Being evil wasn’t something that suddenly happened, its seeds are sown early, and it would always be there, but deeply hidden. Now, the mask had fallen off. Betrayal was probably worse than the act of murder, only because the person betrayed was someone who’d trusted you.
As I lay on the cold floor, trying my best to concentrate on what the people outside were saying, there was no time to dwell on the fact that the very person who had sworn to protect my life with his had drugged me and delivered me to my captor.
I had to listen carefully, learn from what I might hear and find a way out of this situation. I had to be smart, I had to be clever, and most importantly – I needed to be calm.
“I need one million more,” Mo’taz’s faint voice argued.
“Ha! Absolutely not. You didn’t even get her here in good condition; her back is all bloodied and wounded. I should cut from your five million, actually,” the woman responded.
“The tunnel was too long, I told you! I couldn’t carry her any longer; I had to drag her.”
“Because you’re an idiot! You used too much of the drug; she may never wake up. It’s been hours!”
It was then that I heard footsteps. Someone was in the room with me, and I hadn’t known it all the while I lay there, listening.
The person opened the door and spoke to the pair outside.
“She’s already awake,” the new voice said. It was also female, a young woman, but it was a voice which I wasn’t familiar with at all.
My heart started beating even faster. It felt as if it was about to stop, as I heard more footsteps nearing me, then the woman who was talking with Mo’taz spoke again, “How do you know she’s awake? She hasn’t moved an inch!”
“She stopped breathing a few moments ago, probably trying to hear what you were arguing about out there.”
“Is that so? Well, let her be. She might learn her limits.” The woman laughed in such an evil way; it creeped me out. “You stay here until I get you your money.”
“Why can’t I come up with you?” Mo’taz asked.
“You don’t know the right paths to move around the mansion unnoticed. Stay here.”
Mansion? My mansion? Where the heck was I?
The door shut forcefully, and I flinched. There was no way that whoever was with me in the room – if anyone – wouldn’t be able to see the movement.
There was the undeniable sound of a sneaker moving closer, and my blood ran cold for it hit me with the evilest vibes.
Slowly, I opened my eyes. My vision was blurry, and I felt slight dizziness, but that wasn’t the only reason why I couldn’t see clearly – I was in a dimly lit room.
“Well, look who finally woke up!” Mo’taz’s voice echoed in the room. “We were worried about you, Your Majesty.”
Why all the hate? He sounded like a completely different person.
I didn’t respond to him, or even ask him ‘why?’ I didn’t say anything. I only stared at him. I’d always found his demeanor to be very peaceful, but now it was full of hate and distaste which were all directed at me. I had no idea what I had done to earn such treatment.
His look was ice-cold. I refused to look away, to show him any sign of weakness. I hid how I felt and relied on my faith that everything would soon pass. Mazen would find me, and we would all be okay again: me, him, and our son.
“You won’t ask me why?” Mo’taz sneered. I didn’t blink but shot him a stern look. “Well, that’s a shocker from the most annoying woman I’ve ever met.”
My insides boiled with rage. How had Mo’taz been able to hold in his true feelings towards me all this time? For the past two years? I knew that he had been trained very well in the military, but was he that good at deception, or was I too blind to see his hatred?
“You still won’t say anything?” he asked again. “Hmm … Yes. Yes, I know how stubborn you are. Stubborn and stupid.”
Mo’taz was trying his hardest to goad me, but I wasn’t about to let him. I kept my gaze hard and stern, and I knew that it was irritating him. He was obviously dying to tell me his reasons. Heck, I would do many things to find out his reasons, but asking him wasn’t on that list.
“Sorry about the T-shirt,” he said with a snicker. It was when he tried to touch my shirt that he got the first reaction from me. I shrugged my shoulder away from his disgusting hand, the movement making me hiss as a sharp pain hit me from the wounds on my back.
Despite the massive pain I was feeling and the handcuffs I had on, I got to a seated position, making our eyes on the same level since he was kneeling in front of me on one knee.
“I guess I’ll leave now. This is the last time you’ll see me, given that you’ll be dead soon, and all.” He tried to get a reaction from me one more time, but I stood my ground and kept my face blank. “How I wish I could have the honor, but at least – I helped. Oh, and I’m getting paid.” He snorted but didn’t get up to leave as he said.
A moment later he looked behind him at the closed door as if seeing if anyone was around, then he came closer to me so I could hear him when he whispered, “Frankly, I would’ve done it for free. I mean, I poisoned your baby horses just for the fun of seeing you and your husband brokenhearted.”
My chest started to heave. I clenched my teeth, and then without warning, I spat on his face.
It took him a moment to recover, and then he backhanded me so hard that blood seeped out of the corner of my mouth, and I fell back onto my side.
“Bitch!” he cursed, using his sleeve to wipe the spit off his face. “It will be even more fun to watch your beloved husband wither away when he learns about your death. He’s always been such a pussy when it came to you.”
With that parting shot, he left. I couldn’t have been more grateful for that. I didn’t wish him to see my tears. I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction.
The room was dark and deadly quiet; I could barely see anything. There was no window, nothing more than a small hole in the wall that was probably created so I wouldn’t suffocate.
The hole was barely larger than my hand, and there was no light coming in from it. That meant that it might be nighttime outside or the hole led to something that ventilated the room.
If I listened carefully, I could hear the faint sound of crashing waves, and I knew that meant that I wasn’t far away from my beach mansion, if I wasn’t still there.
But then again, how could I be in my mansion without being found?
Mazen would fight nations to get me back. He wouldn’t leave me here for long; he was probably hours – or even minutes – away from finding me. I didn’t know how long it might take him to get to me. If that wait became unbearable, I was determined to find my way out.
The taste of blood caused by Mo’taz’s slap remained in my mouth. It had been a while since I last ate or had a drink. God only knew when they took me, and I had no sense of how much time had passed since; every minute already felt like ages.
I was hungry, and my back hurt whenever I moved, so I tried to stay still as long as possible to minimize the pain. However, the pain in my back was not as bad as the pain in my heart.
I hadn’t felt Adam kick once since I woke up here. I was worried sick. I was shivering from the inside. But I hoped, and I prayed. A lot.
My hands were clutching on my cross, my eyes bled tears every once in a while, and my insides burned with fear, worry, and anxiety.
My main concern was my baby’s safety; he wasn’t moving inside my stomach. I was starving and my back was bleeding. I didn’t know if he could stay healthy and – alive while I was going through this terrifying ordeal.
I prayed with my whole heart that my baby would remain alive and healthy. I refused to think for a second about how would it feel if he – God forbid – couldn’t. I refused to entertain the thought. My world would shatter into million pieces.
Time passed very slowly. I stopped trying to listen to sounds around me when the hunger and the need to use the bathroom became demanding. I was pressing my legs together tightly while fighting nausea caused by my hunger.
Had they kidnapped me only to leave me here to rot? After all, Mo’taz said that I would be dead soon. Was that how they planned to do it? To make me starve to death?
What had I ever done to Mo’taz to make him hate me so much? He’d been my husband’s second guard for years and years, almost as long as Fawaz! What had provoked him to betray us?
The answer I wanted most was – who were the people behind him? I believed that everything would become clear if I knew who the woman who’d given him money to kidnap me was.
If I wasn’t entirely sure that her Arabic sounded exactly like a native person to Alfaidya, I might’ve thought I was being held hostage by another country. But we were at peace. We didn’t have any conflicts with another nation.
A tear fell out of my eyes. I swallowed thickly and tried to breathe evenly. I couldn’t afford to panic. I had to stay strong. I had no other option.
I didn’t know if it was denial or wishful thinking, but I knew I wouldn’t be here for long. A few thousand people must be searching for me right now. I was a queen, after all. My captors were going to regret it.
Or, that was what I hoped.
My bladder felt as if it was about to explode. I couldn’t take it anymore, but I also didn’t know what to do. As painful as it was, I got up, trying to see if they’d at least left me something to pee in. By that point, I didn’t even care how humiliating that would be.
My legs quivered as I stood up, my back hunched forward, and my cuffed hands were pressed tight between my legs in a desperate effort not to pee myself.
Looking around me, I couldn’t see anything more definite, as I had thought I would when I stood up. The room was too dark despite the small lamp that was at the top of the door, and I realized, I couldn’t even move with the little space that the robe around my feet had left for me.
Before I could think of the awful thing that would happen to me soon if I didn’t find a bathroom, the door cracked open. I took a step back and hissed as my back touched the wall behind me, but I recovered quickly, my focus on finding out who was by the door.
A young woman with a dark curly hair entered the room. I couldn’t make out her features well, but I was sure we hadn’t met before.
As she got closer, I could see the unfriendly look on her face. My hands immediately went to my stomach.
The woman snorted, then shook her head before going down on her knees in front of me to untie the rope around my ankles. “This won’t be necessary anymore,” she said, and I recognized her voice. She’d been here with me in the room earlier when I woke up. “You won’t be able to escape, no matter how much you want to.”
Like I did with Mo’taz, I did with her – I stayed silent. Talking to her would be useless, so I kept my questions and comments to myself. It was my best option.
Once she was finished, she stood up and pointed to the other side of the room. “The bathroom is right there.”
Looking down at the cuffs around my hands, then looking at her again, I waited for her to open them as well. She surely didn’t expect me to go to the bathroom that way. Did she?
The woman only shrugged, “Make do.” She left the room, closing the door behind her.
I didn’t waste more time, but hurried to the bathroom, my hands extended lest I hit something in the darkness.
My legs were barely able to carry my weight, but I found the opening to the bathroom. It was even darker than the first room, and it had no doors.
I fought the urge to cry, and instead, put all my thoughts toward getting to the toilet. Anger was starting to dominate my feelings as I had to work so hard to obtain the most basic human needs. But I tried not to let it take over; it wouldn’t do me any good.
My people will find me soon, I thought to myself. Mazen will save me. But then doubts started poking up their ugly heads, and a mistrustful question intruded: Won’t he?