Page 76 of Seduced in Ink

Guy let out a shocked laugh, only barely audible over the rain.

“You stupid bitch. Fuck you. Your mother promised me your money. Yet you had to go and get with that stupid artist and lie. That blue collar bitch. Who the fuck do you think you are?”

Madison didn’t understand Guy’s need or desperation. It didn’t make any sense to her.

He tugged her under a tree, his chest heaving, and while she wanted to run away, he still had the knife pointed at her. Plus, she was all turned around from the mud and the rain. She couldn’t even see the lodge anymore.

She didn’t know where they were going, or even if Guy had a plan, but she knew that she wasn’t going to make it out of this if she didn’t get away soon. She had to make a move. She had to find Aaron. She had to get help.

Aaron was out here somewhere, she reminded herself. Or at least he had been. Maybe he’d find her. But he may not even know that she was gone.

She was going to die out here if she wasn’t careful.

She tried not to panic, but the emotion was welling up inside her.

She let out a breath as Guy glared at her. She licked her lips, trying to calm herself so she could think. It wasn’t easy when all she wanted to do was scream and fight, but she knew she wasn’t strong enough. Not with this man.

She had to find a way out of this.

“So, you wanted to marry me? All of this for marriage?”

“I don’t give a shit about you. I need your fucking money. I made a few bad investments, and now the people I owe are sick of waiting. I need what you have to give to them. You were my meal ticket. But then you had to go and grow a spine. All of a sudden. What the fuck? Your mother told me that you would be pliant. That you would do whatever she and I said. That you—and your money—would be mine.”

Madison knew that her mother could be cruel sometimes, but she knew those weren’t her mother’s words. They were all Guy’s.

He had twisted her mom’s cruelty even more.

Madison had to get away.

She just didn’t know how she was supposed to do that, not with the knife he held on her, or the fact that she didn’t know where they were on the property.

He tugged on her again, trying to take her down the mountain. She shook her head, pulling back with all her might.

“We’re going to die out here. The storm’s too bad. We need to go back.”

“You bitch,” he growled. “You have to come with me. My car’s down here.”

“It’s not safe to drive,” she said, trying to make him see reason, even though she knew he wouldn’t.

“Stop trying to save yourself. We’re going to find someone to marry us, and then I’m taking what is rightfully mine. I had to follow you around like a little lovesick puppy, listening to whatever your dumb ass mother said, and all because I was promised something. And now I’m not getting it? No. I get what I want. I’ve always gotten what I want. And that means I’m getting you.”

He was deranged. He’d lost his fucking mind. She really needed to get away from him.

He tugged her to her feet, wrenching her arm again. But this time, she pulled away, thankful that he slid in the mud as he tried to swipe at her with the knife.

It was pure luck that the move worked, but she ran and kept running, her feet sliding in the mud, the rain slapping at her skin. Hail came, and she knew she was likely bleeding from the little ice pellets battering her skin, but she didn’t care. She needed to get to Aaron. Had to get to her mom and dad. She just wanted to be home. Away from Guy.

She kept running up the hill to where she thought the lodge was and prayed she was going in the right direction. She could hear Guy behind her, screaming her name. Her heart raced so fast that she could barely hear anything over the pounding and the rush of blood in her ears.

“Madison!” her mother yelled. Relief and fear filled her. While she knew that her mother had had no part in this, shehadbrought Guy into her life. However, Madison’s mother hurt with words, never anything else.

Madison knew that deep down in her soul.

“Mom, get back. He’s coming!” She refused to let her mother get hurt by this man. It wasn’t her fault that Guy was insane.

“What?” Maeve gasped.

Madison reached out but slipped at the last moment, banging her knee against a rock. Stars burst behind her eyelids, and she sucked in a breath, telling herself that she was going to be okay. She just needed to keep moving. But Guy pulled at her hair, and she fell back again, screaming.