I shook my hand after they left. I probably hurt myself more than I hurt the guy coming at me. He didn’t look as threatening as the other asshole, but that bruise on his face didn’t help calm me. I could possibly take on one, but there was no way I could’ve taken on them both.

I covered my face as I cried. Who was I kidding? I couldn’t take on either of them. If they wanted to hurt me, they could. I might have been able to stall them a little and hurt them, but it wouldn’t have taken them long to overpower me and did whatever it was they did.

I sat up and wiped my tears. I couldn’t keep thinking like that, but I needed to keep my guard up. Just because they hadn’t done anything yet didn’t mean they wouldn’t.

I looked up. My dad and Bryce had to be looking for me. They had to be. I wondered if it was on the news or in the paper. Maybe it would bring the two of them closer together, and my dad would finally realize how much Bryce loved me when he searched for me.

My shoulders dropped as I looked to my lap. My dad never bonded with anyone but me. He never remarried and only had occasional girlfriends who were usually half his age. He didn’t have friends. Not even the guys who worked for him were considered friends. I wasn’t allowed friends, either.

He used to alienate people around me because he’d buy my way through life for me. If there was a play I wanted to try out for at school, he funded some new project if I got the lead. I didn’t know he was doing it at the time, but when I learned why my friends stopped coming around, I stopped trying out for things.

I’d missed out on a lot of things due to my father, but he also allowed me to experience things most wouldn’t. Our family vacations were always bigger and better than anyone else’s. Most kids just stayed home during winter break, but he always took us skiing. Summer vacations consisted of some overseas trip or a cruise while other kids were only going to the neighborhood pools.

I started making things up to downplay what we did. I’d say I went to visit an aunt so I didn’t have to explain the time away. They knew I was lying, but I think they appreciated not having the life I was living rubbed in their faces.

It got a little better in high school when I distanced my home life from my school life. I supported my friends in the plays they auditioned for or the sports they tried out for, but I always sat on the sidelines so my father wouldn’t get involved and take away their chances from them.

I wiped another tear away. I had nothing to be sad about. I had a great life and everything I ever wanted, but I still would’ve liked to have tried things on my own without him interfering. I’d never know if I got the parts because I was good enough or because my father bought them for me. I’d second-guessed everything in life except for Bryce. My father had never bought him.

I stood when the door opened and tried to wipe the tears away before he came in, but I couldn’t get them to stop. I missed Bryce and wanted to go home. He stood in the doorway and watched me.

“I brought an ice pack for your hand, but how bad did you hurt it?” He walked over and took my hand in his.

I could only shake my head. I wasn’t crying for the pain, although it did hurt. I wouldn’t ever let him know I was crying for my trip down memory lane.

“It doesn’t look too swollen.” He placed the ice pack over my knuckles. “Keep that on a few minutes at a time, but don’t leave it on too long. I don’t want you to get frostbite. That’ll hurt worse when they cut your hand off.”

I sat on the bed and didn’t respond. He continued to stare at me as I let the tears fall. I no longer cared if he was looking at me. I couldn’t control it. I had no control over anything in my life, and that thought made the tears fall faster.

“It’s late. You should get some rest. I’ll check on you tomorrow.”

I crawled on top of the bedspread, leaving the ice pack at the foot of the bed, and curled up into a ball. I wanted the nightmare to be over, but I wasn’t sure how I was going to get out of there.

* * *

“Get up.”

I felt the blanket rip out from under me, and it almost sent me flying off the bed. I rolled over and closed my eyes. He grabbed my ankle and pulled me to the end of the bed. I kicked at him and threw the melted ice pack in his face.

“Get your ass out of bed.”

“No. There’s nothing I have to be up for, so fuck off.” I crawled back up to the pillows.

“You know, a day in bed actually sounds good.”

I pushed myself up on my elbows and looked at him as he got onto the bed next to me. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“You’d rather spend your day in bed. I think that sounds really good.”

“Alone, asshole. I’d rather spend it alone in bed. Get the fuck out.”

Before I finished my sentence, he had me on my back, pinned underneath him with my arms above my head. He slipped his thigh between mine. When he leaned down to get into my face, his thigh pressed against me.

“I’ll leave when I’m ready to leave.” He looked down to my chest and back up to my eyes. “I can still see your collarbone, and you skipped breakfast. Get your ass out of bed and eat lunch.”

He got up and pulled me out of bed with him. “We don’t waste food here. There are thousands of people who don’t get the option to be wasteful. They don’t eat because they don’t have any food.”

He dragged me to the table and threw me onto the chair. “Eat your fucking lunch and stop feeling sorry for yourself.” He sat in the chair across from me.

“You’re just going to stare at me?”

“Until you eat every last bite.”

I looked at the lunch he had placed on the table: sandwiches, apples, carrots, and water. “Are you eating, too?”

“No, I’ve already eaten.”

“I can’t eat all this.”

“Eat the sandwiches and carrots, and leave the apples for later. I’m sure you’ll be hungry later.”

I picked up one of the sandwiches. “Peanut butter and jelly?”

“If you were doing some sort of asshole thing like a hunger strike, I sure as shit wasn’t wasting good food.”

He had no idea how much I loved the simple peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Most kids had it for lunch, but I had complete meals packed for me every day. I much rather preferred a simpler way of life.

If he was going to sit and stare at me while I ate, I was going to ask him questions. “You called me a hostage yesterday in front of your friend.”

“That’s what you are, and he isn’t my friend.”

“What happens when I get to the weight you’d like me to be?”

He narrowed his eyes at the question. “I’m not sure I understand.”

“What happens? What’s the goal?”

He shook his head and sat forward, leaning on the table. “There is no goal other than you need to be healthy.”

“Why do you care?”

“I don’t. Not about you specifically. In general, I don’t like to see women waste away to please a man.”

I took a drink of water. “I told you I’m the one who wanted to be thinner.”

“When you build the tone and muscle your body needs, you’ll love how you look. It won’t be about the weight.”

“That means working out. I don’t like to exercise.”

“Well, it’s called working out for a reason. Like it or not, you will do it. I’ll help you.”

I ignored the exercise topic and ate a couple of carrots while I thought of my next question. He didn’t give me time to think of one.

“How badly does your hand hurt?”

“It’s bruised, but it will be fine.” I glanced his way a few times.

“What? If you have something to say, spit it out.”

“I’m not sure what to think. You’re being too nice to me.”

“I’m giving you the basic necessities in life. I’m being a decent human being, but don’t confuse that with nice.” He sat back, sticking one leg out and lacing his fingers against his belly. “To be honest, I’m not sure what to think, either.”

“You kidnapped me, and you don’t know what to think about it? Was I just a convenience to you? Couldn’t resist the woman who got into the back of your car willingly?” I mumbled under my breath, “Stupidly.”

“Do you always speak in questions?”

“Do you answer any of them?”

“Only the ones you need to know.”

I squared my shoulders as best I could and looked him in the eye. “I have money. Not as much as my father, but I was saving for my wedding.” I looked back at the table as my eyes burned. “You’re welcome to it if you let me go.” I didn’t care if I got married at the courthouse. My father said he’d pay for the wedding to stop me from eloping, but he’d yet to stick with any appointment to plan the wedding.

“You really love this Bryce guy.” He sat forward, leaning on the table again. “Why do you love him?”

Even though the tears fell when I thought about what I’d been taken from, I smiled. “He’s the kindest, most generous man I’ve ever met. He’s selfless.”

“So, the opposite of your father.”

“I was thinking more the opposite of you.”

“Was that supposed to hurt my feelings?”

I stood and walked back over to the bed. My father may not have been kind or generous to others, but I wasn’t going to let a man who kidnapped me and had been holding me hostage judge anyone.

“Tired so soon, princess?” The chair creaked underneath him as he turned my way. “Or did you have something else in mind to help pass the time?”

“Don’t you have a girlfriend you can go harass?”

“Nope. I’m all yours.” He stood and reached down to adjust himself.

“Whatever did I do to get so lucky?”

I got into the bed and put the covers back over my head. Maybe if I ignored him, he’d go away. I closed my eyes and rolled over, encasing myself in the blankets when I heard his footsteps get closer.

“I haven’t finished talking to you yet.” He sighed when I didn’t respond. “You’re the laziest woman I know. Come on. Get up.” He tugged on the blankets.

“No.”

I screamed and tried to kick when he picked me up, but I had the blanket wrapped around me too tight to move. He set me on the floor, and with one quick flick, he rolled me out of the blanket.

“I said get up.”

“Why, so you can insult me some more?” I stood and shoved his chest. “You’ve done nothing but insult the people I love, and I’m sick of it. Rape, beat, or murder me already!”

He grabbed my face with one hand and squeezed my cheeks. “You’re a spoiled brat. Your tantrums will not work with me. The next one you have, I will put you over my knee and spank you like the child you’re being.”

I could barely speak, but I wasn’t going to let him have the last word. I may have been scared shitless, but if my father had taught me anything, it was to never let the enemy know they’d intimidated you. Once they knew they’d shaken you, you might as well lie down and die. I wasn’t ready to die.

“You won’t touch me.”