“Help me!” I try to scream, but the material in my mouth stops me. I struggle against the ties around my arms too, but they don’t move anywhere. I really am stuck here in… well, wherever this is. I don’t know where I am, I just woke up on this dirty, cold floor completely unable to move. Even my feet are tied together so I can’t stand.

I haven’t ever been in any kind of trouble before, now I’m in the worst danger of my life. I honestly can’t tell where I am. I keep looking around, hunting for signs, but this place is empty and disgusting. I can’t imagine it’s used for anything other than kidnapping and other criminal activity. I wonder if it’s Bryan’s…

“Help me,” I whimper a little more pathetically now. “Help me, please. Someone.”

There are noises in the building, I can hear footsteps and muffled talking, but either no one can hear me or they are ignoring me. They want me to be trapped here with absolutely no hope in the world.

A tear leaks down my cheeks and I scream against the material, making noise for the sake of it. They can ignore me but I won’t give it up. I won’t be forgotten about, whatever the hell is happening.

The blackmailing plot, if that is what all of this is, has now sucked me into it and I can’t get out.

Wait! All of a sudden, I’m distracted by a new sound. The noise of a child playing. My heart skips about ten beats as I recognize the sound, it’s something I half-feared I wouldn’t ever get to hear again. It’s Peter! My son. I strain my ears for any sounds of distress but he sounds happy and playful. Like he’s enjoying himself. That fills me with relief, at least he’s okay. I would hate to learn that he’s been treated badly.

“Peter,” I yell out, but of course, the sound is still muffled. “Peter, I’m here. Mommy is here.”

He might not be able to hear me. I’m pretty sure that he can’t but I keep on screaming over and over again until my throat gets sore. It’s red raw but I continue to scream. This is the closest that I’ve been to my son in an extremely long time and I want to be closer. I want to see him, to touch him, to hold him.

“Peter, Peter, Peter.” I don’t know if I’m screaming anymore or if I’m just yelling it in my brain.

The sound of my child playing doesn’t change. He must not be able to hear me. But that’s comforting for me, it helps me to calm down just enough. I suppose if I can just listen to him, that’s enough. I lean my head back against the metal pole that I’m tied to and I just enjoy hearing him. He isn’t dead, that’s the main thing. He might not be with me, but he’s alive, he’s having fun, he’s enjoying himself.

Then, just as I’m about to settle, the door slams open and I find myself faced with the horrifying sight of my husband leaning over me. He’s got a twisted, sickening expression on his face which makes me feel ill.

“Well, well, well…” He steps slowly and loudly. Everything about him is menacing. “If it isn’t my wife. My wife the slut.” He spits down at me and his saliva hits near my feet. “My wife the whore who has another man breaking her out of the facility that I paid for to make her better. What a fucking nightmare.”

“You did… didn’t want me there to get better.” I have to argue, but my voice wobbles. “You wanted me drugged up so I couldn’t say anything about you kidnapping my son.”

“Urgh, if only you were more willing to just believe what I told you. Why did you have to be so insistent?” He snorts as if he finds the whole thing very amusing. “Of course, I can’t hide it from you now, you hear him now. Since you couldn’t just let things go you might as well know that yes, he is alive.”

I gasp in shock. Hearing him say this in such a casual way as if the child we share means nothing stings me right down to the core. I don’t even know what I’m supposed to say here.

“Why?” I ask, my tone thick with emotion. “Why would you do that to me? To us? To him?”

“It doesn’t really have anything to do with you if I’m honest. It’s all to do with your father.”

I struggle again which makes Bryan laugh. He’s clearly getting some sick pleasure out of this.

“My father? Why? What has he got to do with any of this? Why does this affect me and Peter?”

Bryan’s fists ball up by his side and I can see a redness tainting his cheeks. This, whatever he’s about to say, will make him angrier than anything that’s ever happened before. “Your father is a scum bag, trust me.”

“Tell me. Please, tell me about why he’s a bad person. I want to know.”

“He gave you up to me, didn’t he?” Bryan smirks. “He did that without even thinking. He made you marry me when I’m sure you didn’t want to. Since I know now that you’re running around the city with other guys who took you from the facility, it wouldn’t surprise me to learn that you had someone else then too.”

I squeeze my lips shut, avoiding talking about all of his infidelities. It really isn’t the time.

“Look, that hardly matters now, does it? What’s important is Peter. I need to get him out of here.”

“Oh no, it’s very important. Because even though you can’t see it, it’s all relevant here. You see…” I can tell that he’s about to launch his story. Ten years with the man shows me his tells. Hopefully, this will be the story that I actually want to hear. “You probably don’t know this, but I worked with your dad twelve years ago. I was just an assistant then in the accounts department, just out of college myself, eager and keen to see where the world would take me. I was so excited to work for your dad, I thought he was an incredible man… but he isn’t. That’s what I quickly learned. He isn’t a good man, just like all business men. He’s ruthless, willing to do what it takes.”

“What… what it takes?” I ask quietly. “What does that mean?”

“Well, he was fudging his books, taking cash and not declaring it, basically stealing. Okay, so maybe he had his excuses. He’d had a couple of bad years after his wife passed away and he didn’t want the company to sink. He gave me some lie about wanting to protect his employees and their families when I confronted him about it, but I saw right through that. I could tell that he was just like every other asshole, looking for a way to line his back pockets, needing a way to keep himself afloat rather than anyone else.”

“So, you… you left the company?” The story doesn’t end there, I just know it.

“Oh no. I became one of them instead. I couldn’t beat a man like your father, no way, not then, so I did it too. I fudged the books for him, sometimes to help him, mostly for myself. Then I extorted money myself, getting more and more as time went on. Of course, he had to confront me about it eventually, which is when I turned the tables. I knew your dad wouldn’t want the details of what he’d done getting out, so I used it to my advantage. I’ve been blackmailing him ever since.” He makes a funny sound as if he’s proud of himself. “I started with money, then I moved on to stakes in the business, his daughter’s hand in marriage.”

“That’s sick.” I shudder, knowing that it was all just a plot. I get that my dad had to protect a lot of other people, I can kind of see why he had to do that, but why hasn’t he ever protected me? Not even once.

“Maybe so, but it worked. You and I have been happily married for a decade now.”

“Happily? Are we still going to pretend that it was happily?”

“Okay, maybe not.” He throws his head back and laughs loudly. “I suppose you’re right. But we’ve stuck it out. We’ve made it through thick and thin and now we’re here.”

“Yes, with me tied up and you threatening to harm me and my son.”

“I haven’t threatened anything yet.”

“Not with words now, but actions. They speak loud enough.”

His expression hardens. “Look, this is your father’s fault. He shouldn’t have stood up to me. He got all cocky and told me that he can’t afford any more, which we both know isn’t true because he’s a very wealthy man. His business is incredibly successful. There’s no way he can’t afford to pay me.”

“This is why you took my son? For money? You brought him to this terrible place and treated him badly…”

“He’s been treated very well actually. Listen to him, he’s having fun out there.”

I grit my teeth together, trying to keep my anger inside. It won’t be helpful right now. “But he isn’t with me. He hasn’t been with me for a while. A boy needs his mother, you know that, right?”

“He sounds fine to me.” He smirks and shrugs. “Plus, his mommy has been sick, hasn’t she?”

I thrash against the ties, unable to keep my cool but of course it still does nothing for me. “You made me sick. You got Hank Fry and the Rice brothers to knock me out then kidnap Peter. You held a fake funeral when I was in the hospital to make me think my son was dead. You lied, you let me think I was crazy, you did this to me.”

My whole body burns and flickers with temper. I’m actually out of control now, I feel wild and feral like I could tear him to shreds given half the chance. I want to rip him apart and kill him before he kills me.

“Let me see my son,” I demand. “Bring him to me, you’ve kept him away from me for too long now.”

“Oh no, I couldn’t possibly.” His voice is too smooth, too calm. I hate it. He clutches his hand to his chest as if he’s in shock at the way I’m acting, as if he doesn’t know that he’s the one who caused it. “Not while you’re like this. He will only want to see his mother again when she’s calm and behaving herself.” He pauses for dramatic effect. “If I ever bring him to her again. I have to have his best interests at heart after all…”

With that he closes the door on me leaving me screaming and thrashing again. My limbs ache, I’m sure there will be angry red marks all over me, but I don’t care. I scream and yell until I have no voice left, hating that I’m hopeless again. I’m hopeless, useless, pathetic. Just as I have always been. I’ve always been pitiful.

“Bring him to me!” I yell. “Bring me Peter, I want to see Peter. He’s my son, I’m the one who cares for him, not you. You’re an asshole, Bryan, I hate you. I hate you!”

I don’t even think Jayden, my hero, can save me this time. I don’t even know where I am, I could be anywhere in the world, and since my father clearly has no money, that isn’t going to be an option either. This room might well become my grave yard. I might have to get used to the idea that I’m going to die here.