“No, you don’t want to ask? Okay, I’ll leave you alone, but only because you’re going to need your rest.” My heart fluttered harder. “The chains are attached to a rail system.” Cain pointed to the thick iron rods that lined the wall behind me, then disappeared around the corner. “You can move around as far as the rails will let you. The bathroom is around that corner, and there is a set of towels and a tube of toothpaste in there for you. I’ve also left something comfortable for you to wear, and I expect you to wear it. If you don’t, you’ll be punished, and just so you know, sometimes you’ll like the punishment, and sometimes you won’t.”

“Do I get to shower?” I asked, not even sure why I cared if I was clean.

The menacing yet sexy look was back on his face as the corner of his mouth lifted. “Already wanting to get wet?” His eyes slowly looked me up and down, and it was as intimate as if his hands were gliding along my skin. “Yes, you can shower.”

Without another word, he turned and walked away and out a large metal door that clanged with finality as it closed. The room was suddenly plunged into darkness, and as crazy as it was, I’d rather have him in the room with me than be on my own in this space where death seemed to breathe from every corner.

A single red light flicked on, and my body flinched. The chains jingled as I looked in the direction of the strange light. I watched the slow-moving red gloop inside the spaceship looking light and found it oddly hypnotic. I glanced around the room and took in the corner that I could see, and it was neat, clean, and shined, which would not normally be menacing, but my mind knew what kind of killer he was.

I’d suspected he was a psychopath from the images and the notes my mother had in her folder but looking into his eyes and seeing his space confirmed the suspicion. No amount of begging or pleading with his human nature would change the outcome of what was to come. There was no making the monster in him feel guilty because he didn’t have empathy or sympathy. They were words to him, the emotions non-existent.

The chances of getting out of this alive were slim, but if I had any chance, I needed to devise a different plan. There had to be a way to make him not want to turn my body into his next art project and dump it off in some random spot for the world to see.