“You’ve had time to think about my offer,” Ledger says. “Are you going to do the right thing?”
I want to scream at him. To spit and curse and fight. But instead, I do what I know he’ll hate. I go silent and refuse to meet his eye.
He kicks the leg of my chair, jolting it and sending more pain shooting through my skull.
“Answer me!”
I clamp my lips together and turn my face away.
“Fucking bitch. Well, don’t say I didn’t give you a chance. You said you wanted water, right?”
What does he mean?
“Untie her hands,” he instructs the men. My heart lifts with a moment of hope until he says, “and retie them at her front.”
At least it’ll give my shoulders a break from being pulled into such an uncomfortable position, but then I see the reason for him wanting my position changed. He drags over the large flexi tub and places it between my feet, like he thinks I might need it to throw up into.
I’m electric with panic; it’s zinging through every nerve ending. I want to scream and fight, but it won’t do any good, and I don’t want to give him the satisfaction in seeing me like that. The only sign of my fear is the trembling that works its way through my limbs, and the juddering of my chin and jaw.
What’s he going to do with me?
Ledger returns to the door and hauls something else inside. It’s a long garden hose, the kind on a reel, and heunwinds it as he walks, allowing it to splay out behind him. I swallow, hard, my mind trying to process what his plan might be. Whatever it is, it’s not going to be good for me.
Is he planning to chop me up into little pieces, and the bucket is for easy removal of my body parts? Then he can hose down the place to remove the blood.
He’s not going to kill me, he’s not going to kill me, he’s not going to kill me…
I repeat the six words like a prayer. I’m no use to him dead. He won’t be able to claim me as his wife, and he won’t be able to have his fun with me. Can’t marry a corpse, after all. I almost laugh hysterically but manage to swallow it down. Perhaps I’m going crazy. Still, I think I’m right in that he wants me alive, at least. A man like him would never give up on the power trip of marrying a rival family’s daughter.
Ledger feeds the end of the hose into the bucket and motions to one of his men. They vanish, and, a moment later, water splashes into the flexi tub.
Oh, crap. I’m pretty sure he isn’t planning to give me a bath.
A tear spills from my eye and rolls down my cheek.
Still, I say nothing. I do nothing. I sit frozen in the chair, not making eye contact with him, just staring at the floor.
The water in the tub gets steadily deeper.
I hate him. I hate him so much, it’s like a living creature squirming inside me, fighting to get out. His family murdered my father and destroyed my home, and now he’s here planning to what…? Torture me until I give up the location of the safehouse. Yes, that’s exactly what he plans.
Once more, I remind myself that he won’t kill me. However much it might feel like it, my life isn’t in danger—at least not yet.
He could take it too far, though. He could kill me by accident. It happens all the time, doesn’t it, at least in films, where someone is being tortured and the person doing the torturing gets carried away? I can hardly believe I’m having such thoughts in relation to myself, but I need to be realistic.
There is no way I’m going to give up the safehouse, so there is a chance Ledger will end up killing me.
I don’t want to die, and even brave, trained soldiers give up easily under torture. My father always told his men to keep talking, as it slows down the interrogation, so maybe I can try that tactic.
At least I’m not going to die a virgin. I give a little hiccupping sob of laughter at the thought.
I’m still full of regret, though. Regret that I never got the chance to tell Jack exactly how I feel about him. Regret that Vani and I left things on such bad terms. Regret that I’ll never get to see my family again.
The tub is near full now, and Ledger shouts to one of his men to turn off the water.
“Last chance, Camile,” Ledger says, standing over me. “Tell me where the safehouse is.”
I remain silent, my lips pinched shut.
