I laid down on the small bed attached to the wall feeling the burning sensation on all the welts and open wounds the whip had left on my back, trying to find a comfortable position to rest and try to sleep.
But it was a hellish night. I was in pain and the darkness of my future kept me awake most of the time.
In the morning a policeman came and indicated I was supposed to take a bath and change into a uniform composed of pants and shirt, with clean underwear and although that didn’t make me very happy I decided not to cause trouble and followed the man. The bathroom, as I imagined was dreadful, but I took a quick shower, trying to clean my wounds as best as I could and when I was done, I changed into the clothes the man had given me, praying to all gods I would be able to leave this place today.
Back in my cell, they brought me food and when I asked about the man that had visited me the day before, no one gave me a straight answer.
The two policemen that had raped me the night before strolled a couple of times past my cell, smiling at me, promising me worse tortures for that night. I had to find a way to get out of that place as soon as possible.
By the end of the afternoon I was getting desperate. No one had come to talk to me and the policemen had ignored all my attempts to talk to someone. Finally, when I was about to start crying hysterically, a policeman came to pick me up and take me to the interrogation room. He left me there alone for a few moments and when the door opened up again I almost died.
Devlin and Mr. El-Hashem entered the room.
"Hello, Mary Elizabeth. I hope by now you're willing to come to your senses." Devlin greeted me with a crooked smiled that showed me just how furious he was with me.
"I have no idea what are you talking about." I said, not making eye contact with any of them. "And I have nothing to talk to you about."
"I was hoping the past night had taught you some manners but obviously I was hoping too much." Devlin said, and every word that came out of his mouth oozed rage and frustration.
"I really couldn’t care less of your hopes, Devlin." I answered emphasizing the use of his name.
"As you can see Hussein, you'll have a lot of work breaking this one down." Devlin said, turning to look at the other man that so far had remained in silence.
"Yes I can see, and believe me, I'll have a lot of fun doing it." The man answered with the most evil smile I've ever seen in my life.
"You two are insane if you think I'll go back with either of you." I ranted, looking at them with disbelief.
"Like I've told you endless times, you have no say in this, you're mine to do with whatever I please." Devlin said, with a cold, dark tone in his voice that sent shivers down my spine.
"We're done here." I said, furiously before I got up and walked to the door, to bang on it. "Please, let me out."
Devlin got up and followed me. In a split second, he was crushing me against the door, immobilizing me. "We'll be done when I say we're done." He said and raising his hand he let me see the syringe he was carrying. Before I could do anything, he was sticking it at the base of my neck and injecting its content in me. "This will take care of your attitude for a couple of hours." He said with a pleased smiled.
I gasped for air as I felt my whole body go flabby and my legs lose strength. Devlin grabbed me in his arms and knocked on the door. "Please open."
The door opened immediately, and Hussein and Devlin helped me out of the room. "We are ready to leave now. I hope this hasn’t caused you too much trouble." I heard Hussein talking to the policemen standing in the hall.
The men mumbled something that I wasn’t able to hear, and Hussein answered: "Yes, I'll take care of her now."
"No…" I tried to yell, and though I could hear the scream in my mind, nothing came out of my mouth. I couldn’t speak.
They dragged me out of the police station and only a few moments later, they were putting me inside a car and driving out of there.
I wanted to protest, to do something, but I had no control over my body. I was like a living ragdoll.
"I can't wait to lay my hands on her." I heard Hussein tell Devlin and I wanted to scream my rage and my fear.
"Where are you taking her?" Devlin asked, smiling amused.
"I have a house with a very good dungeon on the outskirts of town, it's a very isolated house so I decided it was better to take her there." The other man answered, and his words killed all my hopes of ever escaping him.
Around one hour later, we were driving through a wooded area, when the car stopped all of a sudden.
"What the hell…" Hussein started saying when the door to the car opened and two men wearing bandanas over their faces and with guns appeared.
"Give us the woman and no one will get hurt." One of the men said, pointing at the ones inside the car.
"Who are you? You have no right…" Hussein ranted.
"We're not here to answer questions. Give us the woman." His tone was authoritarian and didn’t give place for arguing.
Snorting furiously, Hussein grabbed me and threw me over to the man closer to him. "Take her. She's not worth dying for."
The man that had been silent took me in his arms and carried me to the car that was blocking the road, but I was able to hear the other man: "Smart choice. Don’t try to follow us and forget her. You'll never get your hands on her again." He shut the car's door and the next thing I heard was a shot. Two more men got in the car and they drove off.
"You shot the car's tire?" the man that had carried me to the car asked the other one, with a heavy accent. I guessed they were talking English on my behalf.
"Yes, I don’t want to be followed. Let's get to the boat." The man answered. "I believe they drugged her, but that plays in our favor. Surely the effect will last until we get to international waters." He said, taking a good look at me.
I was extremely scared. Who were these guys? And why were they kidnapping me? Would this whole ordeal never end? When would I be able to get back to my normal life? I was starting to think that would never happen again.
"Yes, surely, but we should put her to sleep, when we get to the boat." The other man suggested.
"Yes, I think that's a good idea."
They stopped talking and my mind continued in a maddening swirl of thoughts and possibilities, some darker than the others and all I wanted to do was cry my fears out. After a while, we arrived to a dock and the men removed the bandanas from their faces before they hopped out of the car. When I looked at the man that had threatened Devlin and Hussein, I almost passed out. It was the man with the white fedora. He had kidnapped me.
They took me out of the car and one of them carried me to a small motorboat, and in seconds the three men and I were on our way. Only a few minutes later we arrived next to a huge yacht and once again I was carried in. The man with the fedora took me to a cabin and gently laid me on a bed. I was still under the effects of the drug Devlin had injected in me, so I couldn’t move or talk.
"Here, you better inject her with this." The other man handed him another syringe and the fedora guy gently injected the new drug in me and only seconds later the world went black.
I woke up feeling a terrible headache. I slowly opened my eyes to find myself in a strange place, and for the first moments I couldn’t remember where I was or what had happened. Then a swirl of memories overwhelmed me and I remembered the last events.
The guy with the white fedora had been chasing me, after all. Why was still unknown. I was still in the cabin where he had left me, and for what I could tell the yacht was still on the move.
I felt an urge to use the bathroom so I got up slowly, not sure the cabin had one, so I started looking. There were two doors, so I assumed one would be the bathroom. The first one that I tried was closed, so I figured it was the main door. I tried the next one and fortunately it opened and it was the bathroom, a way too big and luxurious bathroom for a cabin, but then again what did I know?
I used the toilet immediately and when I was done I went to wa
sh my hands and almost shouted when I saw my reflection on the mirror: I was extremely pale, with dark eye bags, my hair was a complete mess, and the clothes I had on were so wrinkled, it looked worse than it was. I could still feel the sting from the lashes of the bullwhip and I craved desperately for a long, hot shower.
I checked the bathroom door for a lock, but it didn’t have one, and for a moment I doubted, but I just needed to feel clean again.
I took off all my clothes and entered the shower stall and in just seconds I was enjoying my bath, with scented soaps and shampoos, taking all the time I wanted. When I finally felt clean and human again, I dried my body with the softest towel I had ever used and put on the bathrobe that I found on a shelf, neatly folded. By now, I knew that clothes were a very lame protection, and I had no intention of wearing the jail uniform again, even if my destiny proved to be worse than jail.
I returned to the room and sat on a chair in front of the dresser, combing my long hair. Maybe I should be a bit more worried for my future, but I guess I was just too tired for that. I had been through a lot in the past few days, and now I was just going to wait and see. There was no use fighting when I was alone in a locked room.
But I was starting to feel hungry. I couldn’t remember the last time I ate, and I had no idea how long I had been out, so I started to consider my options: I could knock on the door and wait to see if someone came, although that meant to anticipate whatever they had in mind for me, or I could starve and wait.
No use starving. Sooner or later I would have to face my destiny and maybe they were kind enough to feed me first. I got up and walked up to the door and knocked at it.
I heard footsteps fading away and moments later more footsteps approaching and I stepped away from the door.
The door open and the fedora guy appeared. "Good morning, Miss Mary Elizabeth. My name is Rashid, and I hope you are feeling alright this morning."
"How do you know my name?" I asked puzzled with the whole situation.
"I was told your name and all about you, when I was ordered to follow you, miss." He informed me with a friendly smile.
"Who ordered you to follow me?" I asked, even more curious with his words and expression.
"You'll find out soon enough. It will still take us a few hours to get to our destiny. I believe you must feel hungry by now, would you like something to eat and drink?" he answered, still smiling.
"Yes, that would be very nice." I replied, still not sure what to think about the whole situation.
"And since you already took a shower, I'll get you some clean clothes as well." There was no scolding in his tone.
"Thank you, that would be very good. I didn’t want to put that awful uniform on again." I answered, my tone denoting disbelief. I sure didn’t understand what was going on, but I would play along and see what happened.
"I'll be right back." He left the room and didn’t lock the door. Then again, there was not a place to run away to. We were in the middle of the ocean, and I sure didn’t have suicidal thoughts. At least, not yet.
A few minutes later he returned with an amazing dark blue kaftan, embroidered with shining crystals on the neckline, with matching sandals, and handed it to me. "You'll find underwear in the dresser drawers. Feel free to pick the ones of your choice. I'll return for you in a few minutes to take you to r lunch."
"Thank you." I watched him leave the room, and shaking my head in a vain attempt to slip out of this weird dimension, I changed into that magnificent outfit.
I gave a last brush to my hair and I was ready. On the other side of the mirror, the woman staring back at me didn’t look even a bit like the one that had awakened in that room a few hours ago. I looked like my old self, and I just wished that would last.
For now, I really felt like I had fallen into another dimension, and was still waiting to see what would happen.
Chapter 9
Only a few moments later, someone knocked on the door.
I opened, and Rashid was there, waiting for me. "Please, accompany me, to the dining room." He said, with a smile.
"Yes, thank you." He guided me through the halls until we reached a large room with a big table. There was a lot of food served on it, but there was only one place setting
"Please, take a seat and enjoy your meal." He said, signaling me a chair.
"Am I eating alone?" I asked, astonished with the amount and variety of food.
"Yes, miss, is that a problem?"
"I don’t like eating alone, that's all." I murmured, as I took a seat at the table.
"I would be honored to join you, if you would settle for my company." He offered, with a teasing smile.
"Please, that would be much better." I smiled back.
He grabbed a plate and sat across from me, and we started lunch. I was introduced to some of the food on the table, relishing on their different flavors, and I ate until I felt I would explode. I hadn’t enjoyed a meal like this one in quite some time, not worried about making mistakes, or for what might come out of my mouth, just chitchatting, about the food, the weather, the yacht.
"Won't you tell me anything about the man that sent for me?" I finally asked, when one of the sailors had finished clearing the table, and we were enjoying a magnificent cup of coffee.
"I'm afraid I'm not allowed to, but we'll be arriving in just a few hours." He answered, and his tone made clear he expected the question.
"Can you at least tell me where are you taking me?" I tried to get more information.
"Well, we'll soon be arriving in Cyprus. There we'll get a jet plane that will take us to our final destination." He informed me, still not telling me where we were headed.
"Will you drug me again?" I asked, with a grimace.
"No, that won't be necessary. We'll be departing from a private airport." He answered with his permanent smile.
"So, no use floundering." I concluded and he laughed.
"You have been able to surprise me, miss. I was expecting a lot of floundering and hysteria." He admitted.
"Maybe there should be some, but I guess I'm just too tired." I answered, getting up and walking to one of the huge windows.
"I understand. Well, feel free to return to your cabin. I'll let you know when we reach Cyprus." He told me, leaving the room.
I stayed there looking at the vast ocean, not very happy with the idea of returning to the cabin. I had been locked away for way too much time, and who knew what awaited me at the end of this journey?
So far I was happy that I had escaped Devlin and Hussein. There were no surprises on what I was going to face with those two: an endless sequence of beatings, fucking and god knows what else made Hussein famous amongst his peers.
A few minutes later, I was able to hear the roar of a helicopter and to my surprise, it landed on the yacht. I knew it was a big one, but obviously it was bigger than I thought. Rashid appeared immediately. "Our ride to the airport is here. Would you come with me?"
"Yes, I guess." I walked with him to the outside and only minutes later we were landing on a small airport field. From there to the plane waiting and in less than half an hour we were flying to wherever he was supposed to take me.
The flight was longer than what I had imagined and the sun was setting on the horizon when we finally landed, on a small airport in the middle of the desert.
When I looked around, my mind was filled with the image of a man: Prince Ali, a man I had met at the club back home. But I dismissed the possibility for ridiculous. A man like him wouldn’t waste a second thinking of me, much less in having me followed and kidnapped.
A four wheel drive SUV was waiting for us to take us to what could only be described as a citadel in the middle of the desert surrounded by a big oasis, with lots of palm trees. The car drove us through narrow streets and dropped us in front of a huge wooden door that Rashid opened to let me in.
For a moment, the thought of trying to escape crossed my mind, just to be dismissed by logic: I was in a faraway place, sur
rounded by people who probably wouldn’t speak my language and whose loyalty would most likely lay in the man waiting for me behind that door.
So, I took a deep breath and let Rashid guide me in.
The door led to an amazing garden, considering that the desert was only a few feet away, with palm trees, fragrant flowers, and water fountains all over. I was mesmerized by its beauty. Rashid led me to an archway that took us to the interior of the palace, because that was the best word to describe the place, with its beauty, elegance and luxurious décor.
"I'll take you to your room. I'm sure you'll be more than anxious for a hot bath and a change clothes." Rashid's voice took me out of my amazement.
I looked at him with a crooked smile. He knew I would much rather find out who was behind me being there, but once more, the moment was postponed. "Yes, Rashid, that would be great."
He smiled at me and took me upstairs to a huge room that looked like it was taken out of one of stories of the Arabian Nights, with its decore in shades of red and gold.
"Do you like it, Miss Elizabeth?" Rashid asked, smiling at my obvious delight.
"I love it."
"The bathroom is through that door and you can find clothes behind the other door. Feel free to wear whatever you want." He informed her. "I'll come back in an hour to take to dinner."
"Will I meet him then?" I asked in a soft tone, as reality killed some of my childish enthusiasm.
"Yes, Miss Elizabeth." His answer was firm and serious. "But I'm sure you have nothing to fear."
My lips curved in a sad smile. "Thank you, Rashid." I said, as he left the room.
I refused to have hopes. The last months of my life had been filled with amazing moments yes, but also with the worst moments I had ever lived. I had been through too much pain, physical and also emotional.
I went to the bathroom and after taken all my clothes off I took a very long shower. Back in the room, I went to the dressing room and pick another caftan, this one burgundy, with crystals embroideries as well, and picked some matching underwear as well as a pair of sandals.
Dark Romance Novel - Submission + Taken + 1 Mystery books Bundle Set (A Dark Romance Series Novel) Page 46
