Nicole's final scream died in the still night air, only the sound of her hard breathing and the crackle of the fire and her sniffling tears reaching their ears. She was overwhelmed with backside pain, and the thought that she was less than half of the way to the end of her ordeal was the most frightening one of her life to that point. Once she calmed, she spoke to her tormentor: ‘Please, Sir, I've learned my lesson! I know I have an impulsive side that gets me into trouble all the time, and I promise to try much harder to control it know that I recognize that...if I ever run again you can switch me 'til I bleed, but please let me up now and let me go back and be a good girl!’
Rafe felt a bit of hope at the appearance of at least a moment of self-reflection in his recalcitrant captive's fe
