Chapter 7

Kyle froze when he saw Elena hanging thirty feet in the air.

"Kyle. You made it."

Allison pointed up at Elena.

"I cut halfway through the rope. She's got maybe twenty minutes before it snaps."

Kyle's eyes went red.

"What the hell are you doing?"

Allison ignored the question and pointed to the old wooden crates piled in the corner.

"If you hurry, you might be able to stack those high enough to reach her.

"Oh, and we're in the middle of nowhere. Even the fastest ambulance is at least thirty minutes out."

Kyle clenched his fists until his knuckles cracked.

"You're insane!"

"I am insane."

Allison laughed, her eyes wilder than ever.

She walked toward the men and yanked open her collar.

"Don't you think I'm disgusting? Isn't this what you wanted? Me with another man's kid? Other men putting their hands on me?

"Then go ahead. Watch."

She pulled several pills from her pocket, swallowed them, then motioned for the men to do the same.

"If you leave, Elena dies."

Kyle's expression changed.

He didn't hesitate.

He rushed to the pile of crates and started moving them with his bare hands.

Minutes ticked by.

The drugs started kicking in.

Allison began tugging at her clothes, breathy moans slipping out.

The men's eyes glazed over as they slowly closed in on her.

Kyle suddenly froze, a crate still in his hands.

That was when he realized what Allison and the men had taken.

'Allison really has lost her mind!'

Just as one man was about to touch Allison, Kyle hurled the crate in his hands at him.

"Ah!" The man screamed as it struck him.

Kyle lunged forward, kicked the nearest guy away, and pulled Allison into his arms.

Barely conscious, she sagged against him, her fingers curling into his collar.

"Kyle... you still can't stand to see anything happen to me, can you?"

She smiled as tears slipped down her cheeks.

Kyle glanced at the men closing in, then up at Elena swaying thirty feet above the floor.

His face tightened, torn.

Allison was burning up in his arms, already starting to babble.

The men kept closing in, breathing hard, their eyes locked on her.

Kyle gritted his teeth and shouted up at Elena.

"Protect your head! From that height... the fall probably won't kill you!"

Then he carried Allison out of the warehouse without looking back.

Elena watched them disappear through the door.

The last bit of hope inside her shattered.

This was the third time.

The third time Kyle had chosen Allison and left Elena to live or die.

Her eyes burned, but no tears came.

The men below quickly recovered. With Allison gone, every one of them turned toward Elena.

They crowded beneath her, reaching up and yelling disgusting things.

Then some started stripping.

Above them, the rope began to fray.

Elena went cold.

Even if the fall didn't kill her, she knew what was waiting below.

For the first time, fear completely swallowed her.

There was nothing she could do.

She shut her eyes.

Snap!

The rope broke.