The phone is taunting me, just begging me to pick it up and dial Sophia.

I haven’t seen or talked to her since I was taken from that room we were held in. Johnathan told me she’s safe, that they rescued her and returned her to father, but I need to hear it from her own lips.

What happened to her? What happened to Amanda?

I pace and pace in the kitchen. With nothing to do and no one to distract me, the not knowing is driving me a little crazy.

I’ve spent all morning hanging out with Charlie, trying to keep busy, but now he’s doing his own thing. He’s currently sitting at the table, playing with all the Lego sets I helped him build yesterday.

Completely oblivious to the little war waging inside me.

Johnathan made it very clear that I’m not to leave, but he never said a word about phone calls… But even so, I know he’d be pissed if I called someone without asking for permission.

Honestly, I don’t know why he’s so hard up about keeping me in his house, cut off from everyone I know. We don’t want my father to find me, of course, but Sophia would never betray me and give my location away.

Besides, if we’re just talking on the phone, she won’t know where I am anyway.

Fuck it, I know I’m probably making a mistake, but what Johnathan doesn’t know won’t hurt him.

Or me, for that matter.

I just need to hear her voice. I just need to know she’s safe.

Picking up the phone, I quickly punch Sophia’s cell number in before I lose my nerve. The phone rings once, twice, and then she picks up.

Sophia’s voice comes through the line, and it’s so damn beautiful I almost cry. “Hello?”

“Sophia?”

“Oh my god, Beth!” she bursts out. “Where have you been? Where are you? Everyone has been like freaking out!”

Ugh, that is exactly what I was dreading. I don’t even have a plausible excuse ready. How do I even explain that the guy who rescued me decided to keep me? Even in my head the whole thing sounds insane.

“Beth? Beth?” Sophia repeats when I don’t answer immediately.

“Uh…” I draw out. “I’ve been lying low for a while… waiting for things to cool down.” Shit. I hate lying, especially to Sophia, but I honestly don’t know what else to say.

“Are you okay? Are you somewhere safe?” she asks, and she sounds so worried, the sudden guilt I’m experiencing intensifies.

Has she been worrying about me this whole time? Wondering what the fuck happened to me, just as I have about her?

“Yes, I’m fine,” I say, and try to change the subject. “And I’m safe. Seriously. Are you okay? Are you safe?”

“Yeah, I’m home and I’m safe. But it was crazy. I almost ended up in the Middle East!”

“Oh my god,” I exhale. “I wondered what happened to you but Johnathan wouldn’t tell me anything.”

“Johnathan?” she squeaks and I cringe. Shit. I’m fucking up already.

“Yeah… it’s a long story…”

“Okay, you so gotta tell me.”

I lean around the wall and glance towards the dining room, checking in on Charlie. He’s still playing happily with his Lego sets, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s listening in on me.

“Yeah, now is not a good time. Listen, I’m only calling because I was worried about you…”

“Is there somewhere we can meet? Can I come get you?”

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea. I can’t leave… I’m kind of babysitting.”

“Okay, now you really gotta tell me what’s going on! How are you hiding out and babysitting?”

Shit. Shit. Shit. I’m just digging myself deeper and deeper here. This would be so much easier if I could just tell her everything, but I don’t want her to freak out.

“Look,” she says, getting that tone of voice she always gets with me when she’s about to put me in my place. “We need to talk, pronto, and I’m not going to take no for an answer. You’ve been missing for days, and everyone, including myself, has been worried crazy. So you need to pick a time and place to meet.”

She stops, and I think she’s done, and I open my mouth to start giving her an excuse on why we can’t meet when she threatens, “Or I’m just going to call up my dad, have him trace this call, and I’ll find you anyway.”

Fuck, this phone call really was a bad idea. I totally forgot how bossy she can be.

“Sophia…” I plead.

“No, this is happening. You’re totally giving me weird vibes and I need to know that you’re okay.”

I throw my hands in the air. When she gets all bossy like this she almost always gets her way.

But not this time.

“I’m sorry! I didn’t want you to worry, and I would have called you if I could. But now is really not a good time.” Because I made a promise, a promise I totally intend to keep. “Look, I’ll call you later…”

“Okay. Well, I’m just going to ring up my dad…”

“Sophia, don’t!”

“And tell him you’ve been kidnapped again and you called me…”

Gah, she just has to play dirty!

“Then I’m going to get your address, call 911, and tell them it’s an emergency…”

Damn, she’s really going all in here. And I don’t doubt for a second she won’t do exactly as she just promised.

“Fine! You win! We can meet!” I cry, and fight back the urge to bang my head against the wall. “But you have to come to me. And you can’t tell anyone where I am. I don’t want my father to find me.”

“I can do that. I won’t tell a soul,” she agrees, sounding calmer and more relieved.

I rattle off Johnathan’s address, the address I noted yesterday when he took me to meet with his boss.

“I’m not far. See you in twenty.”

“See you,” I say, and hang up the phone feeling like I just made an epic mistake.

* * *

“Beth!” Sophia cries out when I open the front door, and flings herself into my arms.

We squeeze each other hard. God, I missed her, and it feels so good to see her. Now that I know she’s safe with my own eyes, I’ll be able to rest easier.

“I was so freaking worried about you,” she frowns as she pulls away.

“Ditto,” I say, and all I can do is make more apologies. “I’m sorry. Things have been rather crazy for me…”

“Is this Johnathan’s house?” she asks as she walks in. Her eyes go wide as she takes everything in. All the new furniture. “I really didn’t peg him for the boring, suburban type.”

Her eyes finally land on Charlie, and she gives me a ‘what the hell’ look before offering him a smile. “Hi there.”

“Hi,” Charlie says shyly and sinks back into his chair.

“Charlie, this is my best friend Sophia,” I explain. “You can trust her. She’s practically my sister.”

Sophia nods her head up and down and her smile widens. “Hi Charlie, it’s nice to meet you. And you can totally trust me.”

“Okay…” Charlie says, and I can tell even with our reassurance he still seems uneasy. After all the poor guy has been through, it’s probably going to take him a bit to warm up to her, but I’m hoping one day he feels just as safe with her as he does with me.

“Are you thirsty?” I ask Sophia and look pointedly towards the kitchen.

She gets the hint and nods. “Yeah, I could use a drink.”

She continues to look around curiously. I try to see everything through her eyes, and can only imagine what she’s thinking.

As soon as we step into the kitchen, Sophia grabs me by the arm and whisper hisses, “Oh my god, you have to tell me everything. Is Charlie Johnathan’s kid?”

“Not exactly…” I whisper back. “He is and he isn’t. Johnathan kind of… bought him when he bought me.”

“What?!” she gasps.

“It’s not like that,” I immediately say in Johnathan’s defense so she doesn’t get the wrong idea.

She shakes her head in disbelief and asks, “What is it like then?”

In a rush, I quickly explain everything that went down that night Johnathan bought us and finish with, “He couldn’t just leave him there with those monsters. I thought the worst at first too, but he’s serious about taking care of Charlie and protecting him.”

Sophia rocks back on her heels and gives a soft, surprised, “Wow.”

I nod my head and smile at her. “So, like I said, things have been kind of crazy for me…”

“Yeah, no shit,” she agrees and grins. “So, you and Johnathan are kind of like a thing now, yeah?”

My cheeks warm and I can’t stop my own grin when I say, “Something like that.”

“Okay.” Her eyes sparkle with amusement. I know she just loves to watch me squirm. “Now you really gotta spill it. What’s going on with you and him?”

I shake my head slowly, and honest to god, “I don’t even know how to explain it.”

Not backing down, she leans close and says eagerly, “You can start after he bought you. Why didn’t he take you home? Did you ask to stay with him?”

Shit. I’m afraid if I tell her exactly what went down, she might hate Johnathan. And I really don’t want her to hate him, it’s important to me that she likes him.

He’s quickly becoming one of the, if not the most, important person in my life. I don’t know what I’ll do if the two of them hate each other.

“Not exactly…” I say tentatively and bite my lip.

“You really got to stop saying that,” she says with a huff. “Come on, you can tell me, Beth. I’m your best friend!”

And that’s exactly why I can’t tell her. If I tell her that Johnathan has kept me here against my will, she’ll flip her shit. And then I’ll have to explain how I want to stay with him now while trying not to sound like an idiot.

“We’re still figuring it—” I start to say, but then I’m cut off by a very sharp, “Elizabeth!”

What the fuck? Did I really just hear that?

I look towards the living room, and then I look back to Sophia.

All the color has drained from her face and I know she heard it too.

“Beth!” Charlie calls out in distress, and I don’t even think about it, I just book it.

I run for the living room and then come to a screeching halt when I see my father, of all people, standing in the middle of it.

“Oh my god, Beth. I swear I didn’t tell him anything,” Sophia rushes out behind me as my heart races a mile a minute and my brain tries to figure out how the hell this happened. “He must have tapped my phone, or had someone following me.”

Fuck. I totally believe her. She’d never rat me out, and having someone tail her sounds just like my father.

“Elizabeth,” my father repeats coldly as his gaze falls on me.

He’s dressed in his usual ready-for-live-TV way. Dark suit, polished black shoes, hair brushed to the back in an artful wave that he has done by his own personal stylist.

He looks so out of place here in Johnathan’s living room, yet I can’t help but think if we were back at that office he’d fit right in.

“Father,” I say cautiously, steeling my features. “What are you doing here?”

“Beth!” Charlie calls out and runs up to me. He grabs me by the waist and hides behind me, clearly terrified.

I can’t understand his fear at first, and then I notice movement at the open front door. Dammit all. My father brought his personal security, aka hired goons, with him. Three huge guys nearly popping out of their suits smirk as they stand ready to carry out my father’s bidding.

My father’s lips curl with a look of disgust as he takes another look around the room. When his gaze finally comes back to me, his eyes are blazing. “You’ve had your fun, Elizabeth. It’s time you came home.”

Now would be the perfect time for Johnathan to come storming in, I think, as I assess the situation.

I’m not sure how I’m going to get out of this without divine intervention.

My father is a man who never accepts the word ‘no’, especially when it comes from my lips, but I say it anyway. “No.”

My father’s face darkens and he takes a step towards me. “Playtime is over, Elizabeth. I’ve been more than patient. It’s time for you to return home to your obligations.” He hisses the last word and I wince.

My obligations being that I’m to sit around in my room like some object that’s being stored until it’s useful to him.

I shake my head, and before I can speak again, Sophia speaks up for me, “She doesn’t have to go anywhere with you. She’s a grown damn woman and she can make her own decisions!”

God, I love her, but I really wish she didn’t just do that. Any hope that I had of temporarily placating him has now gone down the drain.

My father’s face starts to turn an angry shade of tomato red.

“Father…” I say softly, pleadingly.

I know I shouldn’t have to plead for my freedom, and it makes me sick to my stomach, but what other choice do I have? I can’t take on him and all his goons, and I sure as hell don’t want anybody to get hurt for trying.

If I can reason with him, maybe I can still defuse this and come to an understanding. “I can’t leave. So much has happened, and if you would just give me a minute, I can explain it all.”

“Do explain,” he says, his face somehow turning even redder. “Explain how you lied to your guard and left the house so you could go whoring at some dive bar in the shittiest part of town.”

His words are like a slap to the face. I can’t even count how many times in my life he’s called me a whore, but each time hurts just like the first.

He takes an ominous step towards me, and Charlie’s grip on me tightens. “Explain how you were rescued from your predicament, a predicament you deserve for your whoring ways, and instead of returning to me immediately, you decided to remain here and continue to play the whore.”

“You’re a bastard!” Sophia screeches behind me. She starts to take a step forward, but I throw my hand out to stop her.

My father turns his attention to Sophia and again his lips curl back with disgust. “And you’re the little blonde slut who’s corrupted my daughter.”

Sophia sucks in a sharp breath.

This is getting out of hand fast and it needs to stop. Neither of us deserve this, and I don’t want Charlie to have to listen to it.

“Stop, please,” I plead and clutch Charlie close to me. “You’ve said enough.”

My father’s attention turns back to me. “No, I haven’t said nearly enough, but we’ll finish this conversation at home.”

I shake my head. “I’m not going home. I have obligations and responsibilities here.”

His face tightens, and he’s so red now I’m afraid his head might burst. “Your obligations are to your family. To me.”

I don’t know why he thinks I owe him everything just because I exist, but he does. He thinks because he’s my father, something I didn’t get a choice in, that I’m to bend and bow to his every whim. He honestly believes I should be grateful for being his daughter. Grateful that he’s fed me and housed me, and forever in his debt.

Lifting my chin in defiance, I muscle up every ounce of courage I have, and look him hard in the eye. In the past, my defiance has always been met with painful words or violence, and I’ve been conditioned to expect it and avoid it all costs.

But in the past, it was only me who suffered for my actions, for my cowardice.

I can’t let him hurt Charlie. I can’t. Just the thought of my father doing to him what he’s done to me fills me with so much anger I start to see red.

“I have a new family now. A family of my choosing. And I will not abandon my child,” I say, and squeeze Charlie a little harder as I say it. I feel the truth in the words with every fiber of my being. Charlie is mine, he’s mine.

And so is Johnathan.

I’m owning them right now. From this point on, they’re my family, the family I got to pick for myself.

My father’s eyes finally drop to Charlie and fill with so much loathing and disgust my hands itch to wrap around his neck. I never thought I was capable of violence. After all I’ve endured, how could I possibly inflict pain on another person? But the way my father is looking at Charlie makes me feel murderous.

If I had that gun Johnathan said is under the bed, I’d be extremely tempted to use it.

“I can see you are going to refuse to be reasonable,” he says through clenched teeth as his eyes lift. He jerks his head towards his goons. “Escort my daughter to the car.”

“No!” I cry out, but it doesn’t stop the goons as they come for me, their tree trunks for legs easily eating up the distance.

“Beth,” Charlie starts crying in earnest, and my heart breaks as I feel his tears soaking my shirt.

I can’t protect him and I can’t fucking stop this. Just one-on-one with one of these guys would be nearly impossible.

Taking three of them on is beyond futile.

At the last moment, I push Charlie towards Sophia. I don’t know what else to do.

“Please take care of him,” I beg.

Do what I can’t.

Sophia meets my eyes and her face is flushed with anger on my behalf. “I won’t let him get away with this,” she promises as she hugs Charlie to her chest.

But even though her father is the Chief of Police, I know there’s nothing she or her father can do to stop this.

My father is, and has always been, higher up the food chain. His connections reach all the way to the Oval Office.

The three goons reach me, and two of them grab me by each arm and start dragging me back.

I want to cry out, to tell Charlie I’m sorry, so sorry, but I’m afraid of further traumatizing him.

I’m the worst fucking protector ever.

As I’m dragged past my father, he grins a very self-satisfied smile. I honestly can’t comprehend how he can be so smug over this shit. He couldn’t even take me on by himself, he had to bring in three goons to do his dirty work for him.

And that’s when it hits me. My father is a coward and has always been. He refuses to fight fair because he knows if he does he can’t possibly win.

The smug smile dies on his lips as he takes in my angry, non-terrified glare.

For once in my life, I’m honestly not afraid of him. He can drag me away against my will and lock me back in my room, but I’ll stop at nothing now to escape him.

The two goons drag me out the door and down the driveway to an awaiting black limousine. The back door is opened and then I’m shoved inside. The door slams shut and I immediately check the handle.

It’s locked from the outside.

A moment later, the other door opens and my father slides in. I scoot into my corner and stare out my window, unable to bring myself to look at him.

The front doors open and slam shut, then the car starts moving.

“Elizabeth,” my father says, and I stupidly glance over at him.

He backhands me across the face, and it happens so fast, so suddenly, I never saw it coming.

I reel back as pain explodes across my right cheek, and then he backhands me just as quickly across the other cheek.

“That’s just a taste of what’s to come for all the trouble you’ve caused me, you little ungrateful bitch,” he hisses.

I stare at him in shock at first. I mean I knew what was coming, but usually he waits until we’re in the house before he dishes out the violence.

Reaching up, I tentatively touch my cheeks, then my bottom lip. Yeah, he busted it open.

My father reaches down and yanks on the bottom of his suit jacket before leaning back. His eyes meet mine and he grins as tears fill them.

But the joke’s on him.

I turn away from him and stare out the window again, unable to stop the tears pouring down my cheeks.

But I’m not crying because my father just bitch-slapped me.

No, I’m crying because at this moment I absolutely hate myself.

I couldn’t protect Charlie.

And I just broke my promise to Johnathan.