Rox woke up slowly, groggy, her eyes unfocused. Her head was swimming and her hearing was going in and out as she came to. Her mouth felt like it was caked in sawdust. It wasn’t until she tried to rub her eyes and she couldn’tthat she realized she couldn’t move her hands. A shock ripped through her body as she tugged on her arms. Grimacing at the pain from the cuts on her arm, she saw that her shirt had been cut and the wounds had been bandaged.

Glancing to the side, she saw why she couldn’t move her arms and it wasn’t because of her injury. They were tied to the metal poles of a headboard. She was sitting up in the middle of a bed, arms tied to the sides. Something tied around her mouth. A bandana as she glanced down to see what the hell was going on. At least she still had her clothes on.

She was sitting on top of an old quilt and the room didn’t look familiar at all. It was dark outside, there were sheer curtains drawn and she could see outside. A light in the room flicked on and she jumped when she saw Jon sitting in a chair across from the bed.

“You’re up!” Jon said with a bright smile plastered on his face. A smile she wanted to wipe off with her fist or the bottom of her boot. “I’d hoped I hadn’t hit you too hard.”

She gulped down the scream that threatened to claw its way out of her throat. Hyperventilation started to set in and the room swam in front of her. Her eyes fluttered from lack of oxygen. Jon got up from his chair and approached the bed. He sat down beside her and she turned her whole body away, trying to get as far as possible as she could as she started to nod out. He snapped something and waved it under her nose—smelling salts. The acrid smell of ammonia shot through her, searing her nose and eyes as she went rigid. Her eyes snapped open and she was wide awake now. Wishing this was all a bad dream, tears started to gather in her eyes as she willed them not to fall.

“I am so glad we’re here together with no interruptions—finally. I feel like we’ve had so much time apart and I’ve really missed you,” he grabbed her hair, pulling her head forward to rest his head against hers. The touch of his sweaty skin against hers made her stomach lurch, trying to revolt once again. A pained cry escaped her, muffled by the gag in her mouth, as he bent her neck and held onto her head.

“Don’t worry about your hair, sweetheart. It will grow back,” he said, running his hands through her hair, pushing the long top out of her eyes. A sob broke through and the tears started to fall. How would anyone even know where she was or that she was even gone? She’d run out on Liam. Who knew if he noticed her bike by now? She didn’t know how long it had been since Jon had taken her.

“I want you to know that I forgive you,” he said, rubbing his hands along her legs. “I know we can work on things together. We can still be together. There’s no one to keep us apart now. I’m going to take the gag off now, so I need you to behave. Can you behave for me?”

She nodded her head and he pulled the fabric down and out of her mouth. As soon as she closed her jaw, she opened it back up and let out the most ear-piercing scream imaginable.

“HELP ME!” she shouted. “HE” — Her scream was cut off by a backhand to the face. Her already fuzzy vision got even more cloudy as the ringing in her ears picked up and her heart pounded in her chest like it was trying to escape. She tasted blood in her mouth from where she bit her tongue. He shoved the gag back into her mouth.

“You always have to push, Juliette. You can never just be happy and listen to me!” He grabbed the sides of her face in a punishing grip, squeezing until she knew there would be fingerprints all over her face. “But I’ll be sure to teach you just how to be the most obedient woman on the planet,” he said, spittle flying into her face as he glanced down at her body. She twisted and turned, not wanting him anywhere near her.

“I’m going to take the gag out and this time, if you scream I’ll make sure that you never scream again. Do you understand?”

She nodded this time and he removed the gag from her mouth. Sucking in a deep breath, she held her lips tight together, fighting against the urge to defy him.

“Good girl,” he said, smoothing his hand down the side of her face. The urge to retch was ever-present as she pushed down the fear coursing through her veins.

* * *

He’d been driving for hours and was slowly going insane waiting for Luc to get back to him with something—anything. He didn’t know where he was going, but sitting still made him want to destroy something. Rox was out there somewhere with that psycho ex of hers and she was hurt. This was his fault. If he hadn’t lied to her and hadn’t tried to cover it up, she wouldn’t have stormed out and run right into the clutches of Jon.

His phone vibrated on the dashboard where he’d stashed it once it had become useless in searching for Rox. His heart thudded. It was Luc!

“Luc, please tell me you have good news!” he said, pulling off to the side of the road.

“I do. I’m sending the tracking program to your phone right now. It was registered to his parents, so it took us a little bit longer to run it down. You should have the information now and can coordinate the location. Are you sure he has Rox?”

“I’m sure.”

“I’m sorry, man. Any word from the cops?”

“I called them earlier, but with the information I have, there’s no way for me to give them anything to search for her with.”

“Well call them now and get them to that location. I don’t want you taking on a psycho all by yourself. I’ll call them, but I’m not waiting for them, if I get there first. I love her, Luc, and if anything happened to her...” He had to stop. His throat closed just thinking about the possibility that he might not be able to save her. He couldn’t finish that out loud. He didn’t know what he’d do if anything happened to her. If he was too late.

Opening the information Luc sent over, he hung a wide U-turn and raced back down the road, gunning the engine, once the location popped up. The tracking data was showing exactly where the phone was now. Making a hasty call to the cops, he sped ahead, trying to get to Rox as quickly as possible.

Checking on his current position, the location wasn’t far from where he was now. He might have even driven by the cabin hotel. He’d stop in and ask at the front desk, but without a good description of Jon, he was sure the person behind the desk wasn’t going to give him any information. And he doubted that this was the type of place known for their crack record-keeping and surveillance. The gravel crunched under the tires as he pulled past the main cabin and rolled around to one of the farthest from the main road.

His heart beating a mile a minute, he turned off his headlights and slowed to a crawl, not wanting to spook Jon. As soon as he slammed the shifter into park, Liam leapt out and crouched low, rushing toward the cabin door. Not wanting to have Jon do anything crazy, he got down and peeked in the window to see if he could see Rox.

What he saw made him want to break through the glass and destroy Jon with his bare hands. Rox was sitting up in the bed with her arms wide across the headboard. He could see fingerprints on her face, which meant Jon had already put his hands on her. She pulled on the ties on her arms, trying to frantically pull them loose, but he couldn’t see Jon. He’d found her, against all odds, he’d made it to her while she was still relatively unharmed. He needed to get her out of there and he needed to make sure that Jon never came anywhere near her again.

From the side of the bed, Jon appeared, covered in blood. That was all he needed to see. It was now or never. Moving to the door, he backed up and dug his feet in to get a running start. Pumping his legs as hard as he could, he slammed his shoulder into it with everything he had.