His voice softened, but the anger behind his threats didn’t lessen. “You’ve punished me enough for your clumsiness when you fell down the stairs. It wasn’t my fault. All of this is your fault, but I can make it better.”
“It will never be better, David. The only way you know how to love is to hurt.”
“Don’t you think you’ve hurt me by staying away? You’re all I want,” he raged.
“I won’t go back!” she screamed at him, hoping, for once, he’d hear her and understand.
“Yes you will.” He slapped her again and her head snapped to the left, but she stood her ground with the help of his hand clamped to her throat.
“No. I won’t go back.”
“Say it. Say you’ll come back,” he shouted.
“No!”
Barely able to speak now, shivering, the back of her head throbbed, and now her lip bled down her chin.
Oh, God, Jack. Please come get me. Help me.
He slapped her again. Again, her head twisted to the left, spit flying out of her mouth, landing in the dry leaves. He grabbed her hair into his fist. “Say it. You love me. Only me. We’ll be happy together. Don’t make me hurt you. Come back.”
“Never.”
She rose to her toes and slammed her forehead into his. He fell backward. Her momentum carried her forward and she landed with a thump on top of him. Her face pressed to his chest. She straddled his waist, gained her feet, and pulled back, her head knocking into his chin as he rose with her. His teeth came together with a loud crack. He grunted in pain. With her hands tied behind her back, she used the only weapons she had, her throbbing head and her feet.
“Bitch.”
Her shoulder hit him square in the chest and she knocked him off his feet again. Nearly falling herself, she stumbled forward, caught her balance and tried to run. His hand snaked out and he grabbed her ankle, toppling her to her knees and down onto her belly. Her hip hit a sharp rock.
“Ow!” She kicked and screamed, “Let me go.”
She rolled out of his grasp, scrambled to her feet, and ran for the trees.
“I’ll never let you go!” he bellowed.
Almost to the trees, she felt him behind her and took a chance and glanced over her shoulder. Gaining fast, he raced toward her, the knife in his hand. She zigged to the right, but he grabbed her shirt and spun her around. Her shoulder knocked his left arm aside. Momentum and his rage propelled him forward, the knife plunging toward her chest. Adrenaline surging, she shifted to the side, but not far enough. The blade sliced her ribs, the handle catching on her elbow. When he pulled his hand free, the knife sliced her side again. White-hot pain exploded and blood flowed, sticking her shirt to her skin.
She kicked out with her left leg connecting with his knee, sending him down. Knocked off balance again, she fell with him. Unrelenting, he came after her, but she pulled her knees to her chest and he landed on her feet. She pushed as hard as she could, sending him stumbling backward. She rolled, shimmied her knees under her and sat back on her heels. The fight nearly out of her, she lunged to her feet and ran.
His footsteps pounded behind her, but she hit the trees, dodging branches and bushes. Out of control, the rage blinded him, stole his every rational thought. “I will kill you. When your mother inherits all the shares you took from me, I’ll convince her—in my own way—to give them back. I’ll take back what you stole.”
Gasping for air, she ran, but something inside her still wanted to stand and fight. She called over her shoulder, “I changed the will. Jack . . . gets . . . everything.”
Unsure she could really outrun him in her condition, she issued one last threat. “He’ll tear your company apart piece by piece, and there’s nothing you can do to stop him,” she huffed out.
“No!”
Everything inside her reverberated with the rage he expelled with that single word. She desperately needed to find someplace safe to hide. Out of his mind, if he caught her, he’d kill her.
Nothing but the sound of their footsteps pounding over the dried leaves. A branch hit her face. Without her hands, she couldn’t dodge all the low hanging limbs. No matter how fast she ran, he kept coming. Her side bled freely, her head throbbed, her