grip my chin hard, turning me to face him.
“Behave or I’ll be forced to correct your behavior,” he orders, his voice stern and in control.
“Correct my behavior? You’ve lost your fucking mind. You had Jake kidnap me and then you killed him!” I shout, kicking out my legs wildly, my panic overruling my common sense. “You won’t get away with this—”
“Sure I will,” he cuts me off with an indulgent smile. “I always do.”
I look at him then, really look at him and the wild gleam in his eye that he tries to hide but is always there just below the surface.
“You didn’t just leave the notes, did you? Jake didn’t kill those girls, you did,” I whisper.
“I let Jake have his fun, but their last breaths were mine. It was me who needed to grant them absolution.”
A sob escapes when I think of the terror those poor girls must have felt. The impotence of their situation dawning on them like it is on me, before the utter helplessness suffocated them, their screams and pleas going unheard.
“Shh,” Garrett coos, stroking my hair, which makes my skin crawl and my body start to shake.
“They didn’t mean anything to me. I just needed something to keep me going until I could make you mine,” he whispers.
“I don’t understand any of this,” I tell him, remembering reading something somewhere that said to try and get your abductor to talk to you. If they cared for you, it would be harder for them to hurt you, in theory, anyway.
“You don’t need to understand, Raindrop. I’ll take care of you, just like I always have,” he answers bizarrely.
I don’t move an inch. Fuck, I barely breathe as he strokes his fingers through my hair before reaching down and picking up the tray of food on the floor.
“Can you take these off? They’re hurting me,” I ask softly, yanking on the handcuffs so they clank.
His smile disappears as he dumps the tray on my lap, the apple rolling off and bouncing onto the floor as he leans down over me.
“Do you think I’m a stupid man, Reign?”
Yes, I fucking do.
“N-no, Garrett,” I answer meekly, hoping I can play subservient long enough to catch him off guard. Right now it isn’t much of an act, my natural defiance is struggling under the need to curl up and cry my eyes out. Fear doesn’t make you weak, logically, I know that, but if I give in to the debilitating terror that coats my tongue and scratches at my skin, I’ll never make it out of here alive.
“Why would you ask me to remove the cuffs when we both know you would only do something stupid like try to run. I really don’t want to hurt you, Reign, but I will if I have to. Just be patient. Once you’ve been cleansed, you’ll see, everything will be better.”
Cleansed? Oh God, I do not like the sound of that. Please, please, God, let someone find me.
“Now eat. I have things I need to prepare.” He reaches over and lifts the sandwich and holds it out for me to bite, so I do, knowing that earning his wrath while I’m cuffed is not a smart move.
I take a few more bites, but I know if I eat any more of the peanut butter sandwich, I’ll just throw it back up again.
“I’m sorry, I can’t eat anymore. I have an upset stomach.”
He looks like he wants to argue but just sighs as he places it back on the tray and lifts the water bottle. He opens it and holds it to my lips, but I shake my head, not trusting him not to have done something to it. He pinches my nose, making me gasp, and when I do, he tips the water into my mouth, spilling some, until he forces my head back, leaving me no choice but to swallow or choke.
“Why do you always have to make things more difficult?” He sighs, tossing the now empty bottle on the tray before picking it up and heading out of the room.
I take a relieved breath, but it’s short-lived when he returns moments later with a long white gown, like something a virgin sacrifice would wear in one of those B-rated horror movies.
“Now, let’s get you ready,” he says with a broad smile as he walks back over to me. I try to protest, but the room starts to spin, making him blur in and out of focus.
“What…” My slurred voice cuts