Gathering up our towel, I’m just heading to the door when I hear Z’s steps on the front porch. Excited for his early return, I rush to meet him at the door. Maybe I can talk him into skinny-dipping with me.
It takes a long second for my brain to register the danger before I can get my feet to stop. My eyes lock with the stranger dressed all in black and for a split second I’m convinced he’s just a random hunter who got turned around in the dense forest and found our cabin thanks to the smoke billowing from the chimney. It was a risk Z and I had talked about, but knew we’d need a fire to stay warm.
But when a second man pushes in the room behind the first, this one with a pistol pointed directly at me, I know how wrong I was.
Our secluded haven quickly changes to my own remote hell as I spin and take off running for the back part of the cabin. I make it all the way to the bedroom but can’t get the door closed fast enough to keep them out. It only takes the briefest of struggles for the man with the gun to overpower me, barging into the bedroom and wrapping his arms around my torso, trapping my arms at my side.
“Don’t you fucking touch me!” I call out a warning.
“Trust me, we’re going to do a lot more than touch, bitch.” His laughter tells me all I need to know about how much trouble I’m in.
I put up a decent fight, but when the second guy bends down to wrap his hands around my ankles, things only get worse. He lifts my feet off the ground, making it impossible to continue kicking and although I keep wiggling like a fish at the end of a hook, there is no breaking free.
I do my best to push down the panic threatening to overwhelm me. Think… think… think.
Z’s gun. It’s in the main room sitting on the mantle of the fireplace. But how to get my hands on it?
“She’s a spunky little thing,” the guy at my feet tells his partner. “No wonder JV had problems keeping her in place.”
His mention of the man I killed shouldn’t be a surprise, but it is. I have no idea how the Luciano goons found me, but I need to outsmart them.
I take a deep breath and pray I know what I’m doing as I say, “JV does love to play rough, doesn’t he? But I’m not so sure he’s going to appreciate you putting your hands on his woman.”
When the men stand in stunned silence, I add, “I can’t wait to watch him kick both of your asses for daring to touch me.”
I’m taking a huge risk with my lies, but at this point, I have little to lose. If they are with the Luciano family, then they’re here to kill me. Anything I can do to slow them down in their efforts to give Z time to get back and rescue me is what I need to do.
“You’re lying. JV is dead,” the guy behind me says.
“Dead? What are you talking about? We just wanted to get away for a while. Get some privacy so he can make me scream nice and loud without having our neighbors at The Whitney calling security on us.”
I’m counting on the fact that anyone who knew JV at all would buy the idea that he likes to hurt his women. When the guy drops my feet to the floor, I have a brief moment of hope, but the guy behind me isn’t as fast to believe me.
“You’re bluffing,” he says, although sounding less confident than he had a moment before.
“Are you sure? I mean you can keep manhandling me, but don’t say I didn’t warn you when he gets back and kicks your ass.” I’m grateful I’m holding it together enough to hide my terror from my voice.
His arms loosen ever so slightly, giving me hope he might be buying my lies, but then he proves he isn’t as stupid as I’d hoped he was.
“You’re lying. JV would never come to a shithole like this, not even with a nice piece of ass like you. And he would never go this long without checking in with his father, especially in the middle of their expansion plans. I don’t buy it.”
“Suit yourself,” I say, trying to sound unconcerned. “We’ll just have to wait for him to get back so you can see, won’t we.”
“We aren’t waiting for shit,” his menacing voice informs me as he turns, lifting me so my feet are dangling, and starts walking us back to the main room in the cabin.
Terror hits hard. They are going to kill me right here and now. What will Z think when he returns to find my dead body? Will he miss me?