MINE

Chapter 7

Emily's POV

As he came closer his arms raised in the air, I closed my eyes hoping it would soften the blow of his hit but nothing ever came. I peeled one eye open still ready to be smacked at any moment.

He wasn't in front of me. I opened the other eye looking around the room finally spotting him standing on the other side of the bed with his left hand pinching at the bridge of his nose and the other hand on his hip. He was pacing back and forth.

"Cole?"

He sighed and stopped moving. Turning towards me his eyes opened and fluttered in frustration.

"Are you stupid? I thought you were smarter than that." He words somehow manage to offend me.

I stayed silent. I wasn't sure what to say, and even if I did I don't think speaking is going to help.
What was I supposed to do? Isn't it obvious that after you kidnap someone they'd try at every opportunity to escape.

How was he going to punish me?

"Answer me!" He shouted now suddenly in my face. I stood from the bed as a reaction. I didn't realize how afraid of him I really am.

"Well?" He asked.

What was his question again? Am I stupid? I don't believe so. He left me alone, I already made the foolish mistake of not running while I had the chance at the van. Did trying to run this time mean I was somehow dumb?

"The only stupid thing about this is that I was caught." I bit my lip holding back everything else I wanted to scream at him. My eyes looked from the white t-shirt he was wearing up to his eyes. They were dark, almost too dark for green eyes to become.

My cheek felt moist. What? A tear fell down the left side of my face and I blinked to get rid of any more that wanted to come out. My eyes needed to dry. I was crying? I couldn't control it. Still trying to keep a poker face, Cole looked at me confused. I guess I was trying so hard to keep my emotions in that my brain couldn't take it anymore. I am scared. I didn't want to show it, but I am.

"Why are you crying?" He took his hand and wiped the final tear away.

"I'm not trying to." I shoved his hand away from me.

"You're afraid of me? I thought you were a tough one." His voice seemed to echo through the room. One of his eyebrows raised at me.

Cole's POV

It had seemed that all my anger was now put away and the only thing I could focus on was the tear that fell from Emily's eyes. When she cried they got darker somehow. A deeper shade of green.

Every tough girl that has ever been brought here at some point has broken but I really expected her to last longer. What broke her, I wonder? Has she finally realized she can't run? Was it the mention of Katie? The conversation she overheard?

Although I want every girl that comes to this house to understand their place - the very bottom of the food chain. I never want them to be afraid of me - only of what's going on. I want them to fear this situation. The fact that they can never leave, the way they know they're going to live the rest of their lives here. Fear in them creates power in me. However the truth of the matter is that when they become afraid of you and not just what you've brought them into they become completely useless. They give up, they stop fighting and being afraid of what might happen. They accept their fate and become boring.

"Never break them too fast." That was one of the tips my father gave to me. Have I broken Emily already?

Emily's POV