Half of My Heart ✔️

62 | to new heights

My screams are quieted by Levi's solid grip closed over my mouth. The blade pressing into the curve of my throat keeps me from fighting back. "Hey, Crimson," he whispers into my ear. "Mind giving me the keys?"

With a shaky hand, not knowing what else to do. I hold up the keys, flinching when Levi takes them from me. "Perfect." Then I hear him open the trunk, and my blood runs cold.

"I'm sorry to do this, but I can't risk it," he says, guiding me to the trunk. "I'll make it up to you when we get where we're going. Promise."

Then he pushes me so I fall backward into the trunk. Before I can try anything, he pulls a roll of duct tape from his backpack and places a piece over my mouth. I start crying when he binds my wrists together behind me. I'm sobbing by the time my ankles are taped together, feeling the gravity of what's happening to me right now.

"Hey, no need to cry," he says in a tone that tells me he's trying to soothe me. He takes my chin between his two fingers, forcing me to look at him. "I'm not gonna hurt you. We're just going on a quick drive."

What terrifies me is the complete calm in his voice. Like he doesn't see anything wrong with what he's doing right now.

"Do you have your phone with you?" he asks as if I can verbalize an answer. But his question forces me to remember that I don't just have my phone—I have Jack's as well. The thought calms me the slightest bit.

Levi wastes no time turning me around, reaching into my back pocket for my phone. I angle my arms so my elbow covers the pocket of my jacket, where Jack's phone is.

"It's dead." Levi smiles, holding down the 'on' button. "That makes things easier."

Still, he throws it onto the asphalt and steps on it, crushing it into several pieces. Then he smiles and shrugs, looking at me with a terrifyingly casual look on his face. "It was an old one, anyway," he jokes.

Adrenaline courses through me as Levi presses me backward so I'm laying curled in the trunk of the car. I try to scream when Levi starts to close the trunk, but the duct tape doesn't give. My heart drops when I realize that Jack isn't gonna come out in time to stop Levi.

My sobs pick up when I consider the possibility that Levi did something to Jack before attacking me. What if he's . . .

I try to quiet my heaving sobs when I feel the car engine starts up, knowing I need to focus on escaping. As best as I can, I try to remember every crime show I've ever watched with my mom, every escape tactic that has ever been used.

Crying isn't gonna get me anywhere. I need to think.

Finally, I remember something. Controlling my racing mind, I move my body around as much as I can, arranging myself into as much of an upright position as I can manage. Then, I raise my bound hands as far up as they'll go and bring them down as fast as I can around my torso, trying to break the duct tape.

But it's too cramped in here, so I can't garner enough force to do any damage. And with my hands behind my back, there's no way for me to retrieve Jack's phone from the front pocket of my jacket.

Frustrated, I turn my attention to the duct tape around my ankles. I whimper in pain as I bend myself to get onto my stomach, hoping Levi can't hear me moving around back here. Then, I wince in even more pain as I bring my legs as far up as they'll go toward my back.

There, I struggle to grip my ankles with my hands bound behind my back. I start crying again from the pain of this position but keep tugging on the duct tape around my ankles with fingers that can barely reach.

Finally, my fingers find the edge of the duct tape and start making slow work of unwinding it from my ankles. It feels like several, torturous hours of straining every muscle in my body to get the duct tape off, but finally, my legs are free.