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The toilet paper holder was empty, a filthy rag sat on the floor near a dripping sink. There was no way inhellthat was going anywherenearmy body. So I reached between my legs and swiped my hand along my crease, taking the moisture with me, then pulled up my pants before turning and stabbing the button.
The cistern let out a groan, a trickle of water dribbled into the bowl. I turned away and took a step toward the sink, hitting the faucet, and finding nothing.Drip…drip…drip…that was all I got. I lowered my head, my shoulders sagging as I held my hand under the dribble as tears came.
“Hey…now!”the mercenary barked.
Tears slipped free as I rubbed my hand with as much water as I could, and turned. I didn’t care who saw me cry now, didn’t care about holding back my tears, didn’t care what the world saw. There were no paparazzi waiting for me on the other side of the door, just guns and greed.
I twisted and yanked the door open, finding cold scrutiny on the other side.
“Move,” I snarled, and stepped forward, pushing past him as I went through the doorway.
He just grabbed my arm and shoved. Ache on top of ache. There was no end to the hurting as I was driven toward the wooden chairs.
“Sit,” my captor barked, stabbing his finger toward a chair.
But I stopped before obeying and instead, I stared into that empty gaze. “I need water and I need food.”
He just curled his body, moving close as he growled,“Sit.”
I swallowed hard.No,that voice inside me urged.Fuck them.
But it was that tremble deep in my belly that made me take a step backward, that life that was growing inside me, needing me to pick my battles. It was for that life that my knees buckled and I sank to the seat. They moved around me, talking amongst themselves. All except for one.
The young guy from the plane.
He just watched me with sad eyes.
That sent a tremor of hope soaring to the surface inside me.
And while the tide shifted as a number of the men walked out the door, their heavy steps, he remained behind, watching me.
“Hey!”one of the others barked, taking a step forward to swat the young guy across the back of the head.
He ducked, then jerked his gaze toward the older male, answering in French. But the bully just watched me with the kind of savagery that made me lower my gaze.
An icy breeze seemed to find its way into the apartment and slither along my skin. They moved away, leaving me alone in the middle of the room. I sat, shifting on the hard seat, as the door opened and closed and armed men came and went. I lost track of how many there were and how many times they came in to glare at me and snap orders in French to the young male. But I knew this had moved beyond a kidnapping and ransom…well beyond. And as the bright morning sun spilled in from the front window and softened to the dimmer afternoon, I knew time was running out for me.
“Here.”
I lifted my head and found the soft brown eyes of my younger captor as he handed me a bottle of water and a sandwich wrapped in plastic. My stomach clenched at the sight and my mouth watered. But I just looked into his gaze, searching it for a flicker of compassion and whispered, “Why?”
“Why?" He glanced at the food in his hand. “Why a sandwich?”
“Why be nice to me?”
There was a moment of confusion before he glanced at the door and the rest of the room. We were alone, so he moved closer. “Because I don’t like this at all.”
Hope flared. But it was a desperate hope, ahungryhope. “Then let me go.”
“You know I can’t do that,”he whispered, and glanced around the room once more. “They’d kill me.”
“Boo-fucking-hoo,” I growled, and shoved to stand. My knees trembled as the blood rushed to my feet. “I’ve been kidnapped and beaten. I’ve been forced into a boat, into a four-wheel drive, into a plane and a fucking van at gunpoint. I’ve been starved, had no water andno fucking explanation as to what’s going on,and now you…” I glanced at his hand as rage continued to bubble up to the surface. “You hand me a fucking sandwich and think you’re doing me a favor?”
“It’s peanut butter,” he answered meekly.
Rage lashed deep inside me, making me curl my lips and bare my teeth. “Let. Me. Go.”
He winced, his mouth twisting as he glanced toward the doorway once more. “These men…these men are dangerous, trained. They’ll shoot me, then you, before we got more than a step out of here.”
