“I don’t know what you’re looking for! P-p-please, don’t hurt me . . . If you want to take my purse, you can have it; there’s money in there. Cards too. Please, oh God, please!” Tears are streaming down my face and my body is shaking so violently that my teeth feel as if they’re rattling in my head. This is it. My miserable life is going to be over before I ever get a chance to tell the people in my life how much I love them.
“I don’t want your fucking wallet, you stupid cunt! Whatever you have in that goddamn wallet isn’t enough to cover what that idiot owes. Where the fuck is he!” He bends down and roughly pulls me up by the roots of my hair. I yelp, but scramble from the floor to try to minimize the damage. My body is screaming for me to shut it down, to just let him end it. Anything would be easier than living with the emptiness my life has become. But just as quickly as the thought enters my mind, I remember I want to fight. I’m better than what I’ve let my life become, and I damn sure don’t want to go out like this.
“I d-don’t know,” I whimper. “Please, I don’t know!” Apparently that’s not what this stranger wants to hear because he rears back and punches me with what feels like all his strength right in my eye. My head snaps to the side, and the pain that radiates from his punch is almost enough to make me pass out. I can already tell that my eye will be useless, and my other one is watering so badly that I can’t make anything out but a slightly fuzzy black dot in an otherwise white room.
“That will be the least of your fucking worries if you don’t tell me where he’s fucking hiding! That idiot owes a lot of money, and if he isn’t around to pay up, then it looks like it’s going to fall on you. ” He gets right in my face, and with my good eye, I can tell his eyes are ice cold blue. They would almost be attractive if it wasn’t for the flame of pure evil dancing behind them. “Where. Is. That. Motherfucker!”
“I’m telling the truth. I don’t know! I don’t come into this office often! I don’t know who you’re looking for!” Something I’ve said must have registered as truth because he pulls back slightly before looking me from head to toe. Shockingly, he starts to laugh, a laugh full of demonic tones. I can literally feel the color drain out of my face when his eyes meet mine again.
“Well, well, well . . . If it isn’t Denise Roberts, one and only owner of Roberts Insurance. You aren’t supposed to be here and it’s just like a stupid, fucking cunt to come nosing her fat ass where it doesn’t belong.” What the hell?
Before I can open my mouth to ask him . . . well, I don’t know what I would ask him, but before I even have the chance, his hand comes out and clamps tight around my neck. My airway closes as he lifts me off the floor with his hand. I reach up and grab his wrist, clawing and fighting for the air he is stealing from me. “You, little Denise Roberts, are a problem, and I don’t like problems. One of your employees has something of mine, and I want it. You see, my problem now is that he’s decided to vanish on me, and I don’t like it when I’m owed money, and I’ve got to play hide and fucking seek to find it. When he stopped answering my calls, I figured the greasy little shit was having a come to Jesus with his conscience. I can’t have that now. You will either find that bastard, or all of the money. And I mean all of it.”
I try to answer him, but I can feel my mind start to panic. My lungs burn, and my hands are desperately struggling against him, but are quickly losing strength. I try to communicate with my eyes that I understand him, but he just keeps tightening his hold, squeezing me so forcefully that I feel like my throat is about to snap in two. My arms and legs start to flap around helplessly, as I attempt to gain just a breath of air.
After another few seconds closer to eternity, he lets go, and I drop roughly to the floor. As I gag and gasp to breathe, tears stream down my face, and my throat burns like I’ve swallowed a ball of fire.
He gives my fallen body a swift kick right in the ribs, which snap with a sickening crack. “I wouldn’t think about crossing me. I know all about you. I mean every single thing about you. I know all about your little friends, too, and I’m not even slightly worried about those dumbasses. I’ve got to hand it to you; I never thought you would show up before I had a chance to cover my tracks.”
When he goes to grab me again I pull my body in tight and scream. Big mistake on my part, because all it does is piss him off more.
“Shut the fuck up, bitch!” Unfortunately for me, I don’t have the strength to block the blow that hits me right in the temple, and instantly, everything around me fades into darkness. I try to fight it, but when my vision starts going, I know that I’m at his mercy. I just hope that he gets bored with me and stops. I’m not ready to die. I have things I want to do. People I need to set things right with. And a man that I know would be devastated if this was my end.
My last thought before everything goes blank is how badly I want to live, and if I make it through this, I’ll do everything in my power to learn how to let love in.
CHAPTER 11
Dee