Shadows In Durango

Chapter 101

*****Sofia's POV*****

My eyes flutter open, but I'm met with darkness.

For a moment, I'm suspended in a state of half-consciousness, drifting somewhere between dream land and reality. The room around me is unfamiliar - and far too quiet, too still. It's not the cafe, not Emma's house...

I shift slightly, trying to push myself up when a sharp tug holds me back.

My wrists... they're stuck.

Panic begins to bloom in my chest, like icy fingers creeping up my spine. I try to move again, this time jerking my arms harder, but it's useless.

My heart starts to hammer in my chest as I twist my head, trying to make sense of my surroundings as I blink profusely.

The bed beneath me is soft, too soft. The sheets are cool against my skin, but there's something wrong. My pulse races as I finally make out the feeling binding me - it's plastic, biting and digging harshly into my skin. A cable tie. I'm tied to the bed!

A wave of nausea hits me as the panic fully sets in, my chest tightening painfully as my breath comes out in short, frantic bursts. My hands are restrained, tethered to the wooden post of the bed, and the more I struggle, the more the cable digs into my flesh.

Where the hell am I?! What is happening?!

I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to calm the rising hysteria, but flashes of memory come back to me in disjointed pieces.

The dinner... the gut-wrenching betrayal of Vincent... meeting his parents... the marriage trap that had twisted so deep I could barely breathe afterwards. Then, leaving his house, leaving the cafe, walking alone in the cold towards Emma's house...

And then Ashton.

I freeze.

Oh my god.

I remember now. The car pulling up, the window rolling down, Ashton leaning out, his face lit by only the streetlight. He'd looked concerned at first, his voice soft as he asked why I was out alone. He'd insisted that I get in his car, said he was just trying to help...

I didn't want to believe that he could be trusted. I had hesitated, hadn't I? Something about him being here in town had felt off... yet, instead of running from him, I had still stood there and engaged in the conversation with him... all before I remember becoming dizzy.

I must have passed out...

And now, here I am. Tied to a bed, with my wrists bound like some kind of captive.

trembles as fear surges through

must be

I? Where would he take me? Was I back home? No, I didn't recognise this room. But what

more frantic, desperate to get free and to find a way out. The plastic

to get out of here. I

did

my surroundings. The room is small, plain — white walls, a nightstand, a door that's slightly ajar. There's nothing distinct about it, nothing that tells me where

to hold back the rising wave

whisper, my voice trembling. The sound is pathetic, barely more than a hoarse

why I'm saying his

as I pull at the restraint again, the plastic biting harder with each movement. My throat feels tight, choked with panic as I scan the room for anything — anything that could help

yell louder, irritated that

place, despite everything he had done, I had landed

outside of the door, faint but unmistakable. My heart leaps into

were approaching. Seeming slow

as I call out again, louder this time, but

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my stomach clenches with dread. I instinctively pull at the cable tie again, yanking so hard that the plastic digs deeper into my skin. I grit my teeth against the pain, trying to free myself, but it's useless. I'm trapped. The door

the hope in my voice dies the moment his face comes into view, confirming that he was behind this, like I had

his expression unreadable. There's no warmth, no sign of the concern he had shown when he'd first pulled up next to me on the

He looks, insane...

tied up?" My voice trembles, panic bubbling up again as I wince

that I was tied, as if he wasn't already aware. "Let me go!" I

he steps forward and

me like a laser, as I

he says quietly, his voice eerily soothing,

I nearly choke on the words. "You took me and tied me to a bed!

the hysteria rising in my own voice as I speak, the dread creeping in around the edges of what was yet to come from

like they were bleeding by this point, and my mind races with worst-case

passed out on the sidewalk?!" Ashton says, ignoring my struggle. "I was just trying to help.

to let me go-" I reiterate, reminding him that he still had me bound to the bed. He cuts me off, stepping closer, and I instinctively shrink back against

me to consider being his

Is he crazy?!

After acting like this?!