by Sarah Bailey
“Have you learnt your lesson, slave?” Mitchell said.
“Yes,” the woman sobbed. “Yes, sir. I won’t disobey you again.”
“Good girl.”
He stroked her back, running his fingers down the lash marks. She hissed but didn’t object to his touch. His other hand worked his belt open. His fly came next.
~~~
I turned my head to the side and promptly threw up. It coated my arm and the floor, but I didn’t care. I could hear the sounds of the video still playing but I couldn’t look. I could not watch my father having sex with Aiden’s mother. I knew it was her from the moment I saw her eyes.
“Turn it off,” I groaned. “Please, turn it off.”
The sounds promptly stopped. My gut twisted. I didn’t look up again. All of this was wrong. Why did he show me that? Why did he force me to confront the reality of who my parents were? I already knew enough from what Aiden had told me. This was just adding salt to the wound.
“Too much for you?” the robotic voice rattled around my brain.
“If you think anyone wants to watch their father whipping and having sex with their boyfriend’s mother whilst their own mother watches the two of them then you’ve got some seriously fucked up twisted view of the world.”
“I never said you’d enjoy what I had to show you.”
“Why show it to me? What does this achieve? I already knew he was obsessed with her.”
The smell of my own sick assaulted my nose. It made it difficult not to hurl all over again. I didn’t recognise the room they’d been in, so it couldn’t have been the penthouse. Was this where the girls were kept? That didn’t make sense since Aiden told me he’d lived with her. I supposed they could’ve taken his mother there. It would be the only logical reason why footage existed.
“You need to understand the world you live in now.”
“A sick as fuck world where men rape and abuse unwilling women. I already fucking knew that thanks. I didn’t need to see my own father abuse someone.”
“He doesn’t know this footage exists.”
If Aiden did, he would fucking lose his shit. I doubted he wanted to see the extent of what my father had done to his mother up close. I hadn’t wanted to see any of it.
“Good. He doesn’t need to see it. He’s already been through enough.”
“He’s going to go through a lot more before this is all over.”
I couldn’t tell if it was a promise or a threat. Why did he feel the need to hide his voice? Why did it matter if I knew his identity? I was desperately curious at this point no matter how much I hated being tied up to this chair and made to talk about and see things I didn’t want to.
“Well, Avery, it seems you’ve made a mess. Perhaps you’ve had enough for now. Our little chat will resume later.”
I’d defy anyone not to vomit after being confronted with a video like that. I’d hated the videos Aiden showed me, but this was far worse.
The door to the room opened and in stepped the bald man who’d ripped me out of Aiden’s car. He squatted down behind me and untied my wrists from the chair. The blood rushed back to my hands, causing my fingers to tingle. He unbound my ankles next before hoisting me up to my feet and dragging me out. The hallway we walked down had a plush carpet and fancy decorative red wallpaper with black swirls which looked a little garish to me.
The bald-headed man, who I assumed was called Kurt, shoved me through a doorway.
“There is a bathroom for you to clean up in over there,” he told me. “Do not try to escape, Miss Daniels. There is nowhere for you to run.”
He shut the door behind him without waiting for me to respond. I looked around. It was an overly ornate bedroom. A four poster bed with red drapes dominated the space. There was an antique oak ottoman at the foot of it with matching bedside tables. Laid out on the bed was a clean set of clothes for me. A long, plain t-shirt and a pair of leggings. I supposed it would have to do considering I’d thrown up over my shirt.
I walked over to the door Kurt had indicated and went through into the bathroom. I stripped off my shirt and washed the sick out of it as best I could. I cleaned the splatters off my trousers and stripped those off too. I rifled through the bathroom cabinet and found some toothpaste. I used my finger to rub it over my teeth and washed out my mouth from the tap to get rid of the taste of sick. Drinking some water helped clear my head a little.
I took my wet clothes back out into the bedroom and draped them over the ottoman to dry. I put on the t-shirt and leggings before sitting on the bed.
I wasn’t sure what to do. It wasn’t like I had a phone with me and Kurt told me not to try and escape. It hadn’t crossed my mind until he said it. How would I even get away anyway? I was pretty sure he’d locked me in here.
My mind raced with possibilities. Who was this guy? Why did he know so much about Aiden and me? How come he knew who’d really killed Aiden’s mother? What the hell was really going on here?
The door opened and Kurt walked in with a tray. He placed it next to me on the bed, turned and left without a word. I looked down at it. A platter of cheeses and meats with bread and a bowl of fruit along with a glass of juice. My stomach growled. I hadn’t realised how hungry I was. It occurred to me this might be poisoned, but I was relatively sure they weren’t going to harm me.
I wolfed down all the food and finished off the juice. Then I sat back against the headboard and waited. The ache in my chest grew. I missed Aiden. He’d be looking for me. There was no doubt about that. I knew he had ways and means of tracking me down. His resourcefulness knew no bounds. I just had to make sure I stayed alive and whole for him through this. That broken girl I’d been weeks ago no longer existed. The one who’d suffered hallucinations and nightmares brought on by seeing her parents die in front of her eyes. She wasn’t the sort of girl I wanted to be any longer.
Aiden might have broken me, but he’d put me back together again. He’d made me whole. Showing me my inner strength and teaching me to be the woman I was always meant to become. Opening my eyes to a whole new world of pleasure and introducing me to the darkness he lived in. Most girls wouldn’t have put up with the shit he’d put me through. Most girls wouldn’t have bothered looking inside at the man behind the walls he’d put up or tried to understand why he was damaged and broken. I wasn’t most girls. I’d gone toe to toe with him and come out the other side.
I didn’t need Aiden to complete me, but I was a better version of myself because he was in my life. I could withstand this current situation. I could get through it. Aiden was waiting for me and he’d make it better. If I could handle dealing with Frazier Shaw and my uncle, I could handle this.
It was that determination that had me standing up when the door opened again after what seemed like hours. I met Kurt’s gaze head-on.
“Come, Miss Daniels.”
I strode out of the bedroom with him and back down the corridor to the concrete room. I sat down in the chair.
“You don’t need to tie me up,” I said. “I won’t do anything.”
He eyed me for a moment, putting his hand to his ear. He nodded and left the room, shutting the door behind him.
“Are you ready to carry on our little talk?” the robotic voice said.
“Yes.”
“Good. Now, that was only a taster of the footage I wanted to show you.”
My skin prickled, sweat beading at the back of my neck, but I didn’t show my fear. I steeled myself. Whatever he had to show me couldn’t be worse than what I’d already seen.
Except it was.
It was so much worse than I ever imagined.
I didn’t know how much more I could take after being subjected to video after video of men raping, beating and abusing women. There were men I knew and men I didn’t. All of it sickened me, but I managed to keep my meal in my stomach this time.
The screen finally went blank. I looked down at my hands, my breathing labour
ed as I tried not to think too hard about the sickening videos he’d shown me.
“Do you see now why Aiden wants to destroy your family?” the robotic voice asked me.
“Yes,” I whispered.
My hands shook in my lap. I couldn’t help my reaction. My chest ached. I wanted to curl up in a ball and cry. Cry for those women. I wanted to scream and rage at the cruelty. I wanted to do so many things, but I didn’t. I sat there staring at my lap, trying not to let my emotions cripple me.
“You know darlin’, I was good friends with your granddaddy when he was alive. Sad way to go.”
Why the hell was he bringing up my granddad? It had hit my dad pretty hard when Nick died. Lung cancer wasn’t pretty. He fought it, but he’d smoked all his life, cigarettes, cigars, you name it.
“Were you? Is that how come you know so much about their shady operations?”
I looked up. If he knew my granddad, it might mean he was of the same generation or at least of a similar age. Did that bring me any closer to working out who he might be?
“Why yes.”
“Next you’re going to tell me, you partook in the girls as well.”
That awful laugh came again.
“Why, of course, darlin’. We all did.”
I shivered. So he was a sick fuck just like the rest of them. I wasn’t sure why I was even surprised. He had shown me all those sick videos after all. I had no idea why they’d even keep that type of evidence. It was incriminating. Maybe that was why. If any of them stepped out of line, they could be ruined by those videos.
The real question was, why did this man have them? Who was he?
“Good for you, just as despicable as the rest of them.”
“Perhaps I am.”
“Normal people don’t go around kidnapping women nor show them rape videos.”
“You’re right. I’m not a nice man darlin’.”
That bloody word again. I wanted to see his face so I could tell him to shut the fuck up and stop calling me his ‘darling’. I was no one’s fucking darling.
“Glad you realise that.”
“Neither is your Aiden.”
He was wrong. Aiden was nice to me when he wanted to be. He was trying anyway. I didn’t want him to change. I saw the good inside him.
“At least he doesn’t hide behind mirrors and robotic voices. He doesn’t apologise for who he is and I don’t expect him to be anything else.”
“Your loyalty to him is charming.”
It wasn’t loyalty, it was love. I would do anything for him because I loved him. Stay by his side as long as he wanted me there. As long as he kept caring for me the way he did. As long as he kept loving me.
“You don’t know anything about me and Aiden. What we share is between us and none of your business.”
There was silence for a long moment.
“Well darlin’, I think we’ve come to the end of our little tête-à-tête. Don’t forget what I asked you to do.”
“Ask Aiden who murdered his mother.”
“That’s right. Until we meet again, Miss Daniels.”
The door to the room opened and Kurt appeared again. I stood up and followed him out. We walked down the corridor until we came to a large lobby. Sitting next to the front door were my heels. Kurt had a bag with him, which he handed to me. I looked inside and found my soiled clothes.
I slipped on my shoes whilst he opened the front door. We walked out together into a waiting car. It wasn’t the Range Rover, but a BMW. He opened the door for me and I got in the passenger seat.
“Safe trip, Miss Daniels,” he said before he shut the door.
The doors were locked and the car pulled away from the curb. The driver didn’t speak to me. I looked back at the house we’d left by. I recognised this part of London. My father had often taken me here to visit some of his friends. Mayfair. An affluent and expensive part of the city. This raised my suspicions further about who’d taken me. And why had he allowed me to see where I was?
I made sure to note what street we were in so I could tell Aiden.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“I’ve been told to return you home, Miss Daniels,” the driver responded.
Home. It could mean my home or Aiden’s. I didn’t dare enquire which one it would be. After twenty minutes, I had my answer anyway. We pulled up outside Aiden’s block of flats.
“Enjoy the rest of your day, Miss Daniels.”
I nodded at him and got out of the car. I didn’t have my key with me so I’d have to ring the buzzer. I watched the BMW pull away before I went to the door. Pressing down on the button labelled ‘A. Lockhart’, I waited.
After two minutes, there was no answer and I wondered if he was even in. Was he out searching for me? Had he already discovered where I’d been held? I was about to buzz again when the front door was ripped open and I found myself squashed up against a solid chest.
“Princess,” he breathed.
And I dissolved into tears, unable to help the small sob emitting from my lips.
Chapter Sixteen
Aiden
When I’d seen it was her at the door, I’d grabbed my keys, wrenched open my front door and bolted down the stairs, not even bothering to wait for the lift. I heard John call after me. Nothing would stop me from getting to Avery.
When I reached her, my whole world stood still as I dragged her against my chest and held her tightly.
“Princess.”
Her pitiful sob broke my fucking heart. It’d been twenty-four hours and now she was back. John and I spent the entire time trying to work out who would’ve taken her. Chuck had shaken down doors, but even he couldn’t find out where she was. No one was talking. All his clients who lived in the area denied all knowledge. One of them was lying. One of them knew the truth.
“What day is it?” she asked.
“Sunday.”
She shook her head against my chest.
“They knocked me out for an entire day.”
“They did what?”
Did the fucks drug her?
“Can we go upstairs? I’m exhausted, Aiden.”
I pulled away and took her hand, unlocking the door and leading her inside. We rode up in the lift together. She leant against me with her eyes closed. I had no idea what the fuck she’d been through or why she was back now. Why had they let her go?
When I unlocked the front door, she let go of my hand and went straight into the bedroom, ignoring John standing in the hallway.
“Is she okay?” he asked.
“I don’t think so.”
“Did they hurt her?”
“I haven’t had a chance to talk to her properly. She seems shaken up.”
I rubbed the back of my neck. I wanted to demand answers from her. The look in her eyes outside stopped me. World-weary and downtrodden. She needed time, not the inquisition.
“Do you need me to stay? I need to let Chuck know she’s back.”
Avery came out of the bedroom. She’d changed out of what she’d been wearing into a robe, her bare legs on show.
“Hello John.”
“Miss Daniels.”
She grimaced, putting a hand up.
“Please just call me Avery. I don’t think I can stomach hearing another person refer to me as Miss Daniels right now.”
John said he’d seen Avery grow up, but I didn’t know how well the two of them knew each other.
“If that’s what you wish.”
She leant against the doorframe.
“I take it if you’re here then you know…”
He nodded, giving her a half smile.
“Aiden can fill you in. I’ll be back tomorrow morning to take you to work. Your uncle insists on you having protection.”
She looked at the floor.
“So he knows I was taken.”
“I’m afraid so. He did make some noise amongst his clients, so perhaps tha
t’s why you’ve been returned.”
She sighed.
“I know why I was returned, but if you’ll excuse me, I really need a shower.”
She shuffled past the both of us and walked into the bathroom, shutting the door and locking it. Locking me out. What the fuck happened to her?
“I’ll be making tracks then.”
I gave him a nod, my eyes still on the bathroom door. I wanted to fucking break it down, but if Avery wanted space, I’d give it to her.
“Let me know what Chuck says.” My eyes flicked to his. “After I find out what happened to her, we need to plan our next move.”
“Of course.”
He walked to the front door and opened it. He paused, turning back to me.
“I’ll keep her safe, Aiden.”
“I know you will.”
He nodded and left. I stared at the bathroom door, listening to the sounds of the shower. All I wanted was for her to be okay. She was safely home, but that didn’t mean she’d had an easy ride. I sat up against the wall outside the door, waiting for her to come out. There wasn’t much else I could do with myself.
Having her back soothed my aching chest. Knowing she was here where I could protect her calmed me. My princess. My girl. She was home. Those twenty-four hours had felt like a lifetime. A lifetime of pure fucking hell. I couldn’t deal with it.
Staring down at my still bruised knuckles, the evidence of my despair, the feeling of helplessness threatened to overcome me all over again. I’d been powerless to stop them taking her and powerless when it came to finding her again. What good was I if I couldn’t protect the one person who mattered more to me than my own fucking life?
I dragged my hands through my hair. These dark thoughts weren’t fucking helping anyone. Especially not when it’d dragged up memories of what happened to my mother. How I couldn’t stop them hurting her. How they’d taken her away from me. All of it killed me.
Avery would never blame me for what happened. That girl was the brightest fucking star in the sky. She always understood. Always cared. Always did everything in her power to make me fucking happy.
The door to the bathroom opened. She stared down at me, her damp hair falling around her face. Falling to her knees, she crawled in between my legs and lay her head against my chest, her hand over my heart. I didn’t care that she was getting my t-shirt wet. She was right there. Her solid form against mine. I wrapped an arm around her, trailing my fingers down her bare arm.
