Free My Masters' Nightmare, Season 1 / Episode 13 by Marita A. Hansen Page A

and explain everything. He would still be mad, but he’d
forgive me, because without a doubt he loved me as I loved
him.
    I breathed out, again shocked to think
that. Only a short while ago, I had wanted to kill him, now I
wanted to marry him. My mind returned to all those years ago when
he’d proposed. I could’ve been with him for the past seven years. I
could’ve had his babies and lived a happy life. But Christo had
stolen that from me and I would make him pay for it
dearly.
    As the men followed Frano around the
building, I pushed to my feet and sprinted along the fence line,
heading further into the field, wanting to use the trees on my left
as cover. They lined the back of the property, giving me a chance
to get past without being detected, because without a doubt, Frano
was searching for me.
    I rounded the fence line
and ran
behind the row of trees, catching glimpses of the property through
the branches. I stopped as I neared the last tree and peered around
it. Luckily, there was no sign of Frano or the Landi soldiers.
Relieved, I kicked into gear again, spotting a different building
in the distance. It looked vaguely familiar. As I neared it, I
realized why. It was the old farmhouse where my mother used to buy
eggs from … which meant I wasn’t far from my childhood
home.
    I glanced at it as I passed by,
disappointed that it looked abandoned. I kept on moving, slowing down as I
neared a large barn on another property. Pure fear raced through me
at the sight. Not knowing why, but wanting to, I headed for the
door. My brain started screaming at me not to go inside. Ignoring
it, I pushed open the door. It swung inwards, the creaking
reminding me of the sound effects in horror films. And like the
women in those films, I knew I shouldn’t enter—even though I
would.
    I stepped inside, my eyes sweeping the
interior of the barn. It had a rusty tractor in one corner, dirt
and hay spread across the floor and… My eyes went to a row of horse
stalls on my left. I walked over to them, my heart rate picking up
the closer I got. Opening the one at the end, I stepped inside the
empty rectangle and closed the door. On autopilot, I bobbed down
and peered through the hole in the wood panel. I could see
everything clearly in my mind’s eye, the images from seven years
ago returning. And what I saw made me gasp.

 
     
    6
    SOPHIA
    Christo stepped into the barn with a
gun to Jagger’s head. “Are you in here, schiava ?” he called out.
    When I didn’t answer, he looked
at the ground. “I can see your footprints in the dirt.” His eyes
moved to the stall I was hiding in. “Come out, come out, wherever
you are, my sweet little schiava .”
    I remained still, too terrified to move or
even make a sound, my heart almost bursting out of my
chest.
    Christo shoved Jagger to the ground and
cocked his gun. “If you don’t come out, I will shoot
him.”
    Before I could change my
mind, I
pushed opened the door and stepped out of the stall, unable to stop
from trembling.
    He smiled at me. “Bring her to me,
Jagger.” When Jagger didn’t move, he kicked him. “Get
her!”
    Jagger rolled over, clutching his
stomach.
    “ Now!”
    Jagger struggled to his feet and stumbled
over to me. He had a split lip and a bloody nose, Christo obviously
having beaten him. It was the day after I’d made love to Frano by
the riverside. Jagger had shown up at my house after school,
barging inside, demanding to see me. That was when he’d seen
Christo holding me by the throat. He’d thrown his school bag at
Christo, making him let go of me, then had charged him, yelling at
me to run. And I had, not looking back even though I knew Jagger
was sacrificing himself for me, too terrified to do anything
else.
    As Jagger came to a stop in front of me,
he whispered, “We need to charge him together.”
    “ No, h e has a gun,” I whispered
back
    “ We don’t have a
choice—”
    “ Hurry up!” Christo yelled,
cutting Jagger off. “Don’t try my