Chapter 6: The Escape

Ava's POV

I heard the lock click as the door slammed shut behind him but I didn't look.

I felt glued to the bed, pinned by grief and my overall situation.

The sound of his receding footstep grew fainter by the second, and after a few minutes had casually swung by, there was nothing to hear but dreadful silence.

It was deafening, and for a while, I just laid on the bed, staring at the white ceiling and feeling the crumbled pieces of my life collapse upon me.

It was heavy.

The truth of my situation was heavy as everything that had happened over the last few hours slowly dawned on me.

Hot tears trickled down the sides of my face. It was warm and a bit soothing. I didn't blink. I didn't move. I just laid there, crying quietly —grieving.

I replayed the shoot-out at the wedding in my head. The memory of Fernando's body taking a hit and falling to the ground flashed before my eyes.

The horror of the moment seeped into me gradually —the oscillation from happiness to despair was one I wasn't sure I could ever forget. The taste of that moment was branded on my tongue for life.

I pulled myself together and got in a sitting position, moving up the bed. I leaned my back against the headboard and hugged my legs tightly as I began to cry more viciously.

I thought of my Aunt, my friend, everyone who was present, everyone whose life had ended that day... all because of me.

I finally let the grief in, the pain, the emptiness. I let everything in. The feeling was overwhelming and familiar.

It reminded me of when my parents died in an accident when I was just eight. The grief swallowed me whole, and my voice cracked under the weight of that pain.

"Oh God... Why?" I whimpered to myself as my sobs increased.

My voice sounded less like mine, as I cried so hard until I couldn't help it anymore.

I didn't know how long I cried. I didn't know how many seconds, minutes, or hours passed, but when I finally stopped crying, it felt like weeks had passed. The exhaustion was beginning to kick in, and the urge to slip under the warm blanket and cry a little more was tempting, but no.

I didn't.

I wiped my face with the back of my hand and got to my feet. I was done crying for now. The grieving wasn't over, but I just couldn't grieve completely yet, not right now.

There were more pressing issues at the moment that needed more attention, like getting out of here for one before that devil returned.

My stomach churned at the thought of Miguel. I didn't want to admit it, but he was callous and unpredictable, and there was really no telling what he would do to me when he finally realized that Fernando wasn't coming to save me.

I wondered if then he'd be certain that Fernando was really dead or if he'd take it out on me anyway. There was no saying how he would react.

I knew for certain that Fernando was dead. I saw it. I felt it, but for some reason, this devil was keen on believing that he didn't die.

So whether Fernando was dead or not, it didn't really matter because I was his prisoner either way. I was at his mercy, and he could kill, rape, or do whatever he wanted with me whenever he wanted. It was just a matter of time.

I shuddered at the thought.

I had to figure out a way to escape this place tonight.

I walked to the door and squeezed the doorknob to confirm if Miguel had truly locked me in. It didn't budge.

He did.

There was no surprise there. It was completely expected.

I turned back to the room, looking around for anything that could help me escape. My eyes went to the window, and I hurried to it, pulling the curtains carefully.

I peeked out the window carefully and noticed a few men in suits —possibly guards. They looked armed as they patrolled the compound in twos. Below my window, there were two guards on the lookout.

I waited for a while to study their movement and figure out a way that I could slip past them without drawing any attention to myself.

I calculated the distance from where I was to the ground. It was a bit much. How was I supposed to get down there? I wondered.

"One issue at a time," I muttered to myself, returning my gaze to the guards.

I watched them for a few minutes and finally figured a way past them. It was a long shot, but I was confident I could pull it off.

The guards patrolled in twos, and once they left an area, it took a while before they returned to the vicinity again.

I just needed to get down when they left the vicinity. That was sorted. It wasn't going to be easy, but I felt motivated enough to pull it off.

Now, back to the major issue. "How do I get down there?"

I studied the large sliding glass window, shielded by a thick black net behind it. I slid the glass to one side, sizing it up with my eyes. It looked big enough for my petite figure. Now, all I had to do was get rid of the net.

I searched the room for whatever I could use to cut the net but didn't find anything. I tried to use my hand, but it didn't work either.

There had to be something I could use.

My eyes darted to the wardrobe, and I moved toward it, opening it. There were some clothes inside, men's clothing—extra large but useful.

I picked out a coat and threw it on my naked body. It was warm and large, swallowing my small figure. I checked the wardrobe for scissors or anything sharp but found nothing.

I closed the wardrobe, resigning as I settled on the bed, and slipped my hand in the pocket of the coat. The cold tip of an object touched my hand instantly, and I grabbed it, pulling it out.

I almost screamed for joy the second my eyes landed on the small pocket knife. It took everything in me not to scream. I jumped to my feet instead, grinning with delight.

I felt very hopeful. At this moment, I was sure I could get out of there and escape Miguel's hold on me.

Once I got out of there, I would go to the police and tell them all about what he had done at my wedding. I would make sure he got arrested. It was just a matter of time.

I moved to the window and put the pocket knife between my teeth as I tied my hair in a bun. I cut through the net with great difficulty.

It turned out the pocket knife was a bit blunt, so cutting wasn't as easy as I expected. It took a while, but once I finally got rid of the net, the effort felt worth it.

I took a peek out the window when I was done and waited for a few minutes for the guards to move away. I was going to have to climb down a bit before I jumped, but that wasn't going to be a problem. I was quite athletic.

The guards moved away to patrol another part of the compound some minutes later, and I immediately slipped out the window carefully.

I wasn't going to miss this opportunity for anything.

I climbed down the building slowly until I was just a bit lower from the window before jumping down to the ground.

The second my feet touched the ground, my hope solidified, and I felt more certain that I was going to make it out of there tonight.

I looked around me, trying to get my bearings and figure out which way led out of the mansion.

I couldn't figure it out, but I knew if I waited, I might get caught. I headed in the same direction as the guard, walking briskly but quietly.

The compound of the mansion was large and brightly lit —a blessing and also a curse. Hiding out here was going to be harder than I thought.

The farther I walked without much certainty as to where I was heading, the more my hope began to dwindle again.

I heard the sound of footsteps approaching, and I immediately crouched, hiding behind a nearby tree.

Two guards passed, talking indistinctly as they moved past the garden. My heart was racing aggressively.

The second they were out of sight, I stepped out from behind the tree and sighed in relief, watching them as they went. The minute I turned to resume my escape, another set of guards appeared, and it was too late to hide.

"What are you doing out here?" one of the pair questioned, stepping forward.

My heart pounded with fear. If they caught me, they would probably deliver me back to that devil, and that meant game over. I couldn't get caught.

The guard took another step forward, and I instantly broke into a sprint.