Chapter Eight SCARLETT

Chapter Eight

S CARLETT

Then

A day later in the basement

My entire body hurt. My insides were on fire, and I felt as if I’d been ripped to the core. I was bleeding. The room was dark, and I was glad for it. I wanted to hide, close my eyes, and let the darkness consume me.

I rolled on my side and curled into a ball, and my stomach tumbled. I was aware of the drip, drip of a pipe and the sound of what resembled breathing. But the inky blackness made it impossible to sort out shapes.

It took several more seconds before I tried to sit up again. This time, I was steadier and my stomach more settled. My left leg felt heavy, and when I ran my hands down my leg, I skimmed the cold, rough edge of metal encircling my ankle. I tugged on the manacle and realized it was attached to a chain. My panic rising, I gripped the chain and pulled. There was a little play, but the slack quickly vanished. I yanked again and the links snapped taut. And again. Panic tightened my chest, and it took effort not to scream.

I was still alive, still breathing, and I knew I would survive this. Somehow. Last night was the past. I had hope.

Finally, I rose on my knees and followed the chain with my hands until my fingers brushed against the brick wall. I pulled at the metal links, but as they continued to hold, my fear grew. Tears welled in my eyes.

I shifted my focus to the link around my ankle. I pulled on the edges, but the forged metal remained stubborn and unyielding.

Above me I heard floorboards creek. Was that him? Or had someone found me? I couldn’t risk not acting on the chance that help had arrived, so I scrambled to my feet and began to yell. I screamed until my throat was raw and my voice so hoarse, I didn’t recognize it.

I reached for the chain again, pulled and yelled until I was breathless. Finally, I collapsed onto the mattress. “Where am I?”

“You’re here now.”

The familiar girl’s voice, whispering from the shadows, startled me. Della. I stumbled to my feet and readied to fight whatever lurked in the darkness. “Where is here ?”

“His basement. He left me here to make sure you’re okay.” She tapped metal against brick. “I have water. You must be thirsty.”

I recoiled. “Get away from me. I don’t want anything from you.”

“You will.” She sounded tired, almost bored. “We only have each other now. You need to live so I won’t be alone again.”

Tanner had come to me in the dark, not bothering with a light beyond what leaked in the open door. I never realized she’d entered the room behind him. My face warmed with shame as I thought about how I’d begged and cried. Tanner had left me a couple of hours ago—maybe it had been longer—and I’d been lying here crying. And she’d said nothing.

“You should drink water,” she said.

“Fuck off, bitch. You put me here.”

“It’s not my fault,” she said quietly. “He makes me do these things.” She turned on a small flashlight, which glowed eerily under her pale, round face. Shoulder-length brown hair kinked with grease skimmed a strong jaw. Wearing an oversize T-shirt but nothing else, she looked more like a spirit than a human, and for a moment I thought I’d died.

Tears welled in my eyes. “Go away.”

“He does it to me, too.”

I tucked my knees toward my chest. “Is that why you tricked me? To get him off you?”

The flashlight shifted, and the light skimmed over the concrete floor toward me. She set a cup of water in front of me. “Drink it. I don’t know when he’ll give us water again.”

With the light shining, I winced, but as my eyes adjusted, I saw the cracks in the aqua ceramic cup with a broken handle.

The light clicked off. “I have to save the battery.”

I stared in the direction of that cup for an hour. I didn’t want anything from the bitch who had lured me to this hell. I wanted to leave. I wanted to hurl the cup against the wall. But the thirst grew stronger with each breath.

Della didn’t speak, but I could tell by her breathing she was awake. Finally, I became so thirsty, I fumbled for the cup and drank. The water was warm and had a metallic taste. And there was just enough to make me want more.

“Are you better?” she asked.

“What do you think?” I ran fingers over naked arms and cringed when they trailed over bruises. “Where are we? Where is here ?”

“ Here is a farmhouse in the country,” she said. A southern accent added a moody edge to her softly spoken words. “You can scream all you want, but no one will hear. This house is in the middle of nowhere.”

I glanced in the darkness toward the ceiling, more tears brimming in my eyes. No one was going to find me. “Why did you do it?”

Silence settled. “He made me.”

“You knew what was going to happen to me, didn’t you?”

“I did.”

Rage filled me. I screamed and jerked hard against my restraint until I could smell the coppery scent of blood. Warm liquid ran down my ankle and puddled around my foot.

My memory swung back to the sliver of light illuminating Tanner’s face twisted in an unholy mixture of desire and rage—a jackal ready to devour. There had been no hints of the lovely man I’d seen before. “I’ve seen his face. He didn’t hide from me. I know his name. Does that mean he’s going to kill me?”

“It means you must be smart. You must make him like you.”

Disgust soured in my belly. “Never.”

“Never say never.”

My head dropped back against the brick wall. Hopelessness rose in me, tightening my throat. I thought I was going to be sick. Closing my eyes, I drew in deep breaths. As my stomach calmed, my thoughts cleared. I had to get out of here. “How long have you been here?”

“A year, maybe.”

A year. “In this room?”

“Upstairs at first. Down here three or four months on and off.”

Three or four months. Suffering in this hole. “I want to kill you.”

Della’s laughter held no mirth. “Killing me won’t solve anything.”

“Maybe not, but I’ll feel better.”

“Then you’ll be all alone with Tanner. You don’t want that.”

“Do you have a chain on your ankle?”

“No. I’ve earned his trust,” she said. “If you want that chain to go away, you’ll have to do the same.”

I sat in silence. And then a comment she’d made circled back. “You said you don’t want to be alone again . Who else was here?”

“There is another girl.”

Breathless, I stared toward the sound of her voice. “Where?”

“Upstairs somewhere.”

“Is she a prisoner, too?”

“Yes. But Tanner said he’d let her go if I got you.”

“And you believed him?”

Another girl. Most likely chained and hurting. Della had known this when she smiled at me on that street corner. “You could’ve run! Why didn’t you find a cop? There were people around the theater. They would’ve helped you and saved all of us.”

“They couldn’t have protected anyone. He’s very clever.”

I ignored that hard truth. “You didn’t even try!”

“We have to play the long game if I’m going to save us all.” Della’s voice softened.

“Long game? I’m not rotting here having him hurt me again and again like he did last night.”

“He’s done it to me thousands of times. It wasn’t always violent, and if you manage him right, he can be nice.”

“Manage him? He’s a monster.”

“Don’t be mad at me. We’re all we have. We must be friends.”

“I don’t have to be your friend.”

Della was silent for a long moment. “You’ll be my friend. You’ll see.”