Think Like A Criminal

Chapter 14

Cara skid her way across the clearing that was not covered with snow – thanks to Vincent's continuous shovelling – and rounded the two cars before running towards the forest. She tried running fast. Even though the snow further away from the cars made it hard for her, she never gave up. She knew they would catch up to her pretty easily. They had two advantages; height which meant long legs and steps, and numbers – two against one. She let out a scoff; the odds were definitely not in her favour.

Her black pumps sank in the snow with every step she took. She heard the door behind her and Vincent yelling out her name, his voice echoing around the silent area. Cara stopped once she reached the entrance of the forest and turned around to look at her kidnappers. Her breath left in pants. It is not that she was not athletic; she just had to use a lot of her stamina to just cross the half snowy clearing.

"If you come back right now," Vincent shouted, "We won't have any trouble!"

Oh hell no, at least not now. Cara wanted to see how far she can go and take them on foot in this snowy weather so she did the only thing she can do. Raising her right hand, she flipped him off, turned around and ran into the woods.

Vincent cursed at her running form loudly and chased after her, Victor in tow. Unlike Cara, he had worn boots and easily ran over the snow. Reaching the forest, he realised the ground there did not have as much snow as the clearing, thanks to the thick trees. However, since it was night time the forest was dark and it was pretty hard to see. The only thing that would help him find Cara was his sense of hearing.

Cara stood behind a tree near Vincent and held her breath. Just as she thought, the forest was too dark to see and she knew if she had ran further ahead she might have gotten lost. So she hid behind the nearest and the thickest tree she could find, waiting and hoping for him to go deep inside to find her.

Just as expected, Vincent took quiet, measured steps and walked further inside the forest. The snow crunched a little underneath his feet and his every step matched her erratically beating heart. When she was sure he was deep enough, she quietly stepped out from behind the trunk and walked backwards out of the forest. She let out a sigh of relief. This was a lot easier than she thought. If it was possible, she would have escape right then and there. She could easily go back inside the cabin, look for his car keys and make her escape while Vincent continued to stupidly search for her inside the forest. By the time he would realise what happened, she would be long gone.

Nodding to herself, she gave one final glance at the forest and turned around with full intentions of escape only to end up slamming in a hard chest. Arms came around her, encaging her in a hard grip. Immediately she struggled to let herself free but it was hard to do.

"Found her, Vince!" she heard Victor shouting. She completely forgot about him. She tried to fight hard to get out of his grip but his hold kept on getting tighter and tighter.

"Cara, I told you there's no way," Victor whispered, "Why don't you accept your life?"

"Why don't you accept that I won't give up?" she bit back, "I swear, Victor, once I'm out of here, you'll be going to jail for as long as Vincent will."

Before Victor could reply to her, Vincent came out running from the forest. His eyes filled with jealousy when he saw Victor holding her against himself but it soon turned into anger when he saw Cara. He angrily stomped towards them, gripped Cara's bicep in a harsh grasp and snatched her away from Victor. Cara looked up at him, not an ounce of fear on her face, and saw his jaw clenched.

"Where was she?" he ground out looking at her.

"Behind some tree," Victor answered gesturing behind his friend, "She came out just after you went further inside the woods."

Vincent's jaw ticked and he began dragging her back towards the cabin and Cara let him. She was at the disadvantage here, besides, she wanted to test something and she did. So this is how they work. Her mistake was keeping her eyes on Vincent only which made her forget that Victor was there as well. He hid in plain sight – or perhaps it was her forgetfulness – and came out only when she was sure she made past Vincent.

In short, she would have to deal with Victor first for her final escape.

It was still pretty hard for her to walk in the snow with her black pumps but Vincent did not seem to stop as he kept on dragging her; her feet only made dragging marks instead of footprints. Vincent's grip was hard on her bicep. Reaching the cabin, he slammed open the door and pulled her in. For a minute she thought he might take her to the basement but was proven wrong when he aimed towards the stairs.

Cara stayed silent all the way. She was not guilty for running away – who on earth would be guilty of running away in this situation anyways? – if that is what he was thinking. Heck, she was proud that it worked and now she knew what to do but for that she had to wait since the men would keep a sharp eye on her now.

Vincent pushed opened her room door and threw her in. Not expecting that, Cara managed to balance herself and steadied on her feet. She looked back at Vincent to see him as angry as a raging bull. His eyes were becoming dark like a raging storm already on her and if looks could kill, she would be six feet under the ground. The events from last time came into her mind and she immediately squared her shoulder back and stood tall. She was ready to fight back this time if he dared to raise his hand on her again.

"I could throw you down in the basement again, you know?" Vincent seethed staring at her.

"But you won't," she replied back.

"I won't," he confirmed still livid, "Do you know why?"

'Yes,' she gulped as she knew exactly why. Cara still had not digested what Victor had told her and that is the only danger she is facing. If Vincent was this angry because she ran not even a kilometre away from him, imagine what would happen when she would actually make her escape.

Seeing her gulp like that made Vincent smiled cruelly, his anger dissipating to hilarity. He walked towards her, his steps slow and taunting. Cara stood her ground. Vincent's heart swelled at her challenging stance. She believed he would hit her again and she was ready to fight back. No, he was not going to beat her to pulp like last time. He had promised himself not to do it again. He would never do it again. He stopped walking when he reached her. They stood close to each other, their chests barely touching the others, their eyes meeting; amused blue to challenging brown.

"So you know," Vincent said pleased, "Victor told you, huh?"

When she did not answer, he continued, "I was angry at him for telling you but I don't think I am now."

"You and I both know I will be out of here soon," Cara said, pausing a little between every word.

Vincent raised his hand and gently tucked a loose strand of her hair behind her ear, "Yes, I do but you and I both know if you do then I will come after you."

"You can let me go, Vincent," Cara tried to tell him, "I know you guys are heading somewhere soon and planning to take me along. If you let me go, the police might let you off the hook."

Vincent laughed a little as he cupped her face with both of his hands and leaned down to her face, their lips barely brushing against each other. Cara resisted the urge to head butt him and bloody his nose like last time.

"My sweet, innocent Cara," he cooed, the light air from his lips grazed her, "I can't do that. I'm far too gone. In the beginning it may have been to mess with the police but now... I don't care. I'm keeping you for myself and there is nothing you can do."

"The detective is still out there looking for me," she whispered.

"Detective Alex Shay is out there, yes," he said moving away from her face and dropping his hand away from her face, "But we'll be out of here before she even figures out where you are."

He turned around and began walking towards the entrance of the room. Reaching the threshold he stopped and turned back to look at her. He gave her a smile – the one that mothers usually give to their misbehaving kids in public.

"Be careful with whatever you do now, kitten, I have my eyes on you."

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Hope you enjoyed this chapter! (:

~ Ifra.