“I knew that, too. And you call yourself a Master.” Jeremy reared his foot back and kicked Julian straight in the gut, the sound a dull, resounding thud that filled the room.
Beside her, Val cried out. She begged to no one in particular.
“Shut up!” Jeremy screamed the words. He dropped the Taser and shoved his hands in his hair, pulling and pulling.
“He’s crazy,” Val said, tears streaking down her face.
“Really?” Dani couldn’t help the sarcasm. If she gave in to the terror, she would be utterly useless. Sarcasm seemed safer. “What gave it away?”
Jeremy stopped and turned to Dani. The resolute look on his face nearly stopped her heart. He was done playing.
God, she wasn’t done. She wasn’t done with anything. She wasn’t done with life or love or any of it. She couldn’t die when she’d just started to figure out who she was. But her body didn’t agree. She couldn’t find the strength to pull anymore.
“Let’s see how much of a fling you are.” Jeremy spun her around until she was facing the window. At least she could see the sunlight.
“Fucking leave her alone!” Julian’s shout was hoarse. Dani could hear him pounding at something, most likely the floor. He was giving away too much. He was panicking.
“Not a chance.”
Dani shivered as she felt hands on the waist of her pants. She remembered his promise from before. He was really going to do it. He was going to shove that damn prod where it shouldn’t go and turn it on. Dani’s previously numb hands shook. How could she take this?
“Please.” There was a shaking cry to Julian’s words, and her heart broke. He was begging for her. It would kill a piece of him.
“I begged you once, Julian. I cried and begged. It didn’t do me any good. It won’t do you any good, either. You don’t deserve forgiveness. You never have. There’s a reason you’re alone. There’s a reason terrible things happen to the people around you. I’m just helping the universe along, Master.”
Jeremy pulled at her jeans, and Dani struggled. Tears filled her eyes. Nothing was working. She stared at the woods in front of her. She’d played in them as a child. She’d run through the woods pretending she was somewhere else. She’d never go anywhere, never be anything now. She’d seen a future, and now it was all about to end. He was going to kill her.
And then she saw him. He stood alone in the woods, his back to a pine, his face peering out.
Finn.
Finn had come for her. Numb or not, Dani felt a thrill of hope run through her body. She couldn’t see him plainly, but she knew it was him. A brief thought played in her brain. It could be a trick. Her mind could have made up the sight of Finn, like a mirage of an oasis in the desert, but something made her discount the idea. Even if it wasn’t true, she had to fight. She had to fight until she took her last breath. If Finn was out there, he was waiting for his chance.
She saw the rifle in his hands. He couldn’t shoot Jeremy because she was in the way.
Why was he alone? Where were Leo and the police and the FBI?
Suddenly there was a loud popping sound, and Dani thought she just might know where they were. It sounded as though they were right outside the door.
“What the hell?” Jeremy jumped back.
Dani twisted her head to look at her kidnapper. He was staring at the door but made no move toward it. When she looked back at Finn, she could see the frustration in his stance. The rifle was up. He was waiting, but he couldn’t get a shot because she was in the way.
With a burst of energy she was sure she didn’t have left, Dani pulled her legs up. She brought her knees to her waist. Every ounce of her weight hung by that small hook. Her wrists ached, and she thought she could see a thin line of blood beginning to trickle from where the zip tie bit into her hands. Dani groaned.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Jeremy asked.
“Dani,” Julian started to call out to her, but he was interrupted by a long groan that came from the ceiling and finally, blissfully, a loud crack. One minute Dani was suspended, and the next, her knees hit the hard floor, and she jerked forward. She looked up, and Jeremy stood over her, a scowl on his face. The cattle prod was in his hand.
“You think that will stop me, bitch? Nothing is going to stop me.”
“Don’t you fucking touch her again!” Julian shouted. Dani could see he was pulling at his own bonds. His face was chalky white, but he fought, trying to get to her.
Jeremy practically glowed as he pulled the prod up. “No one’s going to stop me. Even if that was the cops, they’re too late to save her. Live with that, Master.”
Dani gasped as the sound of glass breaking cut through the air. Jeremy stopped and looked down at his shirt. A slight stain broke through the fabric, blooming like a rose opening to the sun. He staggered back as he was hit again. Two to the chest. He fell to his knees with a low groan.
“Was that the cops?” Val asked breathlessly. “The cops are here?”
“No, it was Finn,” Dani replied, struggling to get to her knees. Her legs felt wobbly, but she started to crawl toward Julian. He stared at Jeremy’s body, his gray eyes colder than she could ever remember.
The front door flew open with a crack. Jimbo strode in, rifle at the ready.
“He dead?” Jimbo looked down at Jeremy’s body. One side of his mouth quirked up. “Damn, he took out both lungs. Remind me not to get on Finn’s bad side.”
“Dani!” Finn burst in and completely ignored the body on the floor. He was at her side in a second, pulling her up and taking her in his arms. “Baby, I was so worried.”
“Get Julian out.” Dani couldn’t take her eyes off of him. There was something about how still he was, how cold his eyes were that made Dani wonder if the worst wasn’t yet to come. He should be relieved, but there was nothing in the way Julian held himself that told Dani he was happy this was over. The rest of them were relaxed. Even Val was sagging into Jimbo’s arms as he pulled her off the hook. Julian was stiff, his gaze on Jeremy’s body as though he expected him to get up.
Finn kissed her cheek and helped her sit up. “Jim, you got a knife?” Jimbo snorted as he reached into his pocket. “Yeah, I know. Dumb question.”
Finn quickly sawed through the bindings on Dani’s hands and moved toward Julian. Dani got to her wobbly feet, rubbing her wrists. She bit back a groan as the blood started flowing again. The pain meant she was alive, so she would take it gratefully.
The minute Finn pulled Julian’s hands free, Dani tried to get into his arms. If anyone needed a hug, it was Julian. She remembered all the terrible things Jeremy had said to him. At least her torture had been purely physical. Jeremy had been ruthless in his mental torture of Julian.
“Are you okay?” Dani asked, trying to get close.
“I’m fine.” Julian turned to her, his face was a blank mask. “You call the police now, unless Finn brought them with him.”
Dani shrank back. He might need a hug, but every signal he gave off told her he didn’t want one from her.
“Here, let me help you up, Sir.” Finn held out a hand.
Julian stared at it. “I’ll manage on my own.”
There was the sound of sirens and cars squealing up the road.
Jimbo held Val in his arms as he looked out the window. “Looks like the cops finally figured it out. Damn, I think that’s Jack Barnes’s truck. I think that kid there should be glad Finn killed him. I don’t think he would have liked what Barnes would have done with him.”