Shattered Dynasty by Ava Harrison
49
Payton
Erin stormsout of the room and up the stairs.
Adrenaline rushes through me. I force as much of it out of me in a quick breath. I need to clear my head. I can barely think clearly.
What the hell am I going to do?
Erin killed Tony, and now she’s going to kill me.
It was always her.
My heart hammers in my chest.
Pulse thumps erratically.
I need to get out of here.
Need to find something to use.
I must break free and fight.
A vision of Trent flashes before me. Of the last conversation we shared in his office. How I never told him I loved him.
I can’t die without telling him how I feel.
I need to survive.
For Trent.
For me.
My hands move around, trying to loosen the rope. It’s tight, but it’s not tight enough that I can’t budge my hands a little. I take advantage of the little gap and push harder, even when my skin burns and muscles strain with the effort.
Luckily for me, my hands are tiny because if I keep doing this, I’ll probably be able to shimmy it off.
I hope I have enough time before she comes back.
I rub my wrists back and forth, trying to get the right angle. Almost there, but not quite. Footsteps ring through the air as I work to gain some wiggle room to get my hands free.
There’s no way I’ll get my hands or feet free before she gets down here.
But this time, when my sister steps into the basement, regardless of my tied hands, I intend to charge her.
I would rather die this way than see what Brad has in store for me. He’s a monster. They both are.
As Erin walks closer, I wait until she’s within range before I jump off the couch and plow my body into hers.
It’s one swift hop.
I can’t manage more with the way my ankles are bound together.
Erin is taken off guard.
She falls to the floor, yelling when her arm hits the floor at a weird angle. “You fucking bitch!”
She’s howling, calling out, cursing me, and fighting back.
I don’t care.
She’s no longer my sister. She doesn’t deserve mercy from me.
I jump on top of her. I still haven’t gotten my hands free, but I use the fall to my advantage and hit her on the head, repeatedly, with my tied hands that are now clenched together to form a fist.
I’m kneeling on top of her stomach with all my weight. It’s brutal, and her dominant hand is too broken to lift and block my blows. She fights back with her left arm, but this is a fight I refuse to lose.
My knuckles burn. My wrists feel like they are being torn apart, but I keep going. I keep thrashing. I keep hitting.
I go for every inch of her flesh I can make contact with.
I do anything to stop her, to help myself, to escape so I can tell Trent I love him.
Erin wrestles against me.
Muscles flex, bodies collide.
Neither of us is willing to give up.
Her unbroken hand tries to grab at my bicep, but I never stop pounding her with my tied fists.
I only stop when her blood seeps onto my fingers.
It comes from her face, escaping in slow drips.
She’s not dead, but I knocked her out.
Now I just need to get out of this house.
Using the knife she dropped when I charged her, I cut the rope around my ankles first, then put it between my legs for leverage and jimmy at the binds around my hands.
When they are loose enough, I break free and rub at my red wrists.
Then I run.
I take the stairs two at a time and am almost out the front door when I hear the click of a gun cocking.
“Not so fast.”
I turn.
Brad is here.