Page 80 of Ice Cold Christmas

But she’d…

Gotten away. Gotten the knife. She’d stabbed him. Aimed for his heart. Missed, but…

I got away.

This dream…it seemed different.

Surrounded by the snow, she turned. Her icy toes sank into the snow. Bare toes because she’d long since lost her high heels. “H-help…”

Her face hurt. Her cheekbone. Because her cheekbone had been smashed into the floor. Her lips were busted. Parched. “Help!” she cried again. She spun around, looking at the snow. No tracks to show where she’d been. Nothing around her but snow. So much snow in every direction. Trees heavy with the weight of the snow on their branches. Woods that waited in the distance. No person. No cars.

Fear settled deeper around her. One hand shoved against her bleeding stomach.

Run. Get away. Because if she didn’t get away, he would kill her. That was what he wanted. To kill her. To enjoy her pain.

She slogged through the snow. She had to keep going because she had to get back home. Something—someone important waited at home.

She turned, spinning once more, and her blood spattered onto the snow. Where to go? Which direction? She had to escape.

She sank deeper into the snow. Stopped feeling her toes. Tremors shook her body. Her hand lifted to shove wet hair out of her face, but she paused, staring at her hand. Her left hand. He took my ring. Ripped it off me. Said I’d never be a bride.

“Melody!” A roar.

She whimpered.

He doesn’t usually call my name in this nightmare. But she could hear his roars, and she knew he’d seen her.

Go, go, go. She had to keep going. Couldn’t stop. If she stopped, she’d be dead.

She plowed forward. Straight ahead. No stopping. No hesitation.

Brakes screeched. Tires squealed. Her head whipped to the right. The darkness had grown. When had the night come? How long had she been walking? It had been lighter before, when she’d first woken. Light enough to see the blood.

But now darkness was everywhere. Darkness except…

Except for the two headlights that stared back at her. And there was no time to move. Only a split second to realize that she’d reached a road, that she’d stumbled right into the path of a vehicle.

Then it hit her, and she screamed—screamed desperately for, “Victor!”

He threw open the bedroom door. “Melody!” His hand flew out and hit the light switch. Illumination immediately flooded into the bedroom.

She lunged up in bed, her breath heaving and one hand whipping up to cover her heart. Her head swung toward him. Terror covered her beautiful features as she gaped at him, and her lower lip began to tremble.

In a heartbeat’s time, he was across the room. He shoved the tangled covers out of his way and pulled her into his arms. He held her tightly, needing to feel her against him. “You’re safe,” Victor told her. The words were an absolute promise. “I’ve got you.” I will not let go. “You’re safe. You’re all right, baby. You. Are. Safe.”

She shuddered against him. “I was back in the snow. Wearing my red dress. I didn’t have my high heels.”

He stiffened. Had she mentioned those details of her nightmare to him before? He didn’t think she’d spoken of the dress or heels. He could remember both perfectly in his mind. She’d been absolutely gorgeous in the red dress that had clung to her curves. Her heels had been sexy as hell. Then again, he’d always found her to be sexy as hell. Always.

“I…I’d gotten out of the ropes.”

His grip tightened even more. She definitely did not mention the ropes to me before.

“He had a knife. He wanted to kill me.”

Sonofabitch. Sonofabitch.

“He slammed my face into the floor until I felt something break along my cheek. And, I…I think that’s when I got my head injury? Because I was bleeding from my left temple. He slammed the side of my face and head into the floor. He was so strong.”