. Either way, I’ll be free.
As Kohen turns around to lead the way to the stairs, I make my move. Slowly I slip the scalpel out of the side of my dress. I keep my eyes on Kohen’s back. He continues walking, oblivious. I jerk my arm out of his and aim for my target. His neck. He turns at the same time I slam the scalpel into him.
I miss.
Instead of his neck, I sink it into the top of his shoulder. I don’t know who screams louder, him, or me when I crash into the foyer table from the force of his blow. Glass scatters everywhere. I push myself to my feet, ignoring the glass embedded into my hands, and run the short distance to the door. My legs are kicked out from underneath me.
I grit my teeth as glass rips through my too-thin dress and slides into my back. Blindly, I reach for a large shard that I can use to stab him. His hands wrap around my neck.
I stare into his black eyes as he strangles me. I need to find . . . something to hurt him . . . with. My vision blurs as the remaining oxygen begins to leave my body.
There!
Clutching the shard in my hand, I stab him in the thigh. The second it sinks into him, he releases my throat. He yanks it out and blood gushes out of him. He tries to control the bleeding with his hands as I crawl away from him.
Kohen screams at me as I crawl to the door. Ignoring him, I fumble with the locks. He’s staggering to his feet by the time I open it. He yells again, but it’s swallowed up by the screeching alarm I was unaware he set.
Running out of that disastrous house as fast as I can, I stumble down the porch and onto the grass. It takes a second too long to gather my bearings. Once I’m able to breathe in the fresh air, I flee. Rain has moistened the sand, making it that much harder to gain distance.
Every few feet, my legs carry me from the biggest mistake of my life. I look behind me to make sure Kohen isn’t following. As the rain falls harder, I push myself faster, forcing my feet to carry me through the thick sand.
Along the edge of the small cliff, I duck behind the bushes and pant. I brush the branches and leaves out of my way so I can peer through them. Slowly I sit up to look over the bush. The heavy rain screens the house from view. Not hearing signs of Kohen, I lunch forward into a run.
Thunder rumbles off every thirty seconds, a welcoming distraction from the constant ringing in my ears. The sky is dark, the angry ocean crashes into the side of the cliff. Rain pours down so hard it’s impossible to see more than a few feet in front of me and even then I have to squint to make out objects. The lightning is the worst; it’s mocking me by illuminating the entire area. The thunderous bang of the angry sky matches the heavy beating of my heart.
Just keep moving forward. Kohen will kill me if he finds me. These thoughts spin on a wheel, not allowing anything else in to distract me. Each step takes me away from the one man I thought I could trust. Kohen made it easy for me to believe his lies. I never thought he was capable of truly hurting me, I thought he loved me. I wanted to believe that he loved me, that I was capable of being loved.
I was wrong on so many levels, it’s almost laughable.
The rustling in the bushes to my right catches my gaze. I keep my focus on the bush as I run. I don’t see him. It’s just the storm, I tell myself, but I feel Kohen watching me, waiting for me to mess up, so he can capture me. I can’t let that happen. I force my exhausted legs to push harder, to carry me faster. I squint and spot a thick evergreen in the distance. That’s my target. If I can get there, I can hide again for a breather.
Finding energy that wasn’t there before, I sprint forward, towards the tree. From the continuous downpour, it’s harder to move around in the sand. My left foot gets stuck in the mud and I tumble hard onto the ground.
“Fuck!” I yell as my hip connects with a jagged rock.
Luckily, thunder decides to strike at the same time I yell, drowning out all noise. Placing one hand on my hip, I use the other to help me scramble to my feet. I plant my hand on my hip as I continue to run. Pain shoots through my hip with each step, but I can’t stop. If Kohen finds me, it will be worse than any injury I’ve suffered tonight.
Managing to make it to the tree, I quickly step behind it. Gasping for air, I lean my head against the trunk and rest for a second. I lift the bottom of my mud-splattered shirt to evaluate the damage. Just a scratch, I tell myself even though I know I need stitches. Thick mud covers my clothes in clumps, leaves and twigs are tangled into my hair.
My entire body tenses when I hear a noise. I can’t tell if it’s him or wind from the storm. I wait for what feels like minutes but is mere seconds, unmoving, locked into place. It’s just the wind. Not him. I left him. Keep moving!
I look around the tree to see if I can glimpse what I heard. Nothing. I press my hand back to my hip before I run from the protection of the tree, into the darkness, and farther away from Kohen.
I pause long enough to glance around to try and figure out which direction I should be running towards. Its impossible to tell where I am with the rain beating down from the angry night’s sky. I see lights in the distance that appear to belong to a car. I sprint in that direction. As I get closer, I spot the beam of lights again and I know they’re headlights. Keep moving. I’m a survivor. Get to the road. If I make it to the road in time to stop that car, I’ll be safe.
With my escape less than a mile away, I push myself with newfound energy. I finally reach the last bend of the private property. The waves slam into the cliff’s side below me, spraying ocean water onto my path. I trip on a root that has surfaced and fall into a large puddle, cutting my hand on a sharp edge.
Ignoring the pain in my hand, I jump to my feet. I sprint again towards my only escape. Pain registers soon after and I stop. I look down and realize that I must have cut my thigh, too. I push past the agonizing pain. I bite my lip to keep from screaming, and force myself to run through the pain.
I finally reach the last few steps before the clearing on top of the cliff. The road is right there. My escape, my freedom, is only a few steps away. I wipe the rain and filth from my soaked face to clear the blurriness from my eyes.
Lightning strikes, illuminating the night sky. The roaring thunder muffles my scream. My heart sinks into my stomach. There he is. Kohen’s glaring right at me. His hair is dripping wet with ra
in and mud, his clothes are soaked and torn. Out of the corner of my eye, I see the car making the last turn, but I know I will never make it.
I failed.
I should have known that he would be here waiting. Kohen wouldn’t let me go that easily. He can’t let me go. He’s going to catch me and he’s going to kill me. I see it in his dark, murderous eyes, before he makes his move. I sprint towards my freedom at the exact moment he barrels towards me.
My life is finally over.
Jax. I summon strength from him even though he’s nowhere near me and run with all my might. Kohen follows, but slips on the mud and grazes my elbow with his fingers. Not enough to catch me.
I run out in the middle of the road and wave my hand towards the oncoming car. I close my eyes from the blinding headlights and hope that he stops. I’m not moving. The driver will either stop or he will kill me. Either way I’ve found my escape from Kohen.
The rain makes it harder for the car to stop and it’s still heading towards me as the driver slams on his brakes. The screech of the tires drowns out the storm.
The car is coming right at me, but I stand my ground. I’d rather it hit me than drive off and leave me here with Kohen. I refuse to let that outcome happen. No, the car will either stop or it will hit me.
One or the other.
Fitting, a car will either save me or kill me. Oh, the irony.
The lights come closer . . . closer. The car isn’t stopping. I close my eyes and brace for the impact. Screaming finally pierces my ears, my screaming.
Chapter Thirty-Three
My body bends from something slamming into my side. Hands fasten on me. I open my eyes right before my face smashes into the cement. My arms reach forward, trying to crawl away from Kohen, but it’s pointless with him on top of me. He flips me over and licks the blood running down my cheek.
The car crashing, can’t dilute the noise of Kohen’s malicious laughter in my ear. I manage to kick him in the balls. He leans back as he howls in pain, cupping himself. I jump to my feet and start to run. I fall to the ground . . . hard. Screaming from the internal pain, I grasp for my ankle. Before I can check the damage, Kohen stands me up.
Beautifully Shattered (The Beautifully Series Book 1) Page 47