Fuck.
Hopelessness washes over me. I’ve thought of a million different scenarios over the past week of how I was going to die. It’s inevitable in this world, but a part of me had hoped that if it were going to happen, it would be by the brothers’ hands and done with remorse, regret, and because they simply had no other choice after doing everything they could to try and save me, not this. I don’t want to die out in the woods where no one will ever find me.
This isn’t how my story is supposed to go.
With no other choice, I slowly climb into the bathtub as my heart shatters into a million pieces. Tears stream down my face and a loud sob tears from the back of my throat as he props himself on the edge of the tub. “That’s a good little girl,” he tells me, motioning for me to lay back.
I do as instructed and silently cry as he takes my wrist, fearing what he has planned for me that could possibly rival what the DeAngelis brothers did to Draven in that old warehouse. The thick material is strapped tightly around my wrist, burning my skin as he threads the material through a thick loop, binding me to the bathtub.
He steps around the other side before doing the same to my other wrist and I find myself watching him closely, trying to figure out if there’s some way to get out of this, but it’s clear that this isn’t his first rodeo. He pulls the rough material tight, burning my skin as it keeps me down.
“Did you know,” he says, pulling an old knife from his pocket before reaching into the bath and slicing the blade right down the length of my leg, tearing open my sweatpants and letting the loose cotton fall into the bottom of the bath. “The human body holds approximately five liters of blood while this tub can hold up to two hundred liters?”
Nerves settle into my gut and I silently watch him as he continues taunting me with his bullshit chatter. The knife is tossed aside and he pulls out more straps of material before tying them tightly around my thighs and arms like some kind of tourniquet. “It doesn’t take a genius to know that the human body can replenish its own blood, and that leaves me wondering, just how long it will take to fill this whole tub.”
“You really are a fucking idiot, aren’t you?” I snap. “And here I thought you actually knew what you were doing.”
He gives me a blank stare and I let out a frustrated sigh. “It takes weeks to replenish that kind of blood. I’ll be long dead before you could fill this thing halfway. Did you even do your homework before putting this bullshit plan together or do you just lack common sense like your brother?”
A loud roar rattles through the room and I feel it vibrating right through my chest. “Don’t you dare talk about him, you little bitch,” he growls, dropping to his knees behind my head and pressing the knife to my throat. “Perhaps I’ll pass up my experiment and just watch how your blood coats your skin.”
I don’t say a word, holding my breath in fear of him sticking to his word, but he just laughs. “Ahhhh, you’re awfully quiet now,” he says, pulling away from me and allowing me the opportunity to suck in a deep breath.
He steps around me, hovering at the side of the tub and looking down at me. “I couldn’t believe my luck when I heard the infamous DeAngelis brothers were making an appearance tonight,” he muses. “You should have seen what I had planned for them. It was going to be spectacular, but when they dragged you in along with them, I couldn’t resist keeping you for myself.”
“You’re fucking sick. They don’t even care about me. I’m just a nobody who got sold to them. You’re wasting your time.”
He shakes his head. “But I’ve gone to all this effort,” he says. “Drave really would be disappointed if I didn’t at least have a little fun with it. Besides, it’d be a shame to waste such a good opportunity.”
He drops down to his knees, with a psychotic widening of his eyes. He looks fucking possessed as he stares down at my bare thigh. “So pretty,” he murmurs, leaning over the edge of the bathtub. “I wonder how quickly you’ll bleed out.”
He goes to reach down and touch me and my knee immediately snaps up, crushing his fucking nose as my survival instincts kick in. “FUCK,” he roars, falling back as blood spills from his nose. He holds it with one hand as his other comes flying back at me, the sharp blade plunging deep into my thigh. “You’re feisty.”