“I’ve just been speaking to your lover boy,” Bryan drawls at me, looking increasingly like a mad man by the minute. “You know the one I mean, don’t you? The guy that you’ve been fucking behind my back. I know all about it. Even more now that I’ve spoken to him.” He walks closer to me, enjoying the way that I shrink in on myself. “He said that you’re shit in the sack, just like I know. You lie on your back and think of England. Boring, I think his word was. Dull as fucking dishwater. We had a good laugh about it.”

I’m not sure which part of this is true. I don’t think Jayden would have been cruel about me, he doesn’t seem like that sort of person. Plus, as far as I could see we had a good sex life. But I think Bryan’s just bating me, trying to get a reaction and if I give anything away, he’ll know that things really did happen. But on the other hand, he might have actually spoken to Jayden. I don’t know what that means, I don’t want to hold out hope for rescue. Now that Bryan has me, I don’t think he’ll be willing to easily let me go.

“I don’t want to talk to you about anyone but Peter,” I reply. “I want to see him.”

“You can see him if you admit that you fucked someone else.” I purse my lips together, not totally convinced that he’ll give in even if I do say what he wants me to. “Ah, I see. You can’t care about him that much.”

“Don’t be like that, Bryan. You can’t judge anyone for any behavior anyway. You’ve cheated on me lots.”

“So, you do admit that you did it then? Good, I’m glad to hear it. Now I can get everything in the divorce.”

“Divorce?” To me, that suggests that I might actually get out of here alive, but I’m not sure that can really happen. I can’t cling to that hope because Bryan can’t really set me free. He must have a bit of fear that I’ll go to the cops. Even if they’re on his side if I have enough evidence they will have to listen to me.

“You don’t think I’m going to kill you, do you?” he gasps in mock shock. “I’m not a murderer.”

“I honestly don’t know who you are anymore. This isn’t something I would have ever expected of you either. But here we are. I’m tied up and you are keeping my child away from me. I can’t trust you enough to know how far you’ll go. I don’t know what you would do to me. Honestly, you scare the shit out of me.”

For a moment, I have a glimmer that I might be getting through to him. His expression falls and I see the mask slip away. I get a tiny glimpse of the man I saw at the beginning of the relationship when things were actually good. And they were good for a while, whatever happened before and afterwards. Peter wouldn’t be here otherwise. I wouldn’t have gone anywhere near him and I wouldn’t be still with him. Even with my father’s command, I would have divorced him already. God, I wish we’d done that part sooner. Before all of this.

But then his face tightens up again and the moment is over. “Okay, fine, be like that. Maybe I will fucking kill you then. Put us both out of our misery. If I make you so unhappy then you’ll be better off dead.”

I scoot backwards, fear cascading through my body now. Much as I’ve tried to tell myself that I might die in this place it’s much too hard to accept it for real. I can’t be brave in the face of death, I can’t.

“Please, Bryan. Just let me see my son. Let me and Peter have a moment before you do anything. That poor boy needs to know that I’m okay just as much as I do him. We need to be together.”

“If I bring you two together, you do realize that will spell the end for both of you?”

I choose to ignore that. I don’t even want to think about the possibility. “If you do bring him in, can you please untie me just so I can hold him? I won’t try anything funny, I promise. I won’t want to harm Peter by acting stupid. I think you can tell that the message has been well and truly received. I wouldn’t want to do anything to upset you ever again, I will not ever step a toe out of line. Just let me hug my son.”

Bryan shakes his head but then his face twists up into a smile. “You know what, why not? You’re absolutely fucked anyway. There isn’t a way out of here for you. Not until I make a decision with what to do.”

“Yes,” I gasp desperately. “Exactly. I won’t do anything to upset that. You know me. I won’t.”

We both know that me and Peter aren’t the main targets here. He might want to punish me for the infidelity that it seems he knows all about, but I don’t think he’ll be so cruel to his child. I hope, anyway. He probably knows that it will be more torture for me to see my son, just to have him ripped away again.

“Yes, I’ll get him ready for you now. Let me untie you.”

As he reaches around my back to loosen the knots that are fixing me in place, he makes sure to brush my skin all over, almost as if he’s doing it in a seductive manner. His breath blows all over me too, and it takes everything that I have not to flinch away from him. This is the closest I’ve gotten to my son. I cannot blow it now.

“You like it when I touch you, don’t you?” he whispers while trailing his finger down my arm. I go to a zen place inside my brain, ignoring him as much as I can manage. “You always used to. I remember it all too well.”

I slide my eyes closed and tune him out. This is more of his sick game and I have to play along only enough to get Peter in this room with me. “Yes, of course I did, that’s why we have a child.”

“But you don’t like it anymore, do you?” His hand reaches my stomach. “I wonder why that is?”

I cringe all over, but keep strong on the outside. He cannot know that he’s getting to me. “Things change.”

“Things change, huh?” He sounds amused by my response. “Maybe so, or perhaps I just got bored of fucking you so I started doing it with other people. That way, you stopped getting the attention from me.”

“Bryan, please.” His hand lingers far too low down for my liking. I’m scared that he’s going to take this one step further and touch me in a place that I really don’t want to be touched. “Stop this now.”

“Are you scared I might turn you on? I am your husband, after all.”

He inches, but he doesn’t quite make it. His breath is still all over me, making me shiver. A sickness swirls as it suddenly hits me just how serious this could be. I’ve been worried, but not about this and now it seems that Bryan might be about to show me just how serious he is, just how far he is willing to go. I need to stop him before he does. I somehow need to put an end to this before it begins which means keeping as calm as I possibly can.

“I just want to see my son, that’s all. Bryan, please. I’ve waited long enough, I’ve been through hell.”

“Oh, sweetheart, this is nothing. There are so many ways this can go.”

“I know.” My breaths are ragged and panting now and I can almost feel that turning him on. “I know that, I just don’t want that to happen, that’s all. I don’t want this to get more complicated than it already is.”

“Complicated, huh. That’s one way to put it. You always did have a way with words, Savannah. If only you had finished college. What a shame your father pulled you out just as you were getting started.”

He remains where he is for a couple more minutes, really tipping me over the edge, then he snatches away, freeing my hands from their prison as he does. He moves over to the other side of the room and he smirks while he watches me rubbing the stinging sensation on my wrists. “I’ll go and get him right now. Just remember what you promised me, Savannah. No funny business. You promised me that and I expect you to stick to it.”

“No funny business.” I know already that I’m not going to listen to that. “Of course.”

He slides from the room leaving me alone. My eyes instantly dart around the room, but of course, he’s right. He’s planned this room just for me in the knowledge that I can’t get out however hard I try. But that doesn’t matter, I’m not looking for an escape route for me. I want to get Peter out of here. He doesn’t need to die.

There’s a window, but it’s small and up high. It’ll be a struggle, I will have to find the exact right moment to make it work but it’s possible. I might be able to help Peter after all. I smile to myself, relieved that even if I don’t make it, I can be a good mom and keep my son alive. It’ll be sad not to see him grow, but I’ll be glad just to know that I saved him. I hope Pippa will be the one to care for him, she’s the only one I trust. Surely, even with all of his power, once everything he’s done comes out, no one will let Bryan near Peter again.

The door flies back open and I immediately stare at the frame. There I see him, the boy that everyone told me was dead, my son who I knew was alive, the person who can finally complete me again.

“Peter,” I gasp out. “Oh, my goodness. My boy. How are you? Are you okay?”

“Mommy!” He runs towards me and jumps into my arms. It hurts because my body aches all over, but it’s worth every moment of agony. To hold my six-year-old son in my arms again, I would give anything. “Are you okay now, Mommy? Daddy said that you weren’t very well and that’s why we came here.”

I hate Bryan’s lie, but I also don’t want to scare Peter so I nod. “Yes, I’m all better now.”

“I’m going to leave you two alone for a while. “The door slowly closes behind Bryan. “Use this time wisely.”

Relief floods me, at least we’re alone now. I can get Peter out of here when I get a chance, but first I need to make sure that he understands what’s expected of him when the time comes.

“Peter, sweetheart, are you okay?” He nods and I can see that he is okay. He looks surprisingly well. “Do you think you might be up for a game some time soon? Not right yet, but it won’t be long.”

“I like games, Mommy.”

“Good, okay. Well this will be like a hide-and-seek type thing. You can do that?” He nods again. “Okay so soon, when the time comes, I’m going to help you get through that window up there. And when I do I want you to run, okay, baby? I want you to run like the wind until you find someone to help you. Anyone.”

“Help, what for? And why won’t you be coming with me?”

A tear leaks out of my eye as I don’t have an answer for that question. Luckily, he is six and I think he’ll believe anything I tell him. “That’s just the game, sweetie. It’s just the game.”