256

256
  Chapter 256
  Riley Burke  
  ~•~
  As I lay in the bathtub, my mind wandered back to Mason.
  We still didn’t speak after he walked me to my car a few days ago. I couldn’t help but wonder if he had realized that I was missing. 
  Was he also trying to look for me or has he completely forgotten about me? Everything happened so fast and it was baffling how I ended up being kidnapped. 
  It felt so surreal. 
  I couldn’t live like this anymore, I needed to find a way to escape. I had a life and it wasn’t fair for someone to just trap me because he was in his feelings about a breakup that happened so many years ago. 
  I was curious to see how my mother would react when she found out that it was Maxim who took me. My father would be so upset too. He didn’t like Maxim either. 
  But I still wasn’t sure if my father would even want to talk to me anymore. I disrespected him and caused so much trouble for them.  
  Maybe if I had listened and agreed to stay away from Mason, I wouldn’t have been in this mess I was in right now. 
  If only it was possible to go back in time, I would do it, so I would be able to fix everything.
  My body was still hurting and I was still hungry. 
  But after taking a shower, I felt a little bit refreshed. 
  I didn’t have much time, so I only spent a few minutes in the bathroom. When I came out of the bathroom, I opened the wardrobe and saw clean clothes as the man had mentioned. 
  I also saw a big container of moisturizer I was meant to use on my body. When I was done moisturizing my body, I changed into the clothes they had left for me. 
  Whoever brought the clothes knew nothing about fashion. 
  I looked at my reflection in the mirror and shook my head. As if the skinny jeans weren’t bad enough, they had to give me an ugly sweater too. 
  If I wanted to escape, the skinny jeans were going to slow me down. I couldn’t take any risks. I decided to change into the knee-length shorts that were there. 
  When I was done, I sat on the bed as I waited for the man to return. I didn’t have anything to do, so I was just staring at the walls, alone with my thoughts. 
  I wished I had access to my phone. 
  I felt bad when I thought about Amanda. I was leaving her house when I got kidnapped and she would feel like everything was her fault. 
  I could only imagine how she was feeling right now. 
  I also thought about Jason and Rowan. Did they also think that I ran away? Were they looking for me or blaming me for leaving? 
  Tears welled up in my eyes but I couldn’t even bring myself to cry. There was no point crying. Instead of being sad, I needed to think of a way to escape. 
  It seemed impossible but I had this feeling that I was going to do it. I couldn’t stay in Maxim’s trap anymore. I had a life to live. 
  I had no idea how many minutes had passed because I didn’t have a watch or clock in the room. I wasn’t sure when the man would return, so I stood up from the bed and started looking around the room. 
  I rummaged through the drawers and closets to see if I could find anything. I needed to have a clue on where I actually was. 
  What if I wasn’t even in New York anymore? 
  Shit! Maxim was from Russia. What if he had taken me there? 
  I hope I was just assuming things and it wasn’t true. 
  After searching for a few minutes, I didn’t find anything. It didn’t even seem like anybody was living in the room. Everywhere was empty. 
  Letting out a frustrated sigh, I sat down on the bed again. 
  A few moments later, I heard footsteps walking in the direction of the room. There was a brief pause before the door finally swung open. 
  It was the man, he finally returned. 
  “Follow me.” He gestured for me to stand up from the bed. 
  I rolled my eyes and let out a gloomy sigh before getting up from the bed. As I stepped outside, he started walking down the hallway. 
  My heart raced as I followed him. I had no idea where he was taking me or why he was even taking me somewhere. I could only hope that he wasn’t going to hurt me. I was too weak to handle any more pain. 
  When we got to the stairs, he paused and looked at me, as though he was contemplating on what to do. He watched me in silence and I stared right back at him. 
  After a few minutes, he didn’t say anything. 
  I decided to break the awkward silence. “What? Why are you staring at me?” I asked, glaring at him. 
  His expression remained untraceable as usual. “If you want to live, you have to follow the exact instructions.” His voice was barely above a whisper. 
  His words sent chills down my spine. 
  What instructions did they want me to follow? Why was he threatening me? Was there a possibility that I would end up dead? 
  My body trembled with fear as we continued walking downstairs. 
  I didn’t want to follow him to wherever he was taking me. I needed to think of something quick. And smart. I had never been kidnapped and I never thought I would be kidnapped. 
  So I wasn’t prepared for something like this. 
  I was just a little girl and there were probably a lot of huge men. If I tried to escape, they would just catch me in a split second. 
  I frantically searched for an escape plan but my mind was a jumbled mess. 
  I could only hope for a miracle. 
  As we got downstairs, he continued walking to the front door. 
  My heart skipped a bit. Why was he taking me outside? 
  Just as he opened the front door, a loud noise came from the compound. It was as if an alarm went off. I covered my ears because the sound was too loud. 
  The man, on the other hand, abandoned me and started running. 
  I stood there, confused about what was happening. 
  Why did he leave me? What triggered the alarm? Or was there a fire?