Just as she reached her goal, something heavy hit her from behind, and she hit the ground, hands first. Excruciating pain shot up her left wrist and arm. “Hurt,” she said. Gasping for breath, she turned to see him standing over her, a triumphant sneer on his face.
“You should have never tried to run, Kendall,” he said coldly, grabbing her by the hair and yanking her up. “You belong to me, remember that.”
With her hair still in his fist, he dragged her toward the cabin. What would he do to her if he got her inside? She didn’t want to find out. She rushed at him and fought him with everything she had, clawing at his face as she tried to bring her knee up to where she could hurt him the most.
He laughed cruelly as he sidestepped, avoiding her knee. “You’re only making it more exciting for me when you fight me.” His grip on her hair was unyielding and brutal, and he dragged her across the yard and into the cabin. Once inside, he let go of her hair, turned back to the door and locked it with a key.
He held up the key for her to see. “Both doors are locked with this, so you can’t get out, and the windows all have bars on them.” He put the key in his pocket. “You can’t escape.”
She stepped backward, putting distance between them. “What do you want with me?”
“Right now, I want you to go in the first bedroom on the right and put on the clothes laid out for you on the bed.”
What the hell? “No.”
He sighed. “You can change your clothes in private, or I’ll do it for you.”
Afraid he would do just that, she glanced behind her. The entrance to a hallway was between the living room and the dining room. At least, she’d be alone if she went to the bedroom.She could try to find a weapon of some kind. If she could knock him out, she could get that key in his pocket.
“I need to use the bathroom.”
“There’s one attached to your room.”
Her room was inherhouse, not this one. She didn’t want to turn her back on him, so she backed up to the hallway entrance before turning around. He watched her with an intensity that made her skin crawl. John, as he’d told her to call him, took a step as if to follow her.
“I won’t change in front of you.”
“Then you’d best go do it yourself. You have ten seconds before I rip off the clothes you’re wearing.”
She blinked. What kind of sick game was this?
Did she have a choice? Still afraid to turn her back to him, she stepped backward until she was in the room. And there wasn’t a lock on the door. She pressed her forehead against the wood. Cooper had to know she was missing by now and was looking for her. She didn’t know how he’d ever find her, so it was going to be up to her to escape.
She scanned the room, looking for a chair she could put under the knob, but there wasn’t one. The only furniture was a white dresser and a bed. That was it. The pink bedspread and white lacy canopy was something a young girl would love. Did he have a daughter?
She walked to the bed, and when she saw what she was supposed to put on, her stomach somersaulted, and she swallowed hard. The pink dress with ruffles was something she would have worn as a seven-year-old, except it was in adult size. Next to the dress was a pair of Mary Jane shoes and white socks with a row of lace. He was trying to make her a little girl again. She couldn’t put these clothes on.
The dress mocked her, a cruel reminder of a day she’d had nightmares about for years. Her hands shook as she reached forit, the fabric feeling like lead in her grasp. She threw the dress and shoes across the room.
“So creepy.” She walked to the bathroom. That door didn’t have a lock on it either. She closed it anyway, did her business and, after washing her hands, she splashed water on her face. Back in the bedroom, she stared at the dress on the floor. What would happen if she refused to put it on? Did he mean it when he’d said he would do it if she didn’t?
The idea of him undressing her was motivation enough to do it herself. When she unbuttoned her jeans, pain shot from her wrist up her arm. She held her hand out. Her wrist was swollen but she could move her hand around, so it wasn’t broken. Using only her good hand, she managed to change into the dress and Mary Janes.
In no hurry to leave the room, she sat on the edge of the bed. She was both terrified and creeped out. So many questions. Why had he come back for her after all these years? Why did he make her dress up like a little girl? What did he plan to do with her? Was he the man who’d taken Livie? He had to be.
The knock on the door startled her, and she yelped. When she didn’t answer, he opened the door. His gaze raked over her, and he smiled. His creepy smile and the weird glint in his eyes made her skin crawl. One thing she knew, he wasn’t right in the head.
She wanted to pull the cover from the bed and wrap herself in it, but she stood, trying to maintain some semblance of composure despite the fear coursing through her veins. “Why am I here? What do you want with me?”
“You’re here because you belong to me,” he said, his voice dripping with malice. “And as for what I want with you… Well, let’s just say I have big plans for you.”
She clenched her fists, trying to muster up some courage. “I don’t belong to you. You can’t just take someone and claim them as your own.”
His laughter filled the room, echoing off the walls. “Oh, but my dear, I can. And I have.”
Chapter 27
Cooper called Harlow’s cell phone while he waited for Grayson’s plane to land. He needed to talk to Livie. “Hey, Princess,” he said when Harlow gave her the phone.