Page 26 of Their Stolen Obsession

Hold on. Don’t give up.

My heart swelled. Those small words were tiny but meant the world to me. The simple syllables made a tremendous impact, and I felt them deep into my core.

“I’m here,” a female voice whispered.

I glanced up through the hole and saw Knoxlee. She was the person bringing me a snack and encouragement to not let go of the person I once was before all of this. I should’ve known she was the one behind the wall coming to see me.

“Knoxlee?” I whispered back, worried my eyes played tricks on me.

But if it was Knoxlee, I didn’t want her to be afraid and leave me.

“Yes?” she answered.

I smiled. “Thank you.”

“I wish I could do more.”

“No. This is enough,” I said as I peeked through the hole and saw her glance down the hallway. “I’m grateful.”

Knoxlee appeared anxious. Antsy. She had a hand on her belly and rubbed her stomach.

“I should go before someone sees me.” Knoxlee fussed with her shirt.

“No. Please. Wait,” I pleaded and banged my hands against the wall. “I have one question?”

Knoxlee halted. Froze on the spot and peered in my direction. “What?”

“Why are you doing this for me?” I asked.

Slowly, Knoxlee came toward me. The green shade of her eyes turned hazel as she got closer until all I saw was the black of her perfect lipstick. Her lips trembled as she tried to speak, but no words came out.

Until Knoxlee took a deep breath and exhaled. “Because I wish someone had done the same for me.”

This woman was strong. I had seen her strength firsthand, but everyone had a breaking point, and Knoxlee had cracked. A small sliver of weakness had ripped through her after she admitted the truth, but she quickly recovered. I watched her back away from the wall. A hand remained on her belly, but her face lost color.

Knoxlee went pale as a ghost.

“Is someone coming?” I whispered in a panic.

“No, but I—” She clamped a hand over her mouth.

“Knoxlee? Are you all right?” I asked urgently.

Knoxlee didn’t answer. Instead, she fled down the hallway as quietly as she could in her compromised state. I listened to her heels clicking as they faded as she got further away until I didn’t hear her anymore. Loneliness crept back, and I wondered if she’d ever return. So many unanswered questions about her ran through my head. At least Knoxlee helped me fight the demons that threatened to destroy me in this prison until my release.

Sixteen

Her Predator

Sin

Light coming through a small window with metal bars shone across the soil. I was hot, almost feverish, and my head throbbed like a damn car horn going off. Everything was blurry as my eyes stretched open and I awoke back in my worst nightmare. Back in a war-torn country with my life hanging by a thread.

Screams echoed from somewhere and there was shouting in Arabic. I had no idea where I was or how I’d gotten there, but my entire body ached. I must’ve been a damn punching bag before I was tossed in here like a piece of garbage and forced to rot in a small forty-eight square foot room. Not even a room—a fucking cell.

The smell of dead bodies mixed with the stench of bad fucking body odor stung mynose. There was no toilet, only a bucket that, from the smell of it, was still ripe with someone else’s urine and shit. A goddamn filthy porta potty had nothing on this. Christ, the pail reeked.

I needed to get out of this, but there was nowhere to go. Even if I knocked out one of these motherfuckers, chains that were bolted to the brick wall bound my legs.