Chapter 17: Chapter Seventeen

It had been a while since Ivan and Alaric Vaughn had stepped out of the warehouse, leaving Saffron alone, unsupervised.

Being alone scared her a lot more than when she had been facing the duo because when they were within her line of sight, she could at the very least deduce what they wanted to do to her, even without them verbally stating their intentions.

She had always been good at reading people.

It was a useful skill that she had honed in the early stages of her life when she was old enough to know the difference between a stable parent and the deadbeat one that she got.

Sweeping her gaze once again over the spare warehouse, she searched for an abandoned weapon or anything that could of use to her in getting out of her predicament but came back empty.

With a dejected sigh, she slumped back onto the chair, the cool metal slab biting into her skin and causing her to shiver.

In all of her eighteen years, this was the first time that she had felt relatively cold, in terms of temperature, and also the first time that she had involuntarily shivered due to said temperature.

If that didn’t speak about how dire her situation was, Saffron had no idea what would.

She had to get out of here ASAP. There was no time to waste. She couldn’t wait for the two psychos to come back and finish her off—she had to act quick, right this moment.

Think fast, Saffron. How can you get out of these bindings?

Another sweep of the warehouse—in case she had missed anything during the first sweep—came back fruitless.

Another sigh erupted from her lips, just as an idea came to mind. Before she could stop and analyze the pros and cons of the bizarre idea or talk herself out of doing it, Saffron began to rock herself sideways against the metal chair, from left to right and right to left, over and over again, until finally, there was a give between the chair and the floor it had been cemented to.

There was a loud crashing sound, and Saffron found herself toppled on the dirty floor, still bound and helpless.

The sound echoed through the empty space, making her freeze, as the sound reverberated through the pain that had blossomed against her temple.

Her teeth had clashed together too, blood dripping down her lips.

Swallowing past the pain, she closed her eyes and began to breathe slowly, praying and hoping that Alaric and Ivan were far away and that neither of them had heard the loud crashing sound.

When no one came bursting through the only available door in the warehouse to check out the noise or thwart her pitiful escape plan, Saffron let out a sharp exhale of relief.

She laid on the floor for a moment, not caring about the dirt, as she regulated her breathing, grateful that she hadn’t been discovered.

Yet, a dark voice whispered into her head, making her freeze in fear. Because unlike the voice she was so used to, this new one held a tinge of menace and violence that made her want to curl up into a ball and hide herself away from it.

But there was no escaping it because it was literally inside of her head. All she could do was ignore it, for the time being. She was also good at that.

Ignoring the pain that still vibrated through her head, and the cold new voice in her head, Saffron wriggled on the ground, trying to get blood to flow in her legs and hands once again.

But her struggling only made whatever they had tied her with tighten even further and bite into her skin. From the sting she felt on her wrists and the liquid she felt dripping on her arm, Saffron knew that whatever it was had just cut into her skin.

She huffed in frustration, as she put an end to her struggle, knowing that she couldn’t continue if she wanted to get out of this hellhole with her hands still firmly attached to her body.

But there was also no escaping if her hands were still tied together behind the metal chair, unless she could somehow be able to escape while she was still bound to it, which was as impossible as pigs flying.

A tear slipped from her eyes when it became clear that she could not escape.

Helpless and in pain, with no possible rescue, Saffron knew that it was only a matter of time before Ivan or Alaric Vaughn returned to either torture or finish her off.

It was funny how she had never thought of dying until she had been facing the Alpha. And even then, there was a part of her that hadn’t fully come to terms with the fact that the Alpha could actually end her life.

But now as she lay on the floor, all she could think of was the various ways that she could die.

And how no one would miss her if she were gone. Her mystery guy that she had briefly entertained the idea of being her salvation had betrayed her in the worst way imaginable.

But it wasn’t even a betrayal, to be honest, and Saffron knew that. But there was also no rationalizing what she felt or the huge gaping wound that seeing him coming undone while another woman had been sucking him off had left in her.

Now, she was going to die alone, in a dirty and abandoned warehouse, at an unknown location, just because she had been too curious about what the Alpha and his men were up to.

The saying that curiosity killed the cat was indeed true because there she was, about to die because of her stupid curiosity.

Resigned, Saffron closed her eyes and began counting down the seconds until either or both of the men returned, accepting the fact that she was going to die.

Perhaps dying now would be a much kinder fate to her than the life that awaited her back at the Alpha’s compound because she knew that if they didn’t kill her, then the Alpha was never going to let her go.

And knowing how cruel he was, Saffron knew that he was going to choose to spare her life, if only to watch her die a little every day.

‘You aren’t dying,’ the voice stated, choosing to talk to her for the first time since watching that scene in the woods.

Saffron couldn’t find it in her to even be still angry with it; she was just glad that she wouldn’t be alone anymore.

‘At least not today,’ it added, making tears of appreciation spring in Saffron’s eyes, even though she knew that the voice was only trying to comfort her.

What happened in the next few seconds, Saffron could not explain. But one moment she was laying on the floor, bound to the chair, and lamenting over her ordeal, and the next, she was standing, her hands free but bloody, and the metal chair squeezed all over as if it had been run over by a giant truck.

Not wasting time thinking of how that was possible, Saffron ran straight out of the warehouse, without meeting anyone much to her surprise.

She stopped at the clearing, her head dizzy, as she took in the open expanse of space before her, and the woods that seemed to beckon her forward.

Without another thought, she ran for the woods, taking her first step towards freedom.

As she ran, she could swear that there were eyes following her, but she didn’t stop to think about that or how there had been no guard outside the warehouse waiting for her.

A part of her wondered if the duo wasn’t toying with her. But another part of her, the part which had longed for freedom for so long, didn’t care about analyzing the situation. All that mattered to her was escaping.

She ran with all the energy that she could muster, without looking back even once, thinking that if she stopped even for a moment, they would get her.

Tree branches tore at her dress and skin, opening up new wounds, but it didn’t stop her.

What did stop her eventually was a brick wall that she had mindlessly run into.

Goosebumps erupted up her skin, turning into a full-body shiver, as she raised her head, to gaze into the cold dark eyes that whispered about long tortures and violent nightmares.

Alaric Vaughn.

He caught her.

His lips tilted up into a cruel smile as he held her in place, staring down at her as if he was imagining all the wicked and painful ways that he could break her.

It was only then that Saffron knew that she was truly and utterly screwed and not in the best way.