Echo(84)

He knowingly cocks his head to the side, and in a moment of fright, I lurch forward and bolt. I’m not even allowed one second of attempted freedom as he immediately catches his arm around my waist, pulling me back.

I fight against him, but the moment his fingers latch around my neck, I freeze. His hand pats my pockets, and he pulls out the cheap disposable phone I’ve been using since I arrived here in Scotland. He flips it open and holds it out in front of my face while he has me in his chokehold with my back pinned against his chest. He then selects the last number that called and clicks it.

Putting it on speakerphone, he threatens, “Say one word and I’ll make you regret feeling like you ever had a chance of one-upping me.”

And then the ringing stops when the call is connected. I hold my breath, and Richard remains quiet as we both wait for the contact to reveal themselves.

A few seconds pass, and then my heart pumps hope when I hear the worried voice of the man I never gave this number to.

“Elizabeth?”

His accent wraps around my name, and it feels as if it’s wrapping around my body in a soothing hug. I want to speak, to defy Richard and yell out all the details of my surroundings so that Declan can find me, but instead, I hold tightly to my breath.

“Elizabeth, are you there?”

“She’s here,” Richard answers.

“Who’s this?”

“A man that has no conscience or limits,” he responds before letting me go and handing me the phone.

In an instant, after taking a couple steps away from Richard, he has his knife to my face as I slowly bring the phone to my ear. Richard then takes my trembling hand as I listen to the gravel in Declan’s voice, assuming Richard still has the phone, threatening, “My word is my mark, and if you lay a hand on her, I’ll—“

“AHHHHH!” I cry out in white, blistering pain, dropping the phone to the ground, and stumbling back on my feet. Gripping my wrist, I wail and stare in horror at the palm of my hand that Richard just dug his knife into, slicing it wide open. Blood is everywhere, oozing out as I hunch over and cry. Looking up, Richard now has the phone, but my body is in shock so that I can’t hear anything he’s saying to Declan.

I fall to my knees, forcing myself to calm down by taking in slow, staggering breaths, but all I’m doing is choking in shallow pants. I ball my hand into a tight fist, wincing through the burning sting as I hold my hand against my chest.

“Let that be a lesson,” Richard says as he walks over to me, no longer on the phone. “Don’t cross me again.”

He then reaches down and starts tugging at my clothes and shoving his hands in my pockets.

“You hiding anything else?”

“No.”

“Stand up,” he orders, and once I’m up on wobbly legs, he grabs the neckline of my top and slashes his knife through the fabric, cutting it right down the center.

Shoving the fabric away, he runs the flat of the blade over the swell of my left breast, and when he reaches my nipple, he flips the knife to its razor edge. I’ve lost all control of my body as it shakes violently.

My eyes are closed while he taunts, “Defy me now; I dare you.”

His words are an echo of Carl’s. He would provoke me the same way, daring me to push his limits, as if it was giving him my consent to hurt me even more.

“What are you doing?”

Flicking my eyes over Richard’s shoulder, I see Pike standing behind him.

“You’re forgetting everything I ever taught you,” he tells me. “You’re so much stronger than this * in front of you. Stop letting him think you’re weak.”

Shifting my eyes back to Richard, I take Pike’s lingering voice and inhale his words in a steady breath and release it slowly from my nose. I let my walls down with Declan, something I felt was right to do, but I forgot to bring them back up the moment Richard showed up. So with calculated intent, I mend the chink in my armor and steel myself to take whatever comes my way.

The knife continues to roam over my tits as I pull my strength together, and once I feel confident in my shield, I move my eyes to meet his.

“Can I take a piss now?”

“That’s my Elizabeth,” Pike encourages before Richard gives me a snide nod, and I turn to open the door.





THE CALL DISCONNECTED but not before I heard her blood-curdling screams. Focusing on the threats coming from the unidentified man on the phone was almost impossible when my only concern lay within the girl whose shrieking cries could be heard in the background. I demanded to know what he had done to her, but his priorities were in the instructions he was giving me.