by Bella King
I would have liked to say that I just rammed through the thing, sending splinters flying as I zoomed out to freedom, but my actual actions were a bit less climactic. I drove carefully up to the garage door, and slowly pressed the body of the car into until the wood began to crack. Once I was confident enough that it wouldn’t tear the car to shreds, I applied more force and broke through into the outside.
There, I was still alone. I didn’t see any sight of Caleb. Maybe he assumed I would run out the front. I believe I had left the front door open, so it figured that he might look for me there. If he was around the front, I would see him when I made my escape in the SUV. There was only one way out of this place, and that was through the iron gate at the entrance.
Chapter 16
Life is never easy, but it can be thrilling if you want it to be.
I tore through the perfectly maintained grass on the property, silently apologizing to whoever’s job it was to maintain. Tomorrow, they would have a lot of work to do on it, with tire tracks shaving off a considerable amount of grass, leaving behind long streaks of brown soil
I sped the car around the house, headlights on, and reached the front circle, where Caleb liked to park his cars for the valet to pick up. I looked at the house, but I didn’t see him. Good. If he had come out on the road to try and stop me, I might have had to run him over. As it stood, I didn’t actually want to kill him.
I drove toward the iron gate that separated me from freedom. The steering wheel was hard to grip, slippery with my blood. I needed to bandage my hands badly. They stung from the glass and I was bleeding enough to concern me. If I didn’t get this wound patched up soon, I might be in trouble.
As I approached the gate, I was surprised to see it open on its own. Either Caleb didn’t want me damaging his precious SUV or something else was up. Why would he let me go so easily? Maybe it was so that I wouldn’t kill myself on the iron gate. It looked a lot sturdier than the SUV could handle. Ramming it would probably turn me into shredded cheese.
Whatever the reason, Caleb was clearly giving me a way to escape. All along, I had assumed that he wanted to keep me as a prisoner here until I agreed to marry him, but I was beginning to see that he didn’t want that. He had always given me a choice.
I drove through the gate, expecting something to happen, but nothing did. I went right through. No armored vehicles were waiting for me on the other side, the SUV I was inside didn’t explode, and I was still able to drive away, as free as could be. Incredible.
I hit the gas, speeding off down the road to the main motorway, my mind racing and my hands trembling as I gripped the steering wheel so tightly that I stopped the blood flow out of my palms. I was free, I was free, I was free, but it all seemed so irrelevant. I felt like I was leaving something important behind.
I wasn’t entirely sure what I would do with no money, no ID, and no contacts in Italy. I could keep driving and see where it got me, perhaps detained and brought back to the United States once I was able to prove who I was. I could also get directions to the nearest US embassy and turn myself in there, but I doubted they would believe my story. I just wanted to get home.
The first thing I needed was to get myself cleaned up. I was wearing a dress with blood dripping all over it, soaking deep into the fine white fabric. That wasn’t going to wash out. I guess the top priority for me would be to get a hold of some money and ditch this SUV. The plate could be tracked, and, come to think of it, the car itself might have some type of tracking device on it.
I reached the main road, pulling out aggressively in front of a smaller car. I heard the comically weak horn of the driver behind me, and couldn’t help but let out a small laugh. These weren’t American roads with gigantic cars with horns to blow your eardrums out if you dare pull ahead of them. This was little Italy.
I began rummaging through the car, looking for spare cash while I kept one eye on the road. I wasn’t quite familiar with the driving style here, but this road didn’t have many signs on it and there hadn’t been any stoplights yet. I wasn’t in danger of causing an accident.
The center console had a cigar with a monetary note rolled around it. Fitting. I bet Caleb used the money to light the cigar with. I wouldn’t put it past that man. He really did have money to burn. At least he had money. I would need it to buy a hotel and a taxi for tomorrow. I wouldn’t be able to get to an embassy tonight, and I wanted to ditch this car as soon as I could.
I hated that this was how it ended. The warmth of Caleb’s body against mine lingered on my skin, clinging to me like smoke and honey. I wouldn’t forget about him easily, but I had to move on with my life. This wasn’t the way to get into a relationship with someone. There had to be a better way to find love.
I drove for almost an hour, looking behind me periodically to make sure nobody was following me. I never spotted anyone, but that didn’t mean anything. Caleb was clever, and I knew he was capable of finding me if he really wanted to.
I ran that scenario over in my head but found that I didn’t care that much if he did. It would make it easier for me to claim that I was the victim all along, but that wasn’t the case anymore. When I realized that I was an active participant in his game, I left. It was the right thing to do, but now I was empty inside.
I spotted a small hotel that was tucked between two other seemingly empty buildings. It was inconspicuous enough to keep me hidden for the night, but I had to ditch the car further down the road in case it was being tracked.
I drove for a full mile before pulling over on a dirt path through some trees that didn’t appear to be for cars. It looked more like a special track for tractors so that they didn’t disturb regular traffic. The car would probably be towed, but that was Caleb's problem now.
I took the gun from beside me on the seat, hiking my dress up and shoving it into my panties to keep it in place. It honestly looked like I had a cock, but it was the best I could do with what I had. I just happened I didn’t accidentally pull the trigger and blow myself a whole new vagina.
I almost took the keys with me as well, but thought better of it. I wouldn’t need them, and they could have some kind of tracking device in them as well. I couldn’t be too careful. I chucked them into the woods, dusting off my blood-crusted hands and smiling. I was free.
Well, not yet, but I was closer than I had been since getting kidnapped. I was lucky to be alive. Anyone else would have had their throat slit the moment they got snatched up by Caleb’s gang. Even though I was one of the lucky ones, perhaps the only lucky one, I didn’t feel especially lucky today. I had escaped, but what was I escaping to?
I had spent the last two days in luxury, experiencing the best clothes, food, entertainment, and sex of my life. I couldn’t replace that even if I worked my whole life to do it. Like it or not, I had been sucked in so far in such a short amount of time that I was actually sad that Caleb had let me escape from him. I didn’t want to get away that easily.
I sighed, shaking my head at my own lunacy as I walked on the side of the road toward the lone hotel with a single bill in my hand, which I prayed would be enough for a room for the night. Money talked, and that was good because I didn’t speak a lick of Italian to ask for a room. Waving a bill around was about all I could do.
Every time an expensive-looking car breezed past me while I walked, my heart skipped a beat thinking that it might be Caleb. He never came, and I reached the hotel with no issue. By this time, my hands were throbbing from the glass that had made its home in them, and my feet hurt from walking barefoot. I wanted desperately to be in bed to sleep this all off. I would have a clear head tomorrow and I could get directions to the US embassy somehow.
I pushed the swiveling door and spun myself into the small hotel lobby. It was a far cry from Caleb’s lavish mansion, but luxury wasn’t highest on my list of priorities. I needed a bathroom to clean myself up in and a bed to cram in a few hours of sleep before the embassy opened.
I was certain that I looked like a cra
zy woman, with no shoes and the brown stains of dried blood on my dress, as I walked up to the counter and gave the woman behind it the most convincing smile that I could muster considering everything that had gone down in the past hour. She frowned, then said something in Italian.
“I don’t speak Italian,” I said, giving her a smile that looked more like a grimace.
She said the same thing again, but louder. It sounded like a question.
“Here,” I said, placing the money on the counter. “I need a room. One night.” I held up a finger so that she would understand.
She nodded, sliding the bill toward her and typing something into the old keyboard that she had on the table with her. She squinted into a small computer screen and then nodded, grabbing a set of keys from the rack behind her.
She slid them toward me, saying something in Italian again, then handed me a small bill and some coins as change. I guess I barely had enough for the night, but it was better than nothing.
I thanked her and took the key, looking down at the tiny number scribbled on a paper under the clear plastic covering. That would be my room number. It was on the second floor, so I felt a bit safer. For some reason, sleeping at hotels on the ground floor always freaked me out. I felt like it would be too easy for someone to break in and attack me while I slept.
I walked awkwardly to the small elevator, the gun in my panties beginning to slide out to my thigh. I quickened my pace, trying not to draw attention to myself as I walked. When I arrived, I jabbed my finger into the concave silver button several times before the doors rolled open, wobbling on their rails.
I stepped in, already adjusting the gun before the doors closed completely. I pressed the button for the second floor, and away I went. It took far longer than I expected for the elevator to lift me a single floor, but that gave me time to fix the gun bulge in my dress so that I could make it to my room without drawing too much attention to myself.
The hallway was terribly thin. I imagined it would be difficult for two people to pass each other in it without grazing noses, an image that amused me greatly. Something like this would never fly in the US, perhaps even being a violation of building codes.
I got to my room without brushing noses with anyone, and quietly locked myself in. The room was little more than a small bed and a bathroom, but it was all I needed. I sighed in relief as I pulled the gun from my panties and tossed the warm metal onto the bed. I needed to bath and get some sleep.
I dropped the dress in the hallway, walking to the bathroom naked, and opened the door. There was a single bar of mint green soap sitting on the sink. That would have to do. I grabbed it and brought it into the shower with me, praying for hot water.
I turned the spotty dial in the shower and was pleased to find hot water. I suppose it wasn’t hard to come by in the summer, but I thanked whatever forces were out there for letting me have this. I was already beginning to miss the luxury of Caleb’s mansion. His shower was like bathing in the rain from heaven.
Once I got cleaned up, scrubbing the blood from my sore hands with the unscented soap and picking out any glass that remained, I left the bathroom and got into bed. I clutched the gun in my hand, tucking it under my pillow as I slept. A dream-induced twitch could send a bullet through my head, but I didn’t care. I wanted the illusion of safety, and I got it.
I fell asleep quickly, considering the stress I was under.
Chapter 17
Freedom is dependent on your mindset.
I woke up alone in Italy, a gun in my hand and a stomach that grumbled for food. I needed a strong cup of coffee and a hot meal. I had neither of those things, and with the little money I had, I didn’t think I would be able to get them. I needed that for a taxi.
I heard a knock on the door only moments after I had risen. I was still clutching the gun, as though it had melted into my skin overnight. I approached the door, looking for a peephole, but found none.
I unlatched the bolt and slowly pulled the door open a crack, but I didn’t see anyone. “Who is it?” I asked.
A female voice answered in Italian.
I was naked and clutching a gun, so if this was room service, I wasn’t going to let them in. I sighed. “I need to get dressed,” I answered through the crack in the door.
The voice said something else in Italian. I wasn’t going to get very far with this. I closed the door and dashed over to my dress, pulling it on and ignoring the bloodstains on the sides. I needed to ditch the gun, because I would surely get caught with it if I kept sneaking it around in my underwear. I ran over to the window and pulled it open.
The fresh air felt good in my lungs after spending a night in a dank hotel room. I scanned the area below before dropping the gun into a bush. By the time anyone found it, I would be long gone.
I slammed the window shut and ran back to the door, unlocking it fully and swinging it open. I didn’t find room service on the other side, tough. I found Caleb and the woman that had been at the front desk last night standing behind him with her arms crossed. Fuck.
“Are you here to kill me?” I asked bluntly, glaring at him.
Caleb chuckled, shaking his head. “No, I just want to talk. I could have the police called on you, but I figured you’d want to talk about last night first.”
“The police called on me?” I asked, astounded. How could he suggest that when he was the criminal? All I had done was escape from him. I did what I had to, even if some of it was against the law.
“How about you let me in, and we can have a talk about this? I can deliver you back to the United States if you wish, but I’m going to do it my way,” Caleb said. His voice was steady, but I sensed an underlying tone of anger.
“Fine,” I said, opening the door wider. “Come in.”
“Thank you,” Caleb said, waving a hand at the woman behind him so that she would leave. He stepped into the room as I walked to the bed and sat down. He was carrying a medium-sized black bag, which he brought to me and placed beside me. “This is for you.”
“What is it?” I asked, eyeing the bag suspiciously.
“A change of clothes,” Caleb replied. “We’re not going anywhere with you dressed like that,” he noted, glancing down at the bloodstains on my dress.
“This is your fault,” I said, ruffling through the contents of the bag and pulling out a red blouse and a black skirt. “I wouldn’t have to run if you weren’t keeping me captive.”
Caleb shook his head and pulled up the lone chair in the room to sit down in front of me. “I never did. You were free to leave, but you chose to steal my car and wave a gun at me, which, by the way, is loaded with blanks. I wouldn’t have a weapon in my house with someone as naive as you running about.”
“You think I’m stupid?” I asked. “You’re fucking gaslighting me. You’re the damn mafia boss, Caleb. I didn’t come here on my own free will.”
Caleb frowned. “You don’t like the way I’ve treated you? What? Do you think you can make love to me and run? That’s foolish.”
“I want to go back home. Listen, I think you’re awfully handsome and everything, but this isn’t the way to find a wife. Don’t you think it’s a bit crazy?” I asked, placing the blouse in front of me to check the size. Of course, it was exactly the right fit.
“You’d look nice in that. Try it on,” Caleb said, ignoring my words.
I pouted. “Don’t look.”
Caleb laughed, and I couldn’t help but grin with him. He had seen much more than my bare breasts in the last 48 hours. I pulled my dress off and began getting dressed in the outfit he had provided.
Caleb watched with a subtle smirk on his freshly shaved face. He enjoyed my body, that much was for certain. You couldn’t hide that kind of thing. He may not have respected my wishes, but he was absolutely obsessed with me, nonetheless.
I twirled around for him when I had finished, flashing him a sweet smile to break some of the tension. He smiled back, the sides of his blue eyes crinkling in handsome creases. It
seemed like he grew more handsome every day. He would make some woman very happy, but it wasn’t going to be me.
“I’m hungry,” I said, sitting back down on the bed and crossing my arms.
“We can chat over lunch then,” Caleb said, standing up. His crotch was eye height, and I grew aroused remembering the powerhouse in his pants and what it could do to me.
“Fabulous,” I said, springing up with him. “Let’s go.”
Caleb checked me out of the hotel, leading me to the parking lot where his black sports car was parked in one of the narrow parking spaces provided. He opened the passenger door for me, and I stepped in.
“I had to take the SUV you stole in for repairs,” Caleb said, pushing a button and starting the car.
“That’s a shame,” I replied drily.
Caleb pulled out of the spot, his eyes fixed on the road as he waited for a chance to join the moving traffic. “It certainly is. Most of the time, a stunt like that would be a death sentence, but as I said, I’m trying to give up that kind of life. I wouldn’t want to hurt you, Kalila.”
I sighed. “You’re not going to make me feel bad about escaping. I did what I had to.”
“If you had asked, I would have let you leave, but you chose to tear up my garage and threaten my staff. My butler had to go on leave because of you,” Caleb said. “He’s too old for that kind of stuff, darling.”
Now he was making me feel bad. The more I listened to Caleb’s sob story, the more I got sucked into sympathizing with him. It was always like this, since the moment he snatched me up. He pretended to care, and maybe he did, but that didn’t change that he was wrong. He just wanted me to feel like I was the one who was wrong.
“I’m sorry about your butler. It was a prop gun anyway, right?”
“Not exactly. It’s a real gun loaded with blanks. It can still do damage at close range. The old man who owned the house previously liked to play more dangerous games that I do,” Caleb explained, jerking the car out onto the street as a space became available.
