World renowned writer, Molly Tulip, moves up to Northern Montana, hoping to escape the busy city life and a cheating ex. After years of stress and toxicity from her previous relationship, Molly needs to focus on healing herself through her writing...
Life is a funny thing. One minute you're happy and finally enjoying being alive; you've surrounded yourself with new, amazing people that mean more to you than you ever thought possible. Then the next minute everything is flipped upside down; you are in the hospital from a boating accident just a few hours prior, your handsome, totally into you, man-of-you-dreams has been shot by your ex boyfriend, your new best friend has also been shot by the same ex-boyfriend, and now that awful, trigger-happy ex-boyfriend is forcing you into the passenger seat of of your best friend's car while he runs from the cops. This is the shit that I woke up to and trust me, it's not getting much better.
"Buckle up." Damien barks at me as he tears out of the hospital parking lot. I'm struggling to catch my breath after running through the halls of the hospital, well it was more like I was dragged down the halls of the hospital, after Damien shot Clara and Carver Hollis. I was just in a seriously life-threatening boating accident, can't you cut a girl a break? I didn't even have time for the doctor to tell me what's wrong with me, so for all I know I'm going to bleed out internally in the same car as my cheating, psychotic ex.
"Now Molly!" He yells and I flinch on instinct. Damien always knew how to use his sharp tone to get me to do what he wanted. No was never an option for him. I follow his command and lock myself into the seat. The strap that's running across my chest feels like it weighs a thousand tons and I have to lift it off me in order to breathe.
"What are you doing here Damien?" I try the door handle on the door to see if it'll open, but to my dismay he locked the door and there is no way for me to open it. This damn new cars and its overprotective childproofing really isn't helping me get away from my kidnapper. A ragged cough escapes my lungs and I'm doubled over in a sharp pain that spreads from my chest to my shoulders and back. I try to control my breathing the best I can, but if I don't get back to the hospital soon, I don't know how much longer I'll have.
"Brigette didn't make finding you very easy, I'll give her that." He growls and slams his hand against the steering wheel out of frustration, "I was in her office every day trying to convince her to tell me where you went, but that bitch is way too stubborn for her own good. I knew you flew to Montana, so I followed you here a few days later, after you rudely locked me out of our apartment in New York." He grabs my arm so tight that I gasp in pain. His fingers burn against my skin as he grips even tighter. "That wasn't very nice of you for doing that, it made me look like a fool in front of the woman I was with. I searched the towns up here in Montana surrounding the airport, but I couldn't find you. You never shared where the house was, so after days of looking I assumed that you had moved back home to New York and Brigette was hiding you away from me there. I grew tired of getting kicked out of her office and apartment building day after day, so I took things into my own hands."
"What did you do to her?" My voice is shaky as I think of all the awful things he could have done to Brigette to find out where I was living.
"I had to do what I needed to do in order to get what I wanted. And what I want is you, Molly." He lets go of my arm and more tears well up in my eyes. I take a deep, painful breath as I sit with the information that he just told me. I don't know where Brigette is or if she's okay, I don't know if Carver or Clara are okay after being shot, but I do know that I'm stuck in a car with a possessive man that's already shot two people in order to get to me. He's done atrocious things and I want answers as to why he's doing this.
"If you wanted me so badly, then why did you abandon me? Why did you leave me to fly to Montana alone?" I'm furious and also heartbroken with the way that Damien is handling this break up. "You were the one who was cheating on me. I don't think you have much of a right to be angry with me moving on!" I shriek and Damien responds by lifting the gun to my face. Tears fall down my face as I glare him down, the barrel of the gun resting firmly against my cheek.
"You don't get to tell me what I can and can't do." Damien swerves in and out of our lane as he keeps looking between me and the road. "You're still mine, even if I left you. You don't get to move on, ever. When I saw you holding that other guy, what's his name...Carver, it made me so mad."
"So you shot him?" I cry out, tears welling up in my eyes and I remember the struggle over the gun. It all happened so fast. Damien shot Clara as she appeared in the doorway, Carver tackled Damien for the gun as Travis cradled Clara in the hallway, Damien and Carve tousled over the gun, but Damien isn't known to fight fair and he sucker punched Carver before grabbing the gun on the floor and shooting Carver in the chest. Damien ripped the cords out of my arms and dragged me out of the room kicking and screaming.
I watched as Carver tried to crawl after me, but he couldn't go very far due to the pain of the bullet wound. I watched as Damien knocked out Travis when he tried to stop him. I watched as Clara curled up next to the unconscious Travis and cried before falling still. I watched it all and couldn't do a damn thing.
"Damn right I shot him! You're not his. You're mine, and don't you forget that." He shoves the barrel further into my cheek and I can feel it start brushing my face. "I can do what I want, with whoever I want, and you need to sit back and wait for me to return to you. You're mine Molly Tulip." I wince in pain and he pulls the gun back and stuffs it in the waistband of his pants.
Damien turns off the main road and onto a little side street leading into the woods surrounding Whitefish's Mountain Range. The further we drive into the forest, the smaller my chance of being found becomes. There are so many small roads branching off of the main highway leading towards the lake and mountains that it'll take days and maybe even weeks before the police have any idea of where Damien's taken me. I keep a mental tally of which turns he's taking so that if by some miracle I do end up getting away from him I can find my way back to the main road.
We pull up to an old, rundown cabin that looks like it's been abandoned for some time. Damien hops out of the car, waltzing around to the passenger side door and opening it up for me. He trains his gun on me as I step out of the car and we head towards the cabin. The sun is rising just over the trees towering above, so I'm able to clearly see how decrepit the outside of the cabin truly looks. Damien tries the knob for the front door, but the wood of the door has warped to the door frame from moisture and it doesn't budge.
"You really know how to pick a place." I mutter under my breath and he glares at me before slamming his shoulder into the rotting door. The wood buckles and the door is forced to swing open with a loud cracking noise.
"Get in there!" He shoves me into the house and since my body is so weak I stumble down to the ground from his push. I land on the hardwood with a puff of dust. I'm powerless to stop the coughing fit that quickly follows. The deeper I try to breathe, the worse my cough becomes. Damien grabs me by the hospital gown I'm still wearing and hoists me up onto my feet as he drags me towards one of the few doors in the house. Fear fills my already watering eyes as he opens the door and I look down a set of stairs into the darkness of this cabin's cellar. Damien doesn't hesitate to push me into the darkness. I tumble head over heels down the rough, splintery steps before crashing to a halt on the hard concrete below.
"Damien, wait!" I cough out a scream as he quickly closes the door, leaving me in absolute darkness.
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