The man walked toward the bed. He came into focus when he came up to the bed. He looked exactly Gabe must have when he was twenty years old. They had the same dark hair, and high cheekbones. He had on a sun-faded baseball cap and a flannel shirt. His dark eyes were scanning my body as he sat down on the bed.

His ice-cold fingers ran across my cheek to wipe away one my remaining tears. I flinched at his cold touch.

"Sorry, my hands are cold," he said with a slight chuckle. "It was pretty cold outside today."

I furrowed my eyebrows. He was trying to joke with me about the weather?

"I'm Jared," he said. "What is your name?"

Gabe never told him my name? Was I supposed to be like some kind of gift to him?

"Leah," I said.

"That's pretty."

He let his cold fingers trail down my face. He grabbed my chin with his finger and his thumb. He turned my head to the side as he examined my face.

"You're gorgeous," he said. "I'm so happy my dad got you for me."

I let go of the blanket with one hand, and grabbed his wrist. I pulled his hand off of my face. Jared let out a deep breath. He leaned forward and put his hand on the other side of my body. He towered over me. I pulled the blankets up on higher on my bare chest.

"There's a few rules you need to follow," he said. "One of them is to never say no to me."

"I'm not a slave," I said.

"I know that. You're my wife."

My chest tightened at his words.

"Second rule is to not ask me any questions," he said. "Everything I do is to protect you, so I don't need you questioning me about it. Do you understand?"

I gave him a small nod. Jared's lips spread into a wide smile. A few of his teeth on the side were crooked and overlapping each other.

"Good," he said. "If you break any rules or misbehave I will have to punish you."

He leaned down and pressed his lips against mine. My hands let go of the blanket, and went up onto Jared's chest. I pushed him away as his lips attacked mine. I rolled my head to the side to get him off of me. Jared snatched my wrists and pinned them against my chest.

"What did I just say?" he asked.

"Please, let me go," I begged him.

"I can't do that," he said. "Don't worry you will be happy here."

He let go of my wrists, and grabbed the top of the blanket. I tried to push Jared away from me. He stopped and raised an eyebrow.

"You need to start following the rules," he said. "I don't want to have to punish you."

He pushed my hands away as he pulled down the top of the blanket. I covered my bare chest with my arms, but he held my hands against the mattress. He started kissing my neck, and his lips moved down along my collarbone. I squeezed my eyes shut as I shook underneath him.

My body was still recovering from whatever Gabe had injected me with. Even if I did have all of my strength, I don't think I would be able to fight him off. Jared's grip was crushing my wrists as he sucked on my neck.

He lifted his head when he heard me sob. He let go of my one wrist, and wiped away the tears. I used my free hand to cover my chest again.

"Why are you crying?" he asked.

I opened my mouth to speak, but it caused more tears to pour down my face. His calloused hands held my face. I wanted to take off running, but I could not move. Jared was staring down at me. The brim of his cap caused a dark shadow to cast over his eyes.

A loud knock echoed through the room. Jared pulled the blanket back up over my body.

"What?" Jared yelled at whoever was on the other side of the door.

"Mom wants to know if you're coming down to dinner," a male voice said.

Jared rolled his eyes and shook his head. The door creaked open, and Jared spun around. A blurry figure poked his head into the room. I squinted to see that it was a boy who had to be around sixteen years old.

"Theo, get out of here!" Jared shouted.

"You didn't answer," he said. "I didn't know if you heard me."

"Get out. I will be down later."

I groaned and rolled onto my side. I cradled my throbbing head in my hands. I shivered when Jared place his hand on my waist. The door clicked as Theo closed it. The bed shifted as Jared got up.

My heavy eyes were crashing close while I listened to Jared move around the room. He sat back down beside me, and rolled me onto my back. I pried my eyes open to see that Jared was leaving over me, but now he was no longer wearing a shirt.

He pulled the blanket off of my body, and the cold air pricked at my skin. Jared's lips were on mine again, and his hands roamed over my body. I only had the strength left in me to cry as he forced himself on me.

--

My eyes fluttered open when the bed dipped. Jared was sitting on the edge, and was pulling a hoodie over his head. The pain in my head and muscles had died down to a barely noticeable throb.

I pulled the blankets up higher so that they were covering my bare skin. Jared turned when he heard me moving. I pushed myself up so that I was sitting. I kept the blanket gathered around myself as I pushed myself to the edge of the bed.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

My pain had gone away, but bits and pieces of Jared's assault flooded my mind. My bottom lip trembled when I opened my mouth to speak.

"I have set some clothes out for you," he said.

"Can I take a shower?" I asked, my voice wobbled as I tried to stop myself from crying.

"Of course," Jared said.

He stood up, and held his hand out toward me. I didn't voluntarily take his hand, so he grabbed mine. He pulled me up onto my feet, and I kept the blanket wrapped around my body. He slid his free arm around my waist. I kept my head down to avoid his gaze.

"Everything you'll need is in the bathroom," he said. "When you're done get changed, make the bed, and then go down to the kitchen. My mom will have breakfast for you, okay?"

I nodded my head. Jared kissed the top of my head before letting me go. I hurried into the bathroom and slammed the door behind me. I locked for a lock on the door, but there was none. I turned and leaned back against the door.

The bathroom was tiny. There was a white tub that was surrounded by broken blue tiles on the wall. The mirror above the sink had a few streaks across it. I grabbed the edge of the sink, and leaned in so that my face came in to focus.

My blonde hair was matted in a collection of knots. My eyes were bright red from all of the crying. Large dark hickies were scattered down the one side of my neck from Jared.

"Leah, don't take too long," Jared said through the door. "I don't want you to keep my Mom waiting."

The bedroom door shut before I could answer him. I hopped into the shower, and scrubbed my body. The disgusting feeling of Jared coated my skin. He took advantage of the sedation that Gabe injected me with. If Jared would try to do that again I would fight him off. No one had ever forced themselves on me like that. Owen was an ass, but he never did something as awful as that.

I wrapped one of the towels around myself when I was done. I poked my head into the room to make sure that Jared was gone. A pair of jeans and a T-shirt were folded at the end of the bed next to a cardigan and some underwear. They were all my clothes. Gabe must have brought my suitcase with me. If he brought my suitcase he must have also brought my purse. My purse had my cell phone, and I could call for help.

I changed into the clothes, and ran over to the closet. I pulled the doors open to see that a series of sweaters and shirts hanging off of hangers. A small section past all of his clothes were mine. They hung all of my clothes up like this is where I was staying.

The suitcase was not in the closet. Jared's bedroom was small, and not many places for them to hide the suitcase. I got on my knees, and checked under the bed.

It was empty except for a few balls of dust.

I stood up, and squinted as I surveyed the room. I spotted my glasses folded and sitting on the nightstand. I put them on, and my vision became clear. I looked around the room again, but there was still no suitcase in sight.

I looked over at the window that was streaming into the room. I pulled the curtains back to see thick bars stretched out before the glass. I grabbed the bar and gave it a yank, but the cold metal did not budge.

The house was surrounded by a thick brush of trees. The colours from autumn had seeped into the leaves. A large barn with flaking white paint was behind the house. It blocked the view from whatever else could be out there.

I checked the other window in the bedroom, but it had the same bars.

They had designed this house to be a prison.

I wanted to curl up on the floor and continue to cry. I was stuck in some nightmare because I made a stupid decision. I wanted to stay in this room, and hide from this family. Jared told me I had to go downstairs though. If I did not listen to him he was going to punish me. I don't know what his punishment was going to be, but I did not want to find out. Last night was probably not even considered a punishment, and it was the worse night of my life.

I made the bed, and went downstairs. I followed the sound of a woman humming to find Lindsay in the kitchen.