Page 197 of I Never Stopped Loving You

“Come on, Willow. Stop running. You should remember…Running only makes it worse.”

My heart drops into my stomach when I hear a footstep off to my left. No. How the hell did he get over there? I thought the path to my right was where I came from. How many tunnels are there in this hellhole?

“There you are,” he shouts as his hand grips onto my hair pulling me towards him.

I scream and thrash, but he only wraps my hair tighter around his fist. The strands pull and strain along my scalp, feeling like chunks are being ripped from the top of my head.

“Stop fighting me, you little shit.”

*Crack*

Stars explode behind my eyes as I fall to the ground. My knees never connect with concrete as he grips my arm and forces me to stay on my feet. The back of my skull is throbbing, and there’s a bitter metallic taste building in my mouth. I think I bit my tongue when he hit me on the back of my head.

Did he hit me with the handle of the knife, or was that his fist? Either way, I feel like I’m going to be sick from the pressure in my head.

“Stupid fucking girl. You were never good at listening,” he growls as he begins to drag me down the dimly lit tunnel.

“St…Stop. Please,” I whimper as I reach up trying to release his grip on my hair.

“Stop? Do you think your boyfriend stopped when he was torturing me? When he punched me over and over, knocking out teeth and breaking my ribs? No. He tortured me for fucking years, Willow. All because of you.”

“I didn’t know,” I shout as I claw at his arm.

“Of course you didn’t. Where the fuck have you been all of these years?” he snaps as he glances left and right down two different paths before turning right.

“I was in Texas. I was adopted after…after…”

My words cut off as he drags me back into the center of the maze where this all began. A large puddle of blood is the only thing remaining where Noah once was. The puddle is smeared as if he struggled to drag his body away.

“Where the fuck is he?” James shouts as he tosses me roughly to the ground.

My body hits the ground, and my wrist bends back causing a sharp shooting pain up the outside of my arm as I try to catch myself. My scream gets caught in my throat as the pain ripples up my arm. I let my body fall to my side as I clutch my arm to my chest.

“Get the fuck up,” he screams as he grabs me by the arm and drags me over to the other chair that was next to his.

When he sits me in the chair and turns his back, I try to run. He quickly lunges for me, gripping me around the throat and shoving me back into the chair. I can feel his fingertips pressing against my carotid artery, and my vision begins to slowly fade.

“Don’t you dare run away from me, girl, or I’ll make it so you can’t run ever again.”

He shoves me making my head snap backward over the back of the chair as blood begins to flow correctly through my body. Spots still linger at the edges of my sight, but I can see him. He keeps an eye on me as he moves toward the table along the side wall and grabs some rope.

“I need to go find your boyfriend. He couldn’t have gotten that far while losing that much blood.”

I can’t stop the pathetic cry that escapes me as I see amount of blood pooled and smeared on the ground again.

“Aww, don’t cry, baby. If he’s still breathing, I’ll bring him in here so you can say goodbye. I’ll even let you watch him take his last breath before I kill you too.”

He grabs my wrists, yanking them behind my back with force. The pain causes an ear-piercing scream to rip from my throat as the hot pain from my wrist spreads up to my elbow.

“Shut the fuck up!”

*Smack*

My head snaps to the side then dangles forward until my chin rests against my chest and tears begin to fall. How the fuck did everything go so wrong so fast? If he had just told me he had my father down here from the beginning…Damnit. I know he only wanted to protect me. After the last forty-eight hours, he probably thought I was close to breaking.

“You stay put. I’ll be right back, baby girl.”

He presses a kiss to the top of my head before walking away following the blood trail. The only amount of affection he’s ever showed me in my entire life, even back when he believed he was my father. A sour, vile liquid fills the back of my throat before I turn my head and throw up on the ground. The bile burns as I continue to throw up.