Still, I keep going. I don’t have a choice. I’ll find someone to help me as soon as I’m beyond the property line. It’s what I have to believe. It’s the hope I’m clinging to when I spot a small, unfamiliar cottage in the distance. I’ve never seen it before, and panic wells up in my chest when I realize it might belong to one of the staff. As I’m considering it, I see the face of a man I don’t recognize in the window, and my heartbeat quickens as I dash to the right, hoping by some small miracle he didn’t actually see me.

In my distraction, I lose sight of my footing, stumble over a gnarled root, and go tumbling forward, right down into the creek bed. My knees hit the rocks first, and instinct has me trying to flail my arms, but they’re locked behind me, and there’s nothing to soften the blow as my torso tips forward and my face bounces off a rock in the cold water.

A gurgling noise escapes my mouth as I try to suck in air, but I can’t. And I can’t pull myself up against the weight of the current without the use of my arms. Darkness seeps into my vision, and my chest feels like it’s going to explode as the horrific reality of my situation sinks in.

I’m going to fucking drown in two feet of water. Because of Judge. Because of what he did to me.

I try and fail to flip over, but I can’t. The current is pushing me along the creek bed, my body battering against the edges of the rocks. It’s happening too fast. Dizziness clouds over my mind, and tears prick my eyes as my lips part wider instinctively, still trying to draw in air.

But it isn’t air I breathe.

It’s water.

26

Mercedes

The large, muscular arm yanks me against him, my head lolling into his chest as he carries me away. I cough, the sound weak, my lips numb, and I wonder if I’m dreaming. Did Judge get to me in time? Or did I actually die?

I don’t want to accept the latter, and the only thing I can do is try to make sense of what’s happening as I listen to a door open, and then a woman’s shocked voice fills the space around me.

“What happened?”

“I don’t know.” The male voice echoes from above me, but it doesn’t sound right because it isn’t Judge.

That can’t be right. I’m curled into him, too weak to put up a fight. But it doesn’t matter because a moment later, he’s draping me across something soft. A bed?

“Jesus.” The woman’s voice draws closer. “She looks like she’s been beat to hell and back.”