Survival

stupid smug face, but just as Iwas about to drop the quickest, tiniest peck in theworld, he suddenly grabbed my chin, holding it in place and kissedme on the lips hard. Shock sparked through my body, causing me toimmediately withdraw from his advance, but his tight grip on mychin refused to allow any such movement. He held me there for onlya second before releasing me and standing back to his fullheight.
“Sorry.” He smiled with a shrug. “Couldn’tresist.”
I scowled at him as he held up the littlered nightie in front of me.
“Arms up,” he ordered.
I felt extra vulnerable doing so, but I didit anyway and let him slip the pretty red fabric over my head. Thefeeling of the material felt strange but in a good way. It was softand silky, the fabric loose yet tight over my body, and I quicklywrapped my arms around my torso, hoping to permanently mend thecloth to my skin. The owner just gave me another one of his twistedlittle grins.
Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out hisphone and clicked something on it. There was a slight beep thatcame from the collar and I had a feeling he had activated somethingin it, signaling the beginning of my prison sentence.
“These cuffs, the ones on your wrists andankles,” he said, still holding out his phone, “contain extremelystrong magnets, that when activated, cannot be pulled apart unlessthey are deactivated. Let me show you.”
He pushed another button on his phone andinstantly, my wrists and ankles were pulled together by aninvisible force so strong and fast, I didn’t even have time tofight against it. My balance was almost lost when my ankles cametogether, nearly falling over, but the owner’s arm reached out tocatch me before I could hit the floor. Panic then ensued me.
I pulled and twisted my limbs, trying tofree them from the force that bound them together, but they wouldnot budge. He chuckled at my obvious annoyance and struggle. Hepushed the button again and freed my wrists and ankles.
“The collar around your neck contains a veryhigh-tech GPS signal that pinpoints your exact location at alltimes. It also transmits a signal to the server at my estate toalert me should you ever try to pass the perimeter I have set foryou. I can enlarge the perimeter or shorten it any time, but thatwill depend on you. If you do ever manage to come too close to theperimeter boundary, you will receive a slight warning shock. Shouldyou ignore the warning and continue past the range, you will havefive seconds to return to the designated perimeter before youreceive the full voltage. From what I understand, it’s not apleasant feeling, so I would avoidit if I were you.”
I suddenly felt dizzy, the walls around mebeginning to shift as I realized I had just allowed myself tobecome microchipped with a fucking shock collar. So long as I worethis fucking thing, he would always know where I was. How the fuckcould I escape from him like that? I felt nauseated as I tried to get a grip on the spinning roomaround me, my arm reaching out for the wall while my breathingbecome erratic as the promise of escape began to dwindle.
And then I felt the warmth of the owner’shands on either side of my face, holding me in place and keeping mesteady.
“Shhhh,” he said. “Calm down and breathe,Jaden. Everything is going to be fine. I’m going to take care ofyou.”
I looked up at him in confusion. Take careof me how?
“But not before you take care of me first.”He winked at me.
Gross.
“Now, whatever questions you probably havecan wait until later," he said as he grabbed my arm and dragged mealong with him out the doors of the office.
We took the elevator down, and before I knewit, we were standing in front of a large metal door with a key codenext to it.
“Come here, Jaden,” he said, as he pulled meto his side. His arm slinked around my rib cage as he brought hisphone out of his pocket. Seconds later, the cuffs around my wristsand ankles linked together and I felt myself lose my balance fromthe sudden shift, but the arm around my torso kept me fromfalling.
“Look at me,” he said, putting his phoneback in his pocket. Still secured in his right arm, I turned myhead and looked up at him in intense bitch mode. “When we exit thisdoor, there will be no screaming or fighting. No one will hear youfor miles, and if anyone did happen to hear you, the snipers aroundthis building would shoot them on sight. Do you understand me?”
Snipers? There were snipers surrounding thebuilding? Shit, I hadn’t a chance in hell of escaping this placealive. The realization suddenly made me shrink inside all overagain.
“Jaden?” he warned, unhappy with my lack ofresponse.
“Yes, I understand.” I sighed.
“Good girl,” he said and then bent down andlifted me over his shoulder before exiting the building. I groanedin irritation. I hated being carried. I was a grown-ass woman withtwo working legs; I could fucking walk.
Warm air hit my skin, and I shielded my eyeswith my arms from the intense brightness of the sun even though itseemed low in the sky. The owner kept a secure arm around my legsas he walked us down a cement path. I turned my head back to see along sleek black limo waiting for us.
I didn’t linger on it long as I quicklylooked around to take in my surroundings. We had exited a hugebuilding that resembled a warehouse. A shit ton of trees surroundedthe area, but my stomach instantly dropped a thousand feet when Isuddenly realized what stood among them.
“Palm trees?” I said aloud to myself.
There were no palm trees in Michigan, noteven close. So how the fuck had Iended up in a place with palm trees?
“Where are we?” I said a little strongerthan I should have.
“Be quiet, Jaden,” the owner repliedsternly.
I turned back around, irritated with my lackof answers, and then suddenly noticed something black move aboutthe roof.
That was when I noticed the guard with therifle in his hand.
Goddamn, I had no hope