A Billionaire's Mistake

74|Underestimated

Sienna

When Travis returns to the cellar, I'm ready.

He was gone for about thirty minutes, and in that time I was able to use the pocketknife to cut my way through the rope. Now, the two detached pieces are clenched tightly in my palms since I can't let him know I've partly freed myself yet. Not when my ankles are still bound. Unfortunately, I ran out of time before I could accomplish that.

When the loud, cement door swings open with an awful creak, the sound transports me back to those awful days of my time spent in the church. When I was on a hard, wooden floor pinned beneath him. Every single time that floorboard creaked, it sounded exactly like the damn door Travis just threw open.

Old me would have vomited all over the floor (again). Old me would have cowered while he enacted whatever disciplinary actions he deemed fit. But the new me? The one who runs the largest marketing company on the East Coast? Who built herself back up with the help of her friends and one very special, insanely hot, tattooed, fellow Harry Potter fan? I refuse to let Travis have another part of me.

But to take him down, I have to play the part. I have to become an actress to get him right where I want him.

When Travis strides into the room with an arrogant smile on his face, I let the tears fall down my cheeks, forcing my body to tremble like I always used to. Looking back now, it's hard to think I didn't stand up for myself before, but I was young, and I wasn't supposed to know how to handle it then. If I've learned anything, I have to forgive my younger self and let go of the past so I can move towards my future.

My future with Lincoln.

With Carmen, Riley, Margo, Muggles, and hell, even Jett. I want to have more experiences and live life to the fullest with the people who matter most. For the first time in my life, I want to take a break from work just to enjoy the time I have left.

If anything situation could persuade me to have a new outlook on life, it'd be this one.

"Hello, Sienna." Travis walks up to the wooden chair, walking around me in a slow circle like a tiger hunts its prey. His moves are calculated and planned, which is exactly why mine have to be, too. I have to strike when the timing is perfect, or else all of this will go to shit.

I continue to tremble, staring at the floor as his boots begin to squeak against the cement, creating a trail of snow and mud in his path.

"This all could have been avoided if you just agreed to be mine in the first place."

Bullshit. Travis is the type of man to want what he can't have. He enjoys the chase. If I had wanted him, truly wanted him, I wouldn't be surprised if he killed me off to get rid of me so he could move on to the next unlucky woman.

But saying that would give him the idea that I've gotten stronger and I'm not as weak as I once was. I want him to think I'm still the petrified teenager he once knew me as, so I nod in agreement even if it's the last thing I want to do.

Travis grips me by the chin, squeezing tightly to lift my gaze to his. "You're just as I remembered..." Strumming my bottom lip with his thumb, I withhold the urge to bite his damn finger off and allow him to do it. "When I saw you at Lincoln's hotel, you have no idea how badly I wanted to take him away from you then. I'm not a patient man, Sienna. You know that, right?"

All I do is nod.

"So why do you test me? Why must you get under my goddamn skin?"

"I...I didn't know you still wanted me," I admit. "After I left Los Angeles, I thought you'd forget about me."