Chapter Two

“Please don’t. I’m begging you!”

The tears are streaming down my face again but he doesn’t listen. He never listens. He’s picked up the gun from the table and he’s slowly passing it from one hand to the other, like some small part of him is still weighing up hope and reason against my bleak inevitability.

But it’s just an illusion. There is no logic left in him anymore. That died the minute he stole me away.

“Time for another game, Charlotte bird,” he says, grinning down at me. His expression makes a mockery of his endearment. His eyes are lifeless, his mouth a mournful line of dispassion.

The coldness of the gray stone floor is bleaching into my bones. My arms are aching. It’s nighttime again and I’m scared. So scared. My body twists away from him in terror as his hand reaches out for me…