I woke up with the worst case of déjà vu ever. This time dirt lay beneath me. I thought maybe I was outside until the light forced me to blink so I could focus.

A murmur of cries sounded somewhere across from me. At first, I stayed still to listen for who might be with me.

“You’re up. Good.”

I recognized the voice. Hazy memories of the face, the one from years ago and the one from the edge of the woods, surfaced.

“Sir,” I said.

He stepped into my view with a vicious grin on his face.

“You remember, Pet.”

My hands were bound, as were my feet, if my senses were any good.

“Please,” I begged.

I may have sounded like that girl from eight years ago, but I wasn’t her. I’d gotten stronger; strong enough to go to college and make a life for myself.

He didn’t have to know that.

“You ruined everything.”

He punctuated every word, but didn’t sound angry at all.

“How?”

He laughed. “I read everything from Frank’s trial. The prosecution brought up the call you made from the burner phone he had on him when he’d been caught. They traced him back to us. I’m in hiding because of you and not just from the police.”

Frank Westmont was Adam. I hadn’t had to testify because he’d pleaded guilty. He would spend the rest of his miserable life, however long he had, in prison.

“I also heard your parents sued him in civil court. His wife settled out of court. Based on the look of your house, your parents didn’t spend the money. And I want it.”

Although my parents had refused to be in the witness protection program, my name had been legally changed and I’d been homeschooled after. Although there had been no mention of me at his trial, all FBI reports had been changed to my new name in order to protect my identity.

“It took a while, but I found you. At first I made a mistake, thinking she was you.”

He pointed across the way. I angled my neck and caught sight of Meghan. “It was dark, that boyfriend of yours dropped her off. And then she walked back out, like a gift.”

I closed my eyes, feeling responsible for her. It was my fault she was in this mess.

“Don’t feel bad for her. She’s enjoyed our time together.” He added in a whisper, “She likes it rough.”

Tears blurred my vision. I may have been stronger, but I wasn’t heartless. I also cried for Tade. He probably believed I thought the worst of him. But even when I questioned it, it never rang true for me.

“Ah,” Sir said with false care. “Don’t cry now. There’s plenty of time for that when I take what I’ve wanted since the day we met.”

Bile rushed up my throat and I spit in his direction. He moved out of the way in time and chuckled.

“She’s got fire in her.”

That had been a mistake. He needed to think me weak if I was to get Meghan and me out of here.

“What did you do with the baby?”

It was a hard question to ask. It had taken me a long time to accept that I might not ever know. She or he would be around eight if alive.

He tapped my nose. “You be a good girl and I’ll tell you. Though you may not like the answer.”

I’d come to terms with Eve. I may have been diagnosed as not having a split personality, but she had been a coping mechanism.

Somehow, I had to get out of this mess before he raped me, because surely that was what he meant. If not, I would get through it. I had once before. If not for me, then I would for Tade and the baby. He wouldn’t break me. I would survive.

“You sure have gotten prettier.” I bit my tongue as his hand cupped my breast. “These have gotten bigger too. What have you been eating these days?”

I debated whether or not I would tell him about my pregnancy. Would he leave me alone or hurt me instead?

A hand slid up my thigh. “You’ve made it so easy for me. First coming out alone. For weeks you’ve always been with someone else. Then today, you brighten my day by ending up by the woods on your own. And in this dress.”

Fingers rubbed me. I felt nothing but disgust.

“Do what you want to me. But let her go. You don’t need her anymore.”

He laughed. “You’ve been watching too much TV. It doesn’t work that way. She’s seen my face. She has to die.”

Meghan let out a strangled cry.

“If you don’t want her to watch us, I can kill her now.”

I frantically shook my head.

“She can watch,” I said in panic, which worked in my favor.

He thought I sounded that way out of fear. There was a little of that. I was afraid he’d kill her before we could get away.

He moved out of my sight, and then rolled me over. He lifted my hips up, and I was forced to my knees. He rubbed himself against my bottom. That was when I realized he didn’t need to undo my bindings to have his way with me.

The slap across my butt hurt. I didn’t cry out.

“I want to see your face when I make you scream.”

He signed his death wish as he rolled me over.

“Don’t you give me any trouble or remember all the things that can happen, like before.”

Like a movie playing in my head, flashes of the things he’d done to me or the men that had come in to watch or participate, played in my head. Though they’d never taken my virginity, what they’d done was stolen my virtue.

“Please, I’ll be good,” I begged and hoped he believed me.

He took out a knife from his pocket and cut my bindings loose, first my wrists and then at my ankles. I played nice, biding my time. If I moved now, he could win, as he was bigger and stronger than me. I had to weaken him before I could take him down.

My arm got nicked when he freed my wrist. I moved to put pressure on the wound as he put the knife in his back pocket. I tried not to watch him do it, so he wouldn’t know what I was up to.

“Jesus, I want to see those pretty tits of yours. Sit up.”

I followed direction and I one-upped him. I reached behind myself and unzipped my dress, shrugging it off from my shoulders. I didn’t take it fully off. I stood and when his mouth opened, I got to my knees and assumed the position.

“Damn, Pet. I taught you well.”

I didn’t look up; I kept my head down.

He moved to stand in front of me, just like I wanted him to.

“Look at me.”

He grabbed his crotch and I schooled my features. He brought out his knife, opening it.

“You will do this and if you so much as bite me, I’ll take out one of your eyes. Then I’ll stab her and let you watch her bleed out with your one good eye.”

I nodded in obedience.

As he began to work down his zipper, I took my shot. I sprang up, with a fist to his balls. As he bent forward, I used my other hand to punch him in his throat. The knife fell. I spun for it. Though he was in pain, he caught my leg. The knife was just out of reach. He started to pull. I kicked with my other foot. The momentum pushed me forward far enough to grasp the handle.

I spun to my back and lifted up with the knife aimed at his heart. It took surprising force to drive it home where I caught him dead center in the chest. We held there, he and I, staring in each other’s eyes.

“You’ll never know what happened to her,” he gasped.

If he thought to torment me, he hadn’t realized his mistake. Now I knew that I’d birthed a baby girl. I twisted the knife for all the girls out there he’d wronged. I yanked it out for Meghan and me as he fell back.

I scrambled on my knees, watching as blood pumped out of his chest once and then twice until his eyes went dull.

Someone was screaming and it took another few seconds for me to realize it was Meghan. I crawled over and cut her bindings with the bloody knife. She freed herself from the gag and we both got to our feet.

The knife thudded to the ground from my hands as I searched for the door. Meghan was faster, making a run for it. It was locked. In tandem, she and I both turned to stare at the dead man.

She shook her head and I knew I had to be the one to find the keys. So I went over, toed him with my bare foot. I had no idea where my shoes were.

He didn’t move. Slowly, I got to my knees. When he didn’t attack me, I checked his pockets until I found them in a front one.

The keys slipped from my sticky hands. Meghan was there to take them. She got the door open and we climbed the stairs. We were in some kind of cabin. We didn’t search for weapons; we went for the door. Outside, trees surrounded us on all sides.

“Wait!” I called, when she took off.

She didn’t slow, so I followed after her. We ran until she dropped to her knees sobbing. I tried to help her up, but she showed me the bottoms of her bloody feet. We’d both been without shoes.

“Let’s walk.”

I was afraid of the darkness that descended. Night meant predators of the four-legged variety. With my bloody hands and our bloody feet, we were walking targets.

“We have to get out of here and to a road.”

What I didn’t say was we should have looked for a phone before we left. She’d taken off in such a rush; I didn’t think I could find our way back. If we’d left footprints, they would be hidden when full dark came.

We hobbled along for what felt like hours, until I heard a car drive past. She must have heard it too, as we picked up the pace.

When we saw the road, she ran right to it, ignoring the highlights barreling down on her.