by Chloe Saint
But Daddy was used to the timid, defenseless version of me. The one who didn’t dare to show the world her true face.
I was different now. And I was going to tear down everything Daddy had ever loved, and watch as the world shunned him. Just as he deserved.
Chapter 12
Two days later, in the wee hours of the morning, I scared the daylights out of a family returning from a weekend trip to the mountains by stumbling onto the road and right in front of their car.
There was nobody else on the road, and I fell to the ground just as the mom braked. I knew I didn’t look good, with my torn clothing, bare feet and bloodied face. I heard them rushing to my side, peppering me with questions.
Their young daughter asked her father curiously if the lady was dead. Her father hushed her, but I didn’t care.
I was also faint with hunger by then, so I didn’t actually have to fake being barely conscious. Both the parents ended up carrying me into the car, and I felt a rush of gratitude towards them. I wished I could have apologized for ruining the memories of their vacation together. And for getting blood on their car seats.
I didn’t remember what I said in reply to their frightened questions, but they ended up taking me to the nearest hospital, where I was quickly treated for dehydration.
I was still eating a tray full of the hospital’s best fluorescent jello when the door burst open to reveal Daddy, closely followed by my two sisters.
“Sir, we can’t allow you to disturb our patient, she’s in shock—“ began the harassed looking nurse. I had a view of the hospital entrance from my room window, high up on the twelfth floor, so I knew that hospital security had its hands full dealing with news vans and pushy reporters.
I only dared to push the window blinds a fraction of an inch, in case someone looked up. Thankfully, they didn’t. And I happened to be peeking through the gap right at the time when three figures got out of a black SUV.
Immediately, bulbs started flashing and a crowd started to form. I watched the three figures make their way into the hospital, and knew it must be my family.
Someone must finally have let them know. Or maybe they found out through the news like everybody else.
I hoped that was how my Daddy found out. I hoped he turned to his favorite news channel expecting to see a rerun of his old interview talking about how crazy and dangerous I was…only to find that I mysteriously turned up at a local hospital a few miles from my home.
Where he must have thought that I was probably already speaking to nurses and doctors about god-knows-what.
In a way, I thought I understood Daddy. He would do anything to control the situation as he saw fit. I could only imagine how quickly he moved to turn up here, with both my sisters in tow.
My mood darkened when I saw them, both following in his shadow like wraiths. They looked so thin, and their eyes were red and swollen from crying. I was sure it was all calculated, that he knew it would look good to have the two grieving sisters on camera. But my heart broke to see them, clinging to each other like two feathers in a storm.
Had he even bothered to check that they were eating in the past few days? I didn’t think so, judging from how their clothes swayed loosely around their forms.
But Daddy looked good, which was all that was important to him. His skin shone with the tan, plastic smoothness that every oily businessman seemed to have, and the suit he wore looked expensive and was probably tailored.
My anger increased when I thought about how the advance he got from my ‘sale’ had probably gone into buying him those little luxuries that he loved so much.
“Belle!” he said, finally shoving past the nurse and hurrying to my bedside.
The light flashes grew frantic, which made me realize that he’d brought his own cameraman and photographer, probably to make sure the touching moment of reunion was captured. It would look good on tonight’s news, after all.
“Sir, we simply cannot allow you to disturb the patient,” the nurse said, turning up right behind him, putting a hand on his elbow. I admired her tenacity. Unlike most other people, she didn’t seem impressed by his dramatics.
“Ma’am, please move. You’re blocking my shot,” a photographer was saying condescendingly.
“Michael, make sure you get the best angle or I will fucking end you,” Daddy snapped at the cameraman, who shot him a thumbs up.
“Daddy?” I whispered, my voice hoarse from disuse.
“Someone get all these people out of this room immediately before you cause her emotional distress!” the nurse was saying angrily. I cleared my throat.
“Daddy?” I said again.
This time at least I got the attention of the room.
“She’s awake!” Daddy said, as though it was a miracle.
“She’s been awake the entire time,” the nurse said, but she was ignored. I vowed to send her the most expensive care package ever one day soon.
“How are you, sweetheart?” he said, taking my hand in his.
His face strained in an expression that made him look constipated. It took a moment for me to realize that he was trying to force a few tears out. I looked into his eyes, into his unsuspecting gaze…and fought the urge to laugh.
“I’m—I can’t remember anything, Daddy,” I told him, loud enough that the rest of the room could hear. “What happened to me?”
Relief darted through his eyes, as I expected. I could only imagine what a stroke of luck he thought he was getting. A gift from the gods themselves: a daughter with amnesia couldn’t be expected to answer inconvenient questions, and wouldn’t remember anything her kidnappers told her about her father’s shady business dealings.
He was safe.
“Some bad men took you, sweetheart,” he said, and wrapped me in a hug that smelled like cigars and whiskey. I wrinkled my nose.
“But you’re all right now, aren’t you?” he asked anxiously, taking my face in his hands and turning it to the side. “They didn’t hurt you, did they?”
“I…don’t know,” I said, looking at the nurse, who shook her head disapprovingly.
“I’m certainly not going to discuss confidential medical information in a room full of cameramen and recording equipment,” she announced.
Daddy’s face turned ugly for a quicksilver moment, before going back to its expression of grief overlaid with happiness. Oh, he was good.
It made me wonder if I could possible pull this off. I was in the presence of a master, a born liar and manipulator. How could I ever beat him at his own game? My chances of succeeding were beyond slim.
But I thought of the Emery brothers, and the faith they put in me. I wasn’t just doing this for myself, I remembered. I was doing this for four boys who lost their parents because of Daddy, and so my sisters would never have to be afraid of visitors coming in the night with greedy hands.
“Why are there so many people here?” I asked, blinking in confusion. “Those lights make my head hurt.”
There was an awkward pause while the nurse crossed her arms and glared at Daddy. He frowned at me for a split second, but told the cameraman and photographer to leave.
“We got the juiciest bits anyway,” the photog said, snapping a piece of gum in his mouth obnoxiously. He winked at me. “The white hospital gown, bandages on the face—very clever.”
“Are they going to put photos of me on the internet while I’m looking like this?” I asked, distressed.
“See, now you’ve upset her,” the nurse snapped. “Visiting hours are from four pm to six pm every day, sir. I’m afraid I’m going to ask you to leave for the third time.”
“All right, fine,” Daddy said, and threw a bouquet of wilting flowers on the bed. “These were for you,” he said indifferently. “I wanted to get them on camera, but that’s fine. They got some good shots anyway.”
“Is everything going to be okay, Daddy?” I asked, looking at Lenny and Bridgette, who tried to smile at me through trembling lips. “Will those men come for me aga
in?”
That removed the last of his suspicion.
If there was anything in the world Daddy hated more than honest emotion, love or selflessness, it was vulnerability. It would never occur to him to use openness as a shield to throw off suspicion.
“If they know what’s good for them, they’ll have fucked off for good,” he said impatiently. “Now when can you get out of here? I’ve scheduled us for a press conference tonight, and you need to read what you’re going to say. You were always a little slow, it’s going to take some work to get through your lines, but we’ll manage somehow.” He glared at me, as though it was my fault for being a subpar kidnap victim.
“Yes Daddy,” I said, which placated him. His face fell back into its usual smooth expression. He always looked like a politician trying to drum up votes, even here in a hospital room with just his family.
“I’m so tired,” I said, covering my mouth as I yawned. “I want to sleep now.”
“What’s going on here?” asked my doctor as he entered the room. He was a nice man with salt and pepper hair. “Nurse Cardin paged me.”
“We were just about to leave,” Daddy said, all smiles. He introduced himself to the doctor, while Lenny and Bridgette came closer to have a whispered conversation with me.
“What’s going on, Belle? Do you really not remember anything?” Lenny asked, face tight with fear. I could see the blue-green veins under her eyes. She looked positively malnourished. I felt a stab of anger towards Daddy for neglecting them. “I just--that night—there were voices, and a hand on my mouth—and when I woke up, you were gone!”
“I know, Len,” I said, clutching her hand hard enough to leave bruises. “I remember everything.”
Her eyes widened. “But you said—“
“I don’t have time to explain,” I said urgently. I didn’t have much time before they noticed the two girls and shooed them away. “Just trust me, both of you.”
“You’re trying to bring Daddy down, aren’t you?” Bridgette asked, tilting her head at me curiously.
I gaped at her. “How did you--?”
“I knew what Daddy was doing,” she admitted, hanging her head. Red suffused her cheeks. She was embarrassed, and guilty. “I told my teacher once, at school, but she called me a liar and told me that nobody would believe Daddy would do something like that.”
I was reeling internally. “Bridge,” I said softly. “He never tried to use you, did he?”
“No!” she said at once, and the sinking feeling in my chest disappeared. “But that was why I started sleeping over at my friends’ houses and going off to acting camps so much.”
“Girls, we have to leave,” Daddy called in a sickly sweet voice through gritted teeth. Behind him stood the doctor and nurse, like a disapproving honor guard. It looked like he’d talked himself out of any serious punishment…again.
“I’ll talk to you later, and explain everything,” I murmured. “Just don’t tell anyone anything.”
“We won’t,” Lenny said shakily, and Bridgette nodded as well.
I had underestimated them. I thought of them as my baby sisters, but they were keeping secrets that were ripping them apart. And I could see in their eyes that they didn’t believe a word of what Daddy was saying to the news channels.
At least they didn’t think I was dangerous or a criminal.
I sighed with relief as they left. The headache I pretended to have really was coming on now, and as I lay my head back on the pillow I longed for the touch of the men who everyone thought of as my evil kidnappers.
I longed for Derrick’s hand stroking my hair, for Rohan’s fingers on my body, and Gunner’s kind smiles. I even missed Killian’s boisterous energy. How strange, that they managed to become inextricably a part of my life in so little time.
Soon, I told myself, as my eyes closed and I drifted. Right after I set fire to Daddy’s reputation and ground the heel of my boot in its ashes.
Then I would be free.
I should have known that it wouldn’t be so easy.
Chapter 13
“I’m really allowed to go? Just like that?” I said, surprised.
“I don’t like it,” Nurse Cardin sniffed, “But Dr. Chakraborty believes you may be discharged, although it isn’t advisable.”
“If it isn’t advisable, why am I leaving?”
“Your father threatened legal action,” she said with a touch of anger. “He has Power of Attorney over your medical decisions since you’re in no position to make them yourself, what with the memory loss and other…things.”
She trailed off delicately, but I knew she was talking about the marks from my whipping. It caused a minor stir when the doctors said that I had marks that were consistent with those from a leather whip. I managed to look innocently heartbroken through the announcement, and Daddy lost no time in leaking it to the press.
They had a field day with it. Lenny snuck me her phone and I read articles with headlines like ‘Kidnapped Teenager Bears Marks of Torture!’ and ‘Girl was kept in Dungeon and Whipped, Sources Say’, before closing the window. I felt slightly sick.
I didn’t anticipate this getting out. It did look bad. I had to really blow it out of the water later, or the press would gloss over Daddy’s crimes in favor of all the lurid details of my abduction that they had to speculate about.
“Are you ready, Belle?” Daddy asked, appearing at the door and adjusting his cufflinks. He looked polished, handsome and distinguished. Nurse Cardin reluctantly told me that the other nurses on the floor all had huge crushes on him. I appreciated that she could see right through him, though she couldn’t know the extent of his crimes.
“I’m ready,” I said, and brushed away his extended hand. I had to endure his hug or it would have looked suspicious, but I certainly wasn’t going to let him touch me any more than absolutely necessary.
“I don’t need a wheelchair,” I said, looking down at the object that Daddy brought with him. “Do I?” I asked Nurse Cardin.
“You’re remarkably healthy for what you’ve been through,” she admitted. “You can walk if you’d like.”
“She’s going to sit in this if she knows what’s good for her,” Daddy said through gritted teeth. He had to have his enamel replaced on his molars a few years ago, because of how much he would grind his teeth together. I didn’t know why I smiled at the thought, but I did.
“Will it look good for the photos?” I asked innocently. Nurse Cardin shot me a sharp look and turned away, hiding a smile.
“What do you mean, Belle?” Daddy said, all smiles and sharp teeth. “You haven’t lost your sense of humor, that’s a good sign isn’t it Nurse?”
“Very good,” Nurse agreed, rolling her eyes when he wasn’t looking.
I lowered myself meekly into the wheelchair and let myself be pushed through the halls. People turned to stare at me. Here I was famous as the girl who somehow escaped her kidnappers and didn’t have the slightest memory of her entire abduction. Everyone knew me by sight.
Doctors had come to look at me. That part made me nervous. I might be able to fool everyone else, but these people were trained to look for certain signs of genuine memory loss which was almost impossible to fake. Luckily, once Daddy realized there was no magic cure for memory loss anyway, he was in such a hurry to take me home that they reluctantly agreed to discharge me.
As soon as the automatic doors slid open in front of us, I was almost blinded by light flashes. Daddy took charge immediately, striding to the front and talking to them all smoothly. I wasn’t sure if he rehearsed his speech or if he was just a born performer, but the crowd fell silent immediately, eager to hear what he had to say.
“I’m very thankful to have my daughter back with me,” he said, letting his breath hitch like he was barely holding himself together. “And so I request that my family be given privacy in this trying time, as Belle recovers from her ordeal.”
“But isn’t it true that you scheduled a press conference later this
evening?” a woman at the front of the crowd asked skeptically.
“Everything will be explained this evening, little lady!” Daddy said heartily. Her face looked sour at being called ‘little lady’. “Now, please move aside all of you, so I can take my poor daughter home.”
At the words ‘daughter’, all their eyes landed on me like hungry birds of prey. I suppressed a sigh, and tried to look as weak and pathetic as possible. I think I succeeded.
When we were safely in the car and driving home, Daddy immediately dropped his expression of cheery goodwill.
“Daddy, about tonight,” I started timidly.
“We’ll go over that when we’re home, Belle, how many times do I have to tell you?” he snapped at me. “Can’t you remember a single fucking thing, girl?”
“Sorry, Daddy,” I said quietly.
“Just shut your fucking mouth until we get home,” he groused, and turned on the radio.
We reached ‘home’, or rather, the place I was forced to live with Daddy, an hour later. Lenny and Bridgette were peeking through the window of the second floor bedroom.
Just as we reached the door, they rushed into me, squealing with happiness.
Daddy shoved them away, eyes darting around to see if anyone was lurking and trying to take photos. Then I remembered that I was supposed to be the ‘dangerous’, ‘violent’ sister that the other two were afraid of. It wouldn’t look good for the narrative if they didn’t look anything close to terrified of my potential violent outbursts.
“Girls, get inside,” he said shortly.
Once we were in the house, he disappeared without another word. He had a room on the other side of the house that I privately called his drinking room, but he called it his study. There weren’t many books there, but there was a remarkably fine collection of whiskey and scotch, mostly gifts from former associates.
All three of us waited until his footsteps on the hardwood floor died away. Then they both threw their arms around me, and hugged me so hard I thought my ribs would crack.
