Page 61 of Trapping His Angel

As I walked through the halls, I realized I was alone.

No one was here with me, which was strange as well. I found the kitchen and went into the pantry. As I was looking for a jar of peanut butter, knowing it would pair well with crackers, I heard a creak.

I stilled, listening to the silence.

The urge to call out hit me, but I’d seen enough horror movies to know that never ended well. I ambled to the pantry door. I heard another creak that sounded like it came from above me.

I peeked my head out into the kitchen. Everything was still and silent, but the energy was off. The hair stood up on the backof my neck. I wasn’t here alone. There was someone in the house with me.

I thought it was Benedikt, but my instincts were telling me it wasn’t him at all.

I had two options.

I could run outside, and hope that whoever was in the house hadn’t brought people with them. Or, I could try to sneak past them upstairs and get to the panic room. I didn’t know what to do and my mind was panicking.

This was how I would die.

I was going to risk heading outside, even though it was so cold. In the middle of nowhere, in Russia. That had a higher chance of success than me getting around whoever was upstairs.

I headed to the servants’ entrance at the back door, and thanked God there was an old pair of running sneakers in the corner. I grabbed the paper towels off the counter and quickly shoved some of them in the men’s shoes.

I threw them on and sneaked out the door. I rounded the house and took off into the night, but I didn’t get very far. I felt the arm before I felt the man, as it wrapped around my waist, and threw my legs in the air.

I screamed, trying to fight free from my assailant.

“Where do you think you’re going,mi prometida?”His cruel voice rasped in my ear. “The party has just begun.”

Juan Carlos, my ex-fiancé, was breathing his putrid breath on my neck. He dragged me backward in a chokehold to the house. As soon as we got inside, he let go of me. I hit the floor, coughing and gagging after he let me loose, trying to catch my breath.

“Isadora, you were a naughty, naughty kitten,” Juan Carlos rasped.

I was sure he thought he sounded sexy, but his voice was like nails on a chalkboard to my ears. I didn’t want to upset him. I was all alone, stuck in what was bound to be hell.

“You thought you could marry someone else?” His foot crashed into my face, and my head swung back from the impact.

I screeched, as pain exploded over my entire face. Juan Carlos was there on his knees, soothing me, a second later. “Shh, I’m sorry. You made me so angry, I couldn’t control myself. That’s not what I’d planned to do. Oh, your poor face.” He pressed soft kisses all over my face, as I pulled away in revulsion.

“S-stop,” I rasped, trying to get away from him.

“This is all because I’ve been pent up, waiting for you. The whores couldn’t satisfy me. I was waiting for my pure princess.” He gripped the back of my head through my hair. “A VIRGIN LIKE I WAS OWED!” He roared in my face.

I whimpered as I tried to get away from him, but he overtook me quickly. His legs were eating up the distance, until he was standing over my hips.

“I’ll just have to cleanse you,” he said in an eerie voice as he knelt, sat on my chest backward, and grabbed ahold of my ankles.

I tried to kick and fight, to get him off me, but all that did was stop me from being able to breathe, as he tied me up with a cable cord he had in his pocket. He stood and flipped me over, grabbing my hands and pulling them behind my back, to tie them up as well.

I screamed, begging for help, trying to get away from him. He got off of me and walked away. I turned my head to keep his feet in my sight, as I kept screaming myself hoarse.

Juan Carlos walked to the kitchen and back. His musty-smelling hand covered my face, as he shoved a dish rag he’d found in the kitchen into my open mouth, gagging my noises.

“Mmmhmm, that’s much better,” he purred. “Now I can take my time with you.”

All I could do was scream and try to shove the rag out of my mouth. When Juan Carlos looked down, and saw that the dishrag was getting pushed out by my tongue, he scrambled up and went into another room.

I heard banging around, like he was searching for something, and tried to scootch to the back door, anywhere, as long as it was far away from Juan Carlos.

“Oh no, where do you think you’re going?” His voice sounded from behind me.