Darkness surrounded me.

I lay there frozen, unable to see, as my eyes were covered by something.

My bones ached, my head throbbed, and I couldn’t move. My hands and feet were bound, my torso strapped down, leaving me unable to so much as wiggle.

What the fuck happened?

The only sounds in the room were my labored breathing and the sob that was about to burst from my throat.

It all came flooding back to me.

The flat tire.

Waiting outside for the taxi.

Tossing my gun in my purse.

And then… I gasped for air. Then the attack.

I hadn’t seen it, but I’d felt the blow to my jaw as the pain radiated across my face. As I’d grabbed my chin, I was struck in the head. As the world had gone dim, my knees had crumpled and I’d fallen to the ground.

I had been so consumed by my anger toward Morgan that I hadn’t been aware of my surroundings.

It was my fault I was here.

I began to cry.

“Hello?” I whispered, so low that I barely heard it myself.

I held my breath, waiting for a reply, but heard nothing in response as tears streamed down my cheeks.

I need to take slow breaths and keep myself calm, I told myself over and over again.

I couldn’t do it.

Who the fuck could keep their wits about them in a situation like this? Seriously. I’d like to think I was pretty levelheaded, but right now images of Texas Chainsaw Massacre kept playing over and over again inside my head.

Pulling at the restraints, I started to hyperventilate.

My heart beat so furiously that it was all I could hear.

A door opened, making me freeze.

“Ah, you’re awake,” said a woman from a distance.

I held my breath, waiting for my heart to explode as her heels clicked against the floor.

“Can you help me?” I whispered, remaining still.

She cackled, slapping the bottom of my feet. “Silly Race.”

I tried to flinch, but I couldn’t move an inch. The tender flesh stung where her hand had landed.

“Please. I’ll do anything you ask,” I said, my voice strained.

“You know, you’re not as light as you look.” She dragged her fingernails up the side of my leg, leaving fire in their wake. “Always the perfect skinny bitch with perfect tits and never a bit out of place.”

I gasped.

I knew the voice. The acidic tone was one I’d heard before.

Natasha.

The coworker I’d thought I was friends with.

She had to be Tyler’s wife.

“Where’s Tyler? Did he put you up to this?” I asked, trying to swallow but not finding enough moisture to make it possible.

“You think you have everything figured out, don’t you?” she snarled in my ear, sending shivers down my spine. “Tyler was never behind this, darling.”

Wait. What?

“You’ve been the one sending me messages?” I asked as my stomach turned.

“Your hired goons didn’t figure it out, did they? They pegged my husband all along.” She dragged her nails down my arm, pressing harder than she had on my leg.

The skin had started to break, but I bit my lip. “Let me go, please, Natasha,” I begged through gritted teeth as I tried not to scream.

“Don’t be a silly girl, Race. I’ve got you right where I want you.” Her heels tapped against the floor as she took three short steps away from me.

The sound of metal clinking in the background put my senses on high alert. “I’ll do anything.”

One step.

Two steps.

Three steps.

“You don’t get it, do you?” she purred in my ear.

“Tell me. I’ll make it right.” I turned my head toward the sound of her voice, trying to see through the dark material covering my eyes, but I saw only darkness.

“There’s nothing you can do,” she said calmly.

“I thought we were friends,” I whispered, fighting back the tears I knew I couldn’t wipe away.

Cold metal touched my cheek, the sharpness of the edge biting into my flesh. “We were friends.”

I stilled.

“Until I found Tyler watching your video.” Her warm breath skidded across my face. “I thought he loved me, but it was never me that he had been thinking about.”

“But you’re his wife.” Nothing like stating the obvious to a crazy person as she held a knife against my face—no doubt I was thinking about as clearly as she was.

“I am, but you’re the one he thinks about when he touches himself. Not me!” she yelled in my ear, making me flinch.

“But I—”

She pressed the blade deeper into my skin. “Keep your fucking mouth shut! Imagine how my heart shattered when I walked in on him. He sat there, moaning as he watched you on the screen and pictured you doing those things to him.”

I gasped.

“It’s you that he fantasizes about. You’re the one he makes love to. I knew it, but I didn’t believe it until he said your name in his sleep.”

“Natasha, I never ever knew Tyler. I swear I had no idea.” My breath caught as the blade slid under the blindfold.

Squinting, I tried to focus my eyes as the material fell to the table. I blinked, trying to clear the tears away.

Natasha stood above me, shifting with the blade in her grip. She snarled as the blade turned over in her hands.

“I’m going to make you pay for what you’ve done to me,” she growled.

I pulled at the restraints. “I didn’t do anything! Please just let me go,” I said as my lips began to tremble.

She shook her head as she ground her teeth, clenching her jaw tight.

I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing myself.

She leaned forward with the knife, cutting through the fabric of my tank with ease.

I gasped for air as my head spun.

Using the tip, she pushed the tattered shreds to the side, exposing my bra.

I tensed, giving a guttural scream with a closed mouth.

“I’m sure he loves these.” She ran the blade across the tops of my breasts, causing my skin to break out in bumps.

“Please!” I shrieked, tensing my muscles. “Please don’t do this.”

She wagged the knife in front of my face, taunting me. “Are you scared, Race?” she asked, smirking.

“Yes. I’ll do anything. Please,” I begged, shaking my head as she leaned forward with the blade.

I closed my eyes. I couldn’t look. I held my breath as tears streamed down my face.

Blazing pain, unlike anything I’d ever felt before, sliced through my body so hard that I became winded. I screamed in pain, pulling at the restraints, tossing my head back and forth. “Stop, please!” I cried out, feeling dizzy.

I prayed to black out.

Begged for mercy, but nothing.

Just uncontrollable agony that radiated throughout my body.

When she lifted the knife, blood dripped from the edge, falling to my chest. Her eyes widened as her lips parted.

“You look better already,” she said as she walked around the table.

I tried to steady my breathing, focusing on something else other than the pain. I felt the blood as it oozed from the wound, traveling down my side and pooling underneath my back.

“No. I can’t.” I sucked in a breath, trying to grip the table and prepare myself for more torment. “Please don’t do this,” I cried as my body began to shake.

“Ah, pretty Race. Are you worried you won’t be perfect anymore?” she teased as the blade came down again.

As I cried and screamed, blackness took me.