The next time her uncle entered the dark and dank space that was housing her during her captivity, she held her breath hoping she could see or hear something that would tell her where she was. Maybe if she knew where she was, she could think of some way to escape. Though she could not see where he was, she heard his entrance and could still see the light spilling in through the open doorway. She knew her chances of getting out of there were slim to none but she had to think positively or she would go crazy. Thoughts of escape were the only thing keeping her sane with the pain getting worse and worse the longer she waited. She bitterly regretted not taking heed of her father’s decisions and following in his footsteps, she knew he wasn’t a man to cut someone out of his life without reason and she wished more than anything else that she hadn’t run away from the safety of her own home. The emotional pain of witnessing what she had convinced herself was so much worse than it was hurt so much less than the physical pain from the trauma she had suffered and the knowledge that her dreams had slipped through her fingers. She was never going to make it out of this alive, there was just no way it was possible and Sean was well and truly gone from her forever now. It was hard to breathe thinking about the fact that she had doubted him and run right into this situation.

Looking in her direction still holding the door open, he was disappointed not to have that over her, too. Still, after a brief moment, he entered the dark room and closed the door behind him, a heavy curtain falling into place effectively blocking all sunlight.

"Well, look who's awake. I just bet you are feeling extremely weak right about now, aren't you? You have certainly lost enough blood that it's a wonder you're still awake, much less alive."

"Is Sean alright?"

"Your cowboy is just fine right now, dear. It is not him I would be worried about if I were you. Do you know how long you've been in here?"

"No, it’s dark and I’m weak, so I've been sleeping a lot, not to mention the pain. All these things aren't exactly conducive to time keeping."

"Well, it’s only been a day or two. Have you reconsidered? Perhaps thought of a way to get around the will? I am certain your daddy would not have left his little angel with nothing. That wasn't exactly the way my big brother worked."

"I don’t think I can get around the stipulations, but what about just waiting it out? We only have three more years until I am eligible to inherit it all. If you can just wait, we can do this a much easier way!"

"Oh, but upon further inspection of the conversation we had the other day at that rundown dump, I distinctly remember that man saying you could obtain the money in an emergency situation with a few little old signatures. Well, I've never seen a clearer case of emergency." He splayed his hands, showing how important he thought the situation was.

"How am I going to get the signatures tied to a chair with several broken bones and no one knowing that I’m alive?" Resigned to the fact that she was going to die anyways, she decided that she may as well go out bravely. She refused to cower to such a horrible man if these were her last moments. It wouldn’t be long, minutes, hours or possibly days but he would get tired of this game. She could see it in his eyes.

"Let me tell you a little story about how I get my way, OK? My brother was always the golden boy; our parents were so proud of him, but it’s funny how quickly they turned on him when they started to find the dead animals. It was fun, you know, to show these horrible little creatures who was in charge, at first anyways. Later, the real thrill came from Daniel. They honestly thought it was him, but he was a straight and narrow kid; they could not throw him out. Gasp! What would the neighbors think? The star football player? Their hands were tied, but the breaking point came when he started dating that nobody. I could tell they were getting to the end of their rope, so when he decided to marry that girl, there it was, the perfect excuse. They told him if he married her, he was dead to them. Shortly after, he cut his ties with our family and moved here. Isn't it odd how a golden boy who grew up as his parents’ favorite was disowned over something as minimal as his choice of wife? With Daniel spending all his time with your mother, the time was ripe with opportunities for drawing him out of the role of favorite son and helping myself to it. It is natural, really, for a mother to be jealous when her firstborn falls in love for the first time. The jealousy allowed me to convince my parents that instead of being an honorable young woman to be respected, a woman who had triumphed against the odds as they were inclined to believe, they came to see her as a gold-digging opportunist. Believing that she was after only his money, they had no choice, really; he could have love or money. He, of course, chose love, as only Daniel would. Therefore, they cut him off and left him penniless. He was already making a decent living, so he had no need of their money. When your parents married, mine disowned him. With some subtle encouragement and a loving facade, I temporarily replaced Daniel in their affections. As the years went on, they began to resent me for the choices I helped them make. When you were born, which they learned of through a friend of Daniel’s, they decided to try to make amends. They said nothing to me when they flew down here to see you all, but Daniel wanted nothing to do with them. Not because of the money, but because they had turned their backs on him. I found out all of this when they returned and informed me that everything was my fault. I knew, though, that with me being their only remaining child, they had no choice but to let it go; bygones being bygones and such.

"Imagine my surprise when after a carefully thought-out and elaborate planned house fire took the lives of both my parents, the lawyer read the will after the funeral, stating that everything went to my brother except for the amount necessary for my daughter to go to college. They wanted her to live on campus, the further away from me and my wife the better, they said. Her college fund was untouchable by anyone but her. Of course, within a week, I managed to obtain the total of it and we managed to live quite comfortably for some time before we ran out of money. Where there is a will, there is a way, no pun intended. It was truly a sizable portion; she probably could have lived off it for a decade, but compared to the sum total of their money it was not even a drop in the bucket. Unfortunately, all good things must end and when it was all gone, I tried to reestablish ties with my very wealthy brother.

"He denied me. The accident that took his life and that of your mother’s was simply a stroke of luck for me, or so I thought at the time. It prevented me from having to do the deed myself. See, I knew he'd leave everything to you, but I assumed I would have a chance to contest the will and if failing that just convince you to share, but your parents so neatly tied my hands with their stipulations. So we find ourselves with two options. A, I kill you and get it over with, or B, you find a way to turn the money over and we both go on about our lives."

When he touched a button on his watch, light flooded the surrounding area. He glanced at the time and smiled an evil smile and tapped her on the nose saying, "Look, my darling niece, I have to go. I am going to give you only twenty-four more hours to figure this out, then I can just kill you and go find myself a nice hotel room to hide out in and send a ransom note. Think carefully, my dear, because I really don't want to have to kill any more of my blood."

Turning around whistling, he walked out the door.

She was grateful that he left when he did because she could no longer hold herself up. Slumping, she thought of Sean and prayed for a miracle. She wasn’t sure how much longer she had left before she joined her parents and all she could think of was how she would never get to hold the people she loved again. A rash reaction had let to her downfall and soon all that would be left of her were memories. There was no way to change the stipulations of her inheritance and she had a feeling she was just about out of time. No one had a clue where she was or who she was with and they more than likely wouldn’t think to look for her since her truck had blown up. They could be planning her funeral that very moment and not have a clue that she was alive and running out of time. Because she couldn’t trust in Sean and stick around to see what the explanation was she was now going to die alone. She would never get to see the man she loved smile at her again. There would never be rides to the creek or picnics under the stars. No children with his eyes and her nose, his wildness or her calm. There would never be sleepovers with Sheriff and Grandma Thelma. A whole life, a whole world of possibilities were now gone and all she could do was sit in a chair, in her soiled, ripped, and bloody clothes and pray for a miracle while she cried herself to sleep once again.