Page 92 of Keeping Kara

“Because!” he yelled, scaring Kara with the barked response. With the abrupt difference in tone and volume. “No one leaves me! You’re nothing. You’re trash! You’re a whore who fell into bed with the first man who came along after you left me. You have to pay for your fucking disrespect!”

Nolan took a deep breath…then gave her the smile that, at one time, she’d thought was adorable and meant he was really into her. “I don’t even want to fuck you,” he continued, tone back to normal. “You’re tainted now. I wouldn’t give you my dick if you begged for it.”

Kara did her best to hide her relief at hearing that.

As he spoke, he began to remove the disguise he’d donned to trick Jen and anyone else who might recognize him. He took off the glasses, removed the colored contacts he had in, and tugged off the wig he had on. The man who was revealed was the Nolan she remembered. The man who’d terrorized her before. The man she hoped she’d never see again.

“You’ll stand there against that wall for as long as you can, until you eventually give in to the inevitable and hang yourself. There’s no one around. I looked long and hard for the perfect place to stash you. Your body will rot here, the animals will feast on your flesh as you decompose. In the meantime, I’ll be long gone. Across the country, finding new conquests. I’m not even going to add you to my tally.” He gestured to the lurid marks on his chest, hidden by the shirt he was wearing at the moment. “You don’t deserve to be inked on my body. Should we take a wager on how long you can last?”

Kara shook her head the tiniest bit, the most movement she was able to make and not hurt herself in the process.

“I give you a day and a half.”

His mocking words, and his anticipation at the suffering she’d go through, hardened Kara’s resolve. This was actually the best outcome she could’ve hoped for, under the circumstances. He wasn’t raping her, wasn’t using a knife to carve into her skin, and wasn’t immediately putting a bullet in her head.

He was giving her a gift. The gift of time. The longer she could withstand falling asleep, the more time Arrow had to find her.

Nolan had just signed his own death warrant, and he didn’t even know it. The only person dying in this shithole of a cabin would be him. Not her. She’d stand there for a week if that was how long it took for Arrow and his team to find her. Nolan had no idea the mistake he’d made. If he did, he’d be furious and would kill her immediately.

Fuck him.

She didn’t need sleep. Didn’t need to eat. Didn’t care if she peed and pooped herself. Because in the end, she’d be alive. That was all that mattered. To continue breathing until Arrow arrived. She was no damsel in distress. No, she was a heroine in peril. And her luck would hold out. There was no other alternative she’d even consider. Arrow would find her—he had to.

This was one battle of wits she was determined to win. She just hoped Nolan didn’t suddenly get impatient to start his new life out west. The goal was to keep him here for Arrow to find. If that meant giving him a “show,” that’s what she’d do.

Only one of them was walking out of here, and Kara was more determined than ever that it was going to be her.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Chaos looked at his watch. Again. Too much time had passed for his comfort. Too much time that Kara had been in the hands of a serial killer. A full day and then some. And every single minute that went by was one more where she could be dead or dying. Was she calling out for him? Had she lost hope that he was still looking for her?

The what-ifs were killing him, and Chaos was done standing around waiting for someone to come up with some kind of clue for them to follow.

Edge had called a few times to report that Jen still hadn’t spoken a word. She was almost comatose, and the doctors had decided to keep her for a few days after all. Thankfully, they were allowing him to stay as well.

Chaos hated that Jen was so traumatized, but he knew Edge would do whatever he could to reach her. To make sure she understood that nothing that happened was her fault. Finding Kara alive would go a long way toward helping her heal, and Chaos was determined to do just that.

But first, he needed. Fucking. Intel.

To everyone’s surprise, when Chaos called the police to report Kara missing, even if he wasn’t convinced they’d do anything, after taking his report and telling him they’d be in touch, a detective called back shortly after and said he’d talked to Beckett Blackwood of the Asheville PD, and as a result, they were extremely concerned about Kara’s well-being.

Because of the extraordinary circumstances, the department put out an APB for the PT Cruiser, and an MEP—Missing and Endangered Person alert.

It made Chaos feel better that police officers all over eastern and central Virginia were on alert for both the car and for anyone meeting Nolan or Kara’s description. He needed everyone to be looking for the PT Cruiser, and it seemed that, at least, was happening. Thank goodness.

Tex had also gone on social media and plastered pictures of Jen’s car and Kara on as many local groups as he could find. So not only were the cops keeping an eye out for Kara, presumably any locals scrolling on their socials would also be alerted.

Despite the additional awareness, Chaos was still antsy. Hated that he was here in a hangar at the base, safe, when Kara was most definitely not safe.

Buck’s phone rang, and everyone turned to him expectantly. He’d been the liaison between what was happening here in Virginia and Tex. The former SEAL had been working nonstop to find any scrap of information about Jen’s car. He was also monitoring the comments on the dozens of social media posts he’d made.

Without having to be told, Buck put the call on speaker so everyone could hear whatever Tex wanted to tell them.

“They headed west,” the former SEAL said without beating around the bush.

Chaos scowled. Of course they did. It was almost a given that Nolan would go west, as they were in fucking Norfolk, almost as east as they could get in the state. But he did his best to rein in his impatience, waiting to hear what else Tex had discovered.

“After Colins left the area where he’d dumped Jennifer Williams, he stuck to back roads, avoiding the interstates and some of the more heavily traveled routes. I only caught glimpses of the car as it passed the rare gas station with a functioning security system, but Kara is definitely in the vehicle with him. She’s in the passenger seat, and in every snippet I found, she’s looking straight ahead.”