Chapter 87 Waking up
CAITLYN'S POV
My head was pounding. That was the first thing I noticed when I started to wake up. A dull throbbing pain that seemed to pulse with every heartbeat. I tried to open my eyes but they felt so heavy like someone had glued them shut.
I forced them open anyway. Slowly. The light was too bright at first and I had to squint against it. When my vision finally cleared I saw a ceiling. A familiar ceiling, it was white with crown molding and expensive-looking.
No. This could not be right.
I turned my head slowly because it hurt to move and looked around the room. My stomach dropped, I knew this room. I knew every inch of it, the four-poster bed I was lying on. The heavy curtains on the windows, the dresser in the corner. The door that led to the bathroom.
This was the bedroom at the Hayes estate. The bedroom I had shared with Collin when we were married. The bedroom I had escaped from months ago.
I was back. He had brought me back here.
"No," I whispered. My voice came out rough and scratchy. "No this cannot be happening."
I tried to sit up but my body would not cooperate. Everything felt heavy and sluggish, like I was moving through water. What had they done to me?
Then I remembered. The cabin. The attack. Jason is bleeding on the floor, being dragged to the car. Collin was twisting my wrist, and the car was driving away into the darkness.
After that everything was blank. I must have passed out at some point. Or maybe they drugged me. Either way, I had lost time and now I was here. Back in the nightmare I thought I had escaped.
"Jason," I said out loud. Tears started falling down my face. "Jason where are you?"
He had been shot. There was so much blood. Was he still alive? Had Collin's men killed him after they took me? Or had they left him there to bleed out alone?
I put my hand on my stomach. The baby was moving. Still alive. Still okay. At least there was that.
I tried to sit up again and this time I managed it. My head spun and I had to close my eyes for a second until the dizziness passed. When I opened them again I looked down at myself.
I was wearing different clothes. Not the pajamas I had been wearing at the cabin. Someone had changed me into a nightgown. A white silk nightgown that I recognized as one of the ones Collin had bought me when we were married. One that I had left behind when I escaped.
The thought of someone undressing me while I was unconscious made my skin crawl. Had it been Collin? One of his men? I felt violated just thinking about it.
I swung my legs over the side of the bed slowly. Everything hurt. My head. My wrist where Collin had twisted it. I'm back from being shoved into the car. Even my stomach felt tender.
I stood up carefully and immediately the room tilted. I grabbed the bedpost to steady myself and waited for everything to stop spinning.
"Easy," a voice said from the doorway.
I looked up and there he was. Collin Hayes. Standing in the doorway of the bedroom as he owned it. Which I guess he did. He was wearing an expensive suit, perfectly pressed. His haiir perfectly styled. Like this was just another normal day for him.
"You," I said. My voice was shaking with anger and fear. "What did you do to me?"
"I gave you something to help you sleep," Collin said. He walked into the room slowly. "You were very upset in the car screaming and fighting. It was giving me a headache, so I had my doctor give me a sedative."
"You drugged me," I said.
"I helped you rest," Collin corrected. "You need your rest. You are pregnant after all."
"Where is Jason?" I demanded. "What did you do to him?"
"Your boyfriend is no longer your concern," Collin said.
"Is he alive?" I asked. "Tell me. Is he alive?"
"For now," Collin said. "Though I cannot imagine he will last much longer with the amount of blood he lost."
"You shot him," I said. "You shot him and then you left him there to die."
"I did," Collin agreed. He did not sound sorry at all. "He should not have gotten in my way. This is what happens to people who interfere with my business."
"He was trying to protect me," I said. "That is not interfering. That is being a decent human being."
"A decent human being," Collin repeated. He laughed. "Is that what you think he is? A decent man who saved you out of the goodness of his heart?"
"Yes," I said. "That is exactly what I think."
"Then you are more naive than I thought," Collin said. "Cross helped you because he wanted to use you to get to me. He has been trying to bring me down for years. You were just a convenient tool."
"That is not true," I said. "Jason loves me."
"Love," Collin said. He said the word like it tasted bad. "There is no such thing as love Caitlyn. There is only power, control, and possession. Cross wanted to possess you to hurt me. That is all."
"You are wrong," I said. "You are wrong about everything."
I tried to take a step toward the door but my legs gave out. I would have fallen if Collin had not caught me. His hands on my arms made my skin crawl.
"Let me go," I said trying to pull away.
"Sit down before you hurt yourself," Collin said. He guided me back to the bed and I did not have the strength to resist.
I sat down heavily. My head was still spinning and I felt nauseous. Whatever drug they had given me was still in my system.
"Why did you bring me here?" I asked. "Why not just kill me in the forest as you planned?"
"Because I changed my mind," Collin said. He sat down in the chair across from the bed. "I decided that killing you quickly was too merciful. You deserve to suffer first."
"So you brought me back here to torture me," I said.
"Not torture," Collin said. "Reeducate. You seem to have forgotten your place. Forgotten who you belong to. I am going to remind you."
"I do not belong to you," I said. "I never did."
"Yes you do," Collin said. His voice was calm but there was steel underneath it. "You are my wife. My property. And you will remember that before this is over."
"We are not married anymore," I said. "I left you. That marriage is over."
"The marriage is over when I say it is over," Collin said. "And I have not said that yet."
"You cannot keep me here," I said. "People know where I am. Rourke knows. Jason knows. They will come looking for me."
"Rourke does not know where you are," Collin said. "And Cross is probably dead by now. Even if he is not he cannot help you. He is too weak. Too injured. By the time he recovers, you will already be dead."
"Then why not just kill me now?" I asked. "Why go through all this?"
"Because I want you to understand," Collin said. "I want you to know
w exactly why this is happening. I want you to see that everything about to happen is your fault."