Chapter 20

CHAPTER 20

Autumn

"Welcome to your new home, darlin'," Tony says, finally releasing me into a massive room that looks like it could be in a fairy tale book. I mean, it even has the canopy bed with the flowy white curtains and the balcony door. There's even a fireplace with a sitting area and everything.

"I'd like to stay, but I've gotta run. There's a meeting I can't miss, but I'll be on the property."Tony comes up right behind me and strokes the backs of his fingers along my cheek.I step forward in hopes of getting away from him, but he grips my hip tight enough to cause me to wince. "Don't pull away from me, Autumn. Never pull away from me."

I nod, thinking it best not to fight him right now.

"Good girl," Tony coos, loosens his grip, and turns me until I'm facing him. He reaches up and runs a hand through my hair, tangling his fingers in it. "Now, don't think of running away. You'll have a guard on you at all times. I'll allow you to go through the house as long as you promise to be good."

"I'll be good," I whisper. There's no way in hell I'm not going to attempt to find a way off this property. I might not have paid attention to the turns and such while in the trunk of that car, but I surely did on the ride here. Getting away from him is a priority. No one knows where I am.

Tony stares at me intently for a long moment before nodding. "All right, sweetheart," he murmurs and plants his lips against mine. I struggle to keep myself still and allow him to kiss me.

Revulsion churns inside my stomach, and I'd love nothing more than to throw up on him, but I give him what he wants. A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do to get through the hard times. Or, in this case, survive a madman because that's exactly what Tony Decker is. How did I not ever see it before? He's completely out of his mind to think this is okay.

Finally, Tony pulls away from me, turns, and leaves me in the room, closing the door behind him.

I suck in a deep breath, release it, and repeat. My mind reeling with what happened . . . what's happening now. What I need to do is find a way out of here without Tony or his men catching me.

What I don't do is allow myself to wallow in the fact that I never saw this coming. Not once. He seemed normal, loving and caring. Maybe a bit overprotective, but never overly possessive. I definitely didn't see any hints of him being a psycho.

I walk over to the balcony and stare out, taking in the landscape. This place is beautiful. Well, it would be more so if it didn't look like a military base with all the buildings. What exactly Tony's into, I don't know. He said he was the one behind my kidnapping the first time, and there had been other women there. All of them in different states, from beaten to primped.

From my position, I can see when Tony steps outside. He looks up and grins at me as he waves. I don't wave back. Instead, I turn away, probably irritating Tony for not acknowledging him.

Scanning the room in more detail, I find he's set up pictures of the two of us from high school in a few places.

The one on the nightstand is from prom. It's that typical pose where he's towering behind me, his arms wrapped around my waist, the flowers on my wrist on display. That had been a good night. I'd given him my virginity that night. How ironically cliché is it? Then again, I'm not the only one who did it that night. How many people end up having sex on prom night for the first time? Some even end up knocked up.

There's another picture where the two of us took a trip to the beach. Avery had gone with us, along with a couple other friends. But in the picture, it was just Tony and me. He is sitting with me between his legs and I'm leaning back against him. His arms surrounding me, both of us smiling.

In the pictures, the two of us look like a normal couple, that was years ago.

Maybe we were just too normal?

Shaking my head at the thought, I head for the door. Time to see if there's a way for me to escape this place before Tony finishes with whatever it is he's planning.

I open the door only to find a man standing there dressed in a black fitted shirt and cargos, similar to what Tony and his friends were wearing.

"Who are you?" I blurt out.

"Your bodyguard," he answers and sticks a hand out in my direction. "Name's Stephen. Were you looking to go somewhere?"

"I was thinking of exploring the property," I tell him, testing the boundaries.

Stephen touches his ear and murmurs something, eyes never leaving me. He nods and drops his hand again. "I'm sorry, but I have orders that you're to stay in the house. Tony wants you safe while we have visitors here at base. It's for your protection."

Great. I'm confined to the house.

I guess I'll have to figure something else out since it looks like I won't be able to get out of here.

Without speaking to Stephen, I close the door in his face. There's no point exploring the house now.

Moving back toward the balcony, I lean against the banister. From here, I'll look, wait, and watch. Hopefully, something will come to me on how I can get out of here.

So far, the only thing I can think of is something I don't think I could ever do.

But I know if I don't do something, I'll face a fate I'm not down with. There's no way in hell I want Tony touching my body, let alone being inside me. I might have been with him once, but that was years ago.

Since then, my life has changed. I lost someone so profound to me I nearly lost myself. If not for Striker, I might have succeeded. From the moment he touched me, he's turned my world upside down. That doesn't even include the times I've longed for him before he even did so. The way he touches me, no one else will be able to repeat.

I know I fought him, but it made everything better in ways I didn't think possible. Now, I'm here and he's there. As much as I'll regret losing him, he has his sister.

I wouldn't change my decision for the world. But that doesn't mean I won't yield to Tony's delusions about what's going to happen between the two of us.

If it comes down to me allowing him inside me, I'll choose death because I know I won't be able to kill Tony. It's not in me to do it.

Two hours later and I think I might have lost my mind.

I guess it's a try-or-die type of plan that I came up with. If it doesn't work, I'm an idiot for thinking it would. But I have to try.

I gather up the sheets I'd taken off the bed and the ones I requested Stephen get for me. I used the excuse of not wanting to sleep on sheets I didn't know were clean or not and he believed me. I ripped the sheets up and tied knots into them, making a nice long rope. I can at least hope it works.

I didn't know how much longer I had before Tony would be back, so I needed to move quickly. I move to the balcony, drop the sheets, grab one end of the rope I made, and secure it to one of the beams closest to the side of the house. I figure I need to be able to scale downward using my feet. How hard can it be? I've seen it in movies, if actors can do it, so can I. Okay, that's not a reasonable excuse, but it's what I've got.

I pick up the length of the sheets and toss them over the side. Taking a deep breath, I check the secureness and climb over the balcony wall.

I make it halfway down when I hear a commotion and look down to see men running. But worse, I see Tony standing there, face twisted in anger.

How my luck ceases to exist.

"You might as well finish your little attempt at escape, darlin'," Tony yells up at me. The house being three stories, I'd made it through half the second, but I still had another story to go. "Hurry it up and get down here. We've got company coming, and I don't have time for this little tirade of yours."

He doesn't seem pleased with this company coming. It's then I hear it. The thundering sound of motorcycles. Could it be Striker? Is he coming for me? Did they find me?

I barely allow these thoughts to form. Mostly because the sheets jerk, and I glance up to see they weren't holding up against the balcony's concrete.

Swallowing tightly, I make a split-second decision and let the sheets go. I scream out as I fall. I land in the bushes and cry out in pain. It probably wasn't a good idea, but I'd rather be in pain with broken bones than give Tony the time he needs to take me or do whatever it is his intentions are. Unfortunately, I didn't break anything, or I don't think I did. I mostly scraped and bruised my body.

"What the fuck were you thinking?" Tony barks, coming to my side, gripping my arm, and jerking me out of the bushes and into him. "You shouldn't have done that. You could've killed yourself."

"Better than you touching me," I snap, earning a slap across the face.

"You'll pay for that, Autumn," he snarls and yanks me toward the Hummer and his men surrounding it.

"I won't pay for anything." Scratching and clawing at his hand on my wrist, I fight and kick out, doing everything I can to keep him from putting me in that vehicle. I know the moment he does, I'll disappear, and no one will find me.