Free Abducted (Amber Alert Series Book 2) by Sara Schoen Page A

to take you with me.”
    He reached out for me and I screamed until the lining of my throat tore. I scrambled to get my footing, but before I could run off, he grabbed me roughly and pulled me toward him. His hands latched onto me, and I knew I wasn’t going to be able to escape as easily as I had done with Damien.
    My life was officially over.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 13
     
     
    I swallowed my fear as I tried to process what to do next. Steve Bennett was the most feared criminal of the last century, and I knew the things he would do to me. Even if Steve hadn’t admitted to the rape and kidnapping on national television, my father’s journal had told me all about his actions, and that meant I had to escape if I wanted a chance to get home unharmed.
    “Come, Anna.”
    “I’m not Anna! Why do you keep calling me that?” I cried as he roughly pushed me forward.
    “You look so much like your mother. So much alike in fact, that if I can’t have her, I’ll think of keeping you. What do you have to say to that?” he said, as his hands started to travel my body. Shivers traveled up my spine, and not the ones that Damien gave me, these were fear driven.
    “I’d rather not!” I cried, as I pulled out of his hold and ran as fast as I could.
    I could hear Steve’s maniacal laughter as I raced away. The thorns and branches were cutting deeply into my legs and stomach as I sped through the trees. I hopped over fallen trees, trying to escape, but the whole time I could hear Steve talking to me. He was always just a few steps behind me.
    “Audrey, if it hurts your feelings so much, I will call you by your name instead of your mother’s.” He was following me no matter where I went, and I knew he would never stop. He was obsessed, and that would mean I would have to keep running.
    I hid behind a tree as Steve got closer to me. I listened to his footsteps as they traced around me. He was beating around the bush, literally. His voice continued to drift over me. He was close by, and I realized that I wasn’t in the best hiding spot now. He would find me; he always found his target.
    “Your mother and I had a wonderful time together. At that time I didn’t need an apprentice to bring me girls, but I wasn’t even planning on having you come to meet me. Why are you here?” Steve pondered as he passed by my hiding spot.
    I shoved my hands into my pockets as I breathed a sigh of relief. My hand jammed into a crumpled piece of paper, which unfolded to reveal a map. The map showed towns—Charleston, Harrisonburg, and a few others that were small in comparison, with circles around their names. There was a large red star and a note above it that said ‘here’s where you’ll get out’ in messy handwriting. Was this Damien’s handwriting? Had he meant for me to escape? I glanced at the map and tried to match it to the landscape around me, but I needed a road to figure out just were I was.
    I started running back toward the road that I had escaped from Damien on, but the second I left my hiding spot Steve grabbed hold of me. He took the map from my hands and forced me to turn around to look into the dark green eyes that caused my fear to spike.
    “How did you get a map?” Steve asked. I froze momentarily before kneeing him as I had done to Damien and speeding off again. Once I hit the road, I was able to look at the map. Charleston was the closest to me, and then it was off to Harrisonburg to head south for home. There was a low chuckle behind me, I knew that meant Steve was coming. I had to take off again. I turned on my heels, and raced through the trees until I was stopped once again by Steve Bennett. How was he always able to find me?
    “You’re following the same paths as the other girls and don’t even know it,” he said with a smirk.
    “Then I guess I’m going to have to think of another way to get back home,” I said smartly.
    “You could, but I can’t let you go because I need you to get your