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.

as fear surges

must be behind

me? Was I back home? No, I didn't recognise this room. But what if he called my father and he was on

pull at the tie again, growing all the more frantic, desperate to get free and to find a way out. The plastic rubs into my wrist, the

out of here. I

focus. How did this all

dim light, I look around, trying to make sense of my surroundings. The room is small, plain — white walls, a nightstand, a door that's slightly ajar. There's nothing distinct about it,

to hold back the rising wave of panic

voice trembling. The sound is pathetic,

even know why

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

that he had brought me here

despite everything he had done, I had landed myself in

from somewhere outside of the door, faint but unmistakable. My heart leaps into my throat as I stop breathing for

approaching. Seeming slow

that you?!" My voice cracks as I call out again, louder this

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that the plastic digs deeper into my skin. I grit my teeth against the pain, trying to

moment his face comes into

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...

hell is going on? Why am I tied up?" My voice trembles, panic bubbling up again as I wince slightly

to show him that I was tied,

unreadable. Then, with unsettling calmness, he steps forward and shuts the door over

harsh brightness nipping me like a laser, as I

his voice eerily soothing, as

me to a bed! How the hell am I supposed to calm down?!" I wheeze, as he sighs heavily

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

by this point, and my mind races with

on the sidewalk?!" Ashton says, ignoring my struggle. "I was just trying to help. You're better

me safe? Ashton, this is insane! You didn't have to tie me up! You need to let me go-" I reiterate, reminding him that he still had

wants me to consider

Is he crazy?!

After acting like this?!