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I opened my eyes to an unfamiliar room basked in muted light. I was lying on my side, on a hard bed with a thin mattress. Disoriented and confused, I tried to move my head, but the motion sent a stab of excruciating pain through my skull. Groaning in agony, I waited till the pain passed and then tried to push myself up with my hands. It took a moment for me to comprehend my wrists were tied together behind my back.

My foggy mind cleared instantly and panic seeped through my body. Where was I? Was I dreaming? And then suddenly it all came rushing back. I remembered everything that happened at the club and in the cab. Michael's face flashed in my mind and icy cold fear enveloped me. With desperation, I tugged at my hands but it was no use. The knot at my wrist was too tight, painfully digging into my skin.

How long have I been unconscious? I thought trying to think over the fear and studied my surrounding. I guessed I was in a warehouse of some kind. At one end were rows of empty metal shelves. Dusty wooden crates were stacked to a side. The single light bulb hung from the ceiling cast the whole place in shadows. Since there were no windows, I couldn't determine if it was day or night.

Fortunately, my legs weren't tied up so I rolled over, pushed myself up with my knees until I was sitting up. Nausea rushed threateningly over me and I had to bow my head down and keep still until it passed away.

Leaning forward, I slowly maneuvered my body off the bed, nearly taking a headlong plunge to the floor. A groan of agony escaped my lips as I managed to balance myself on my feet. My body protested against all the movement but I needed to see if there was any way I could possibly escape before Michael or even Andy came back.

Through the dim light, I could make out a door at the far end. I had no idea what was on the other side of it but I had to take the chance. My heart was beating so fast I could hardly breathe. My whole body was trembling and it took all I had not to give into the weakness in my legs. I needed to move fast if I wanted to escape.

I had taken about three steps towards the door when it suddenly flung open. I froze.

Michael was standing in the doorway with a menacing smile on his face. "Where do you think you're going?"

I told myself I needed to make a run for it, but panic and terror had me immobilized. I couldn't move. I couldn't talk. My breathing was coming in short gasps now. The metallic taste of fear was too strong in my mouth and I swallowed hard.

He strode towards me, his expression conveying how much he was enjoying my fear. "Did you really think you could escape so easily?" He sneered as he closed the distance between us.

Grabbing me by my arm, he started dragging me towards the bed. I put up a fight, kicking him and screaming, but I was no match for his brutal strength. He flung me on the bed like a rag doll and then was on top of me, straddling my thighs.

"Get off of me, you bastard." I screamed, trying to wriggle from under him. My hands, that were tied behind my back, were crushed between my body and the hard mattress.

His face turned cold. "What did you say?"

I swallowed hard. The wise thing to do was keep my mouth shut but I met his gaze unflinchingly. "I said, get off of me, you bastard."

His eyes glowered and he struck me hard across the cheek. My neck snapped painfully to the side. Tears stung my eyes as pain exploded behind my face.

He grabbed my throbbing chin and forced me to look at him. "You better watch your fucking mouth when talking to me. Do you understand?"

"Fuck you." I spat.

His hand tightened on my chin, fingers biting painfully. I braced myself for another blow but to my surprise he chuckled.

"Aren't you a little ball of spit fire? I'm going to enjoy breaking that spirit of yours." His hand moved down from my chin to my shoulder. With one swift tug he pulled down one strap of the dress I was wearing, exposing my right breast completely.

All of my feigned bravery left instantly to be replaced by icy cold fear. "No!" I cried out. "No! Get away. Don't touch me!" I tried twisting my body but he kept me firmly pressed into the bed.

His hands closed over my exposed breast and he moaned breathlessly. "Ah, just as I thought, so soft."

Fresh terror swept over me in waves. "Don't do this. Please."

"Oh, begging now, are we?" His voice was excited as he started roughly mauling me.

I started screaming then, as loud as I could.

"You can scream all you want. No one's going to hear you anyway." He pinched my nipple so hard, it sent pain shooting through me.

"Please." I begged again, "Don't do this. Let me go, please." I could hardly get the words out.

"Let you go? After all the trouble I have gone through to get you here?" He laughed. "I don't think so. I've waited too long for my chance at you."

His touch was making my skin crawl in repulse. "What the hell do you want?" I yelled in desperation. "To rape me? Kill me?"

"Oh, I fully intend to rape you. And when I'm done with you, you're going to beg me to kill you."

"Why are you doing this?" I whispered faintly.

He suddenly straightened up and moved away from me. His expression was hard and fierce. "To get back at the sonofabitch Perez who ruined my life."

I swallowed hard and moved into a sitting position. "What did he do to you?" My breast was still hanging out of the dress but it looked as if rape was the last thing on his mind now. And I intended to keep him distracted from assaulting me by getting him to talk.

"That bastard killed the woman I love."

All the wind was knocked out of me. I stared at him, all my fear and pain forgotten. "No. You're lying. He would never hurt anyone."

It didn't appear as if he heard me. He was in a trance. "He fucked her and kicked her out the next morning as if she were a whore. She was in love with him and when she told him that you know what he did?" He faced me then, his face twisted into an ugly mask of anger. "He laughed at her. He laughed at my Ashley and made her feel like a whore."

His eyes held a haunted look of grief. "I loved her the moment I saw her. But she was still hung up on Perez so I settled for being her friend. She was so broken and so lost. I thought I was helping her move on but I was wrong. One night, before bed, she swallowed an entire bottle of sleeping pills and never woke up again."

"You can't blame Jason for that." I blurted out. "It was her decision to kill herself. It's on her."

The moment I said those words I realized I had made a mistake. His face turned an ugly shade of red and he slapped me hard. My head went reeling back with the force of it and I cried out in pain.

"Shut up, you stupid bitch. You don't know anything." He screamed at me. "It's all his fault. If it wasn't for him, she would be alive today. He took her away from me. And now I've got you." A malicious grin touched his face. "When I kill you, I'm going to enjoy every minute of it."

The coldness in his eyes made my blood run cold with terror.

"I spent the past three years plotting my revenge, tracking his every move. My plan was to kill him and once I finished formulating every little detail, I started looking for someone to help me do it."

"Andy." I whispered, more to myself than to him.

"Yes. He needed money and was willing to kill for it. Perez was always surrounded by his security, especially that driver of his went everywhere with him. I was waiting patiently for the perfect opportunity when I saw him on tv. The bastard was giving an interview and mentioned he was taking a break from work and spending it cruising in the Caribbean."

"It wasn't too difficult finding out the details of his trip. So I booked a ticket in the same cruise and sent Andy after him. He was supposed to take him out but then you popped into the picture out of nowhere."

"How did you know I was there?"

"Andy spotted you kissing him. He took a few pictures of you both and sent it to me. Imagine my surprise when I realized it was you." He grinned, his eyes lingering on my breast before moving to my face. "After what he did to you in high school I would have never thought you would go back to him."

"You mean after the lies you fed me about him."

He laughed, all the malice and evilness on his face fading away. I was for a moment struck by how boyish he looked at that moment. Like the Michael I knew in school.

He reached out and pinched my nipple hard. "But that didn't stop you from spreading your legs for him again, did it?" And just like that the malice was back in his eyes. "I asked Andy to get close to you and find out any information he could about your relationship with Perez."

All the puzzle pieces were starting to fall into places. So that was why Andy asked Hal out. He could find out everything he wanted from Hal.

"Seeing you with Perez gave me an idea. I decided to wait instead of going ahead with my plan to kill him. In order to find out how he felt about you, I sent him photographs of you and and just as I expected, he hired a bodyguard for you. That made me realize how important you were to him."

"He took the most important woman in my life away from me. And I wanted him to fucking suffer the same way I did. So instead of killing him, I decided that I would kill you instead. The only thing that could bring him to his knees is you. Imagine what your death would do to him. You're his weakness, and living with the knowledge that he is the reason for your death, would kill him."

The savage expression on his face terrifying. "You're wrong if you think by killing me you can hurt Jason. We are not even together anymore." I said thinking quickly. "He feels nothing for me."

"You think I'm stupid enough to believe your lies? I know that he is in love with you."

With a sinking feeling I realized Hal must have told Andy everything about me and Jason.

His lips twisted cruelly seeing my expression. "There's nothing you can say or do that is going to make me change your mind about killing you."

"The get on with it." I hid my fear under my glare.

"All in good time, Kate." He chuckled standing up and checked the time from his watch. "It's been only five hours since I took you. Perez must know you're missing by now. Let him stew in his fear for a while longer. Then I'm going to give him a call and he can listen to your screams while I rape you."

"You will not get away with this, you bastard."

"Careful with that mouth." He glowered at me and then started to leave.

Swallowing my pride, I blurted out. "I need to use the bathroom." My bladder felt as if it was going to burst.

Without saying anything, he pulled out a knife from his pocket and my body started trembling involuntarily. He trailed the blade over the curve of my shoulder until it was resting against the hollow of my neck. "I'm going to untie you now. If you try to escape, you know what will happen right?"

I nodded weakly. He walked behind me and I felt him use the knife to cut the ties at my wrist. "Don't even think of running." He warned.

My wrists were bruised and red from where the rope had bitten into the skin. I quickly pulled up the strap of my dress, covering myself. He sneered at me as he led me towards a pile of stacked wooden crates.

He pushed me behind it. "One minute and then I'm tying you again whether you're done or not."

I stared incredulously at the bucket of water placed on the ground behind the crate. I glanced at Michael who was leaning against the crate watching me with lecherous grin.

"Can you at least give me some privacy?"

His grin widened but he didn't move.

"Please."

He turned around. "Thirty seconds."

I didn't trust him not to look but I had no choice. Lifting my dress up, I pushed down my panty and squatted down. When I finished I used the water from the pail to wash myself. As I did so, I glanced at Michael and to my humiliation he was staring at me.

I straightened up so quickly, I knocked down the pail of water. With shaking hands, I pulled up my panty and fixed my dress.

"I can see why Perez is so obsessed with you." Michael said taking a step towards me. "You have the most delicious looking pussy I've ever seen."

I stood frozen. I had been trying to act brave but right at that moment all of it left me. His voice trembled with excitement and I saw that he was rubbing the front of his pants. The sick bastard had gotten an erection by watching me pee.

"I was going to wait but now I don't think I can." He said reaching out and tracing my lips with his meaty fingers.

Shudders of pure revulsion swept over me and I started struggling. I clawed at his face but he quickly snatched my hands in a biting grip. "You can either let me fuck you like the little whore you are and make this good for the both of us. Or you can put up a fight that will only result in me beating the shit out of you and then raping you until you pass out from the pain."

My mind was working fast. I knew this was my only chance to escape. A burst of adrenaline rushed through me and with strength I didn't know I possessed, I slammed my knee hard in his groin.

He cried out, bending over and clutching his crotch in pain.

Snapping into action, I bolted towards the door. My head was spinning and my legs were wobbly but the adrenaline rush kept me moving. But just as I reached the door, Michael caught up with me and grabbed my hair from behind.

I screamed in pain as he flung me backwards and slammed me into the wall. His face was twisted into a frightening expression. "Now that wasn't very nice, was it?" He said menacingly, the deadly calm in his voice sending warning bells through my head. He held me captive with the strong grip on my hair. I could smell the stench of alcohol on his breath and before I could react his sloppy mouth was on mine.

I gagged just as instinct took over. I started struggling, trying to jerk myself away from him but it was no use. He pushed himself between my legs so I couldn't kick him. My hands were crushed between our bodies and I couldn't even move them. He was too strong for me.

His tongue was trying to force his way into my mouth. Through the fog of terror in my brain an idea formed. I relaxed my mouth, giving him access, and with a grunt of approval he shoved his tongue in my mouth.

My stomach lurched and I fought to keep down the bitter taste of bile at the back of my throat. I waited just a few seconds before biting down on his tongue as hard as I could. The coppery taste of blood filled my mouth and Michael let out a garbled scream before jerking away from me.

Blood was gushing out of his mouth and down his chin, he lunged at me at me again. "You fucking bitch. You're going to pay for that." He spluttered as he wrapped both of his hands around my neck. I screamed and tried to kick free but he hung on. He was squeezing so hard, cutting off the air from my lungs. The room began to swim before my eyes. I was gasping for breath and my eyes watered.

The insane look on Michael's face made me realize he wasn't going to stop until he squeezed the life out of me. My lungs were burning, as if it would burst any second. My mind screamed for help, the faces of everyone I loved flashing before my eyes. My mother. My sister. Hal. Jason.

I concentrated on Jason's face, remembering all the beautiful things about him. If I was going to die, then I wanted the last thing on my mind to be him.

My body was going limp, blackness filling my sight. Jason's face slipped through my mind and all of a sudden darkness enveloped me.