‘Like my welfare really matters to you,’ she muttered quietly.
She wasn’t stupid. This was a dangerous game, but she couldn’t stop herself.
‘Elena, be careful,’ he warned, his voice low but powerful, meaning every word. ‘I only know because the man downstairs has been bringing me up to date. Your swollen cheek confirms it.’
‘Ah, I see. Is that why you’re here? Do you want me to be nice to you too?’
He raised his eyebrows. ‘No, that’s not why I’m here.’
‘Well, that’s what got me this,’ she said pointing to her face. ‘I bet your little henchman didn’t share that, did he? I wouldn’t give him what he wanted for a measly bottle of water, so he decided to get busy with his fists. And just so you know, I’ll fight you too, just as I refused your friend. Even if it means more punishment, I don’t care.’
‘You need to take it easy with that attitude.’
She didn’t reply and tried to hide the fact that her body had begun to tremble.
He was quiet too, perhaps allowing her little outburst, or about to react, she wasn’t sure. She braced a little.
‘But you’re right,’ he said, finally breaking the silence. ‘I wasn’t aware of what had happened. He failed to share that information with me.’ He paused. ‘I thought I could leave things to him in the early stages, but it seems I was mistaken.’
‘Early stages? How long do you expect this hell to continue?’
‘Until your father does as he’s told,’ he replied. ‘But the fact that I’m here now is probably in your best interest.’
His words deflated her. ‘Really? I can’t see how,’ she said as she shifted in the chair. ‘And anyway, I’d go as far as guessing that it’s more the case that it’s in your best interests that you’re here? For the money, the end goal we’re all focused on, for different reasons.’
He strode towards her, not stopping until his hand met with the back of the chair, bringing his face close to hers. ‘That’s enough!’ he thundered. ‘Do you think this is a fucking game?’
The full force of his body near hers and the intensity that radiated from him made her cower from his glare. She shook her head, the ability to speak having deserted her.
His eyes bore into her and she braced for an impact that would launch her from the chair.
She glanced at him, and although there was anger in his eyes, there was also control. Not like Cigarettes.
He released his hold and moved away from her. ‘Relax, I’m not going to hurt you.’
She straightened in the chair and kept her eyes to the floor.
‘But you’re lucky it’s me you’re testing,’ he said. ‘I’ll let it pass, for now, but you might want to keep those kinds of comments in check with the others from now on.’ He turned and looked at her, ready to open the door. ‘Do you understand?’
She nodded silently, not trusting herself to say something that would get her into more trouble.
‘And that’s exactly the right decision,’ he said, as if reading her mind.
After effectively putting her in her place, he left the room, locking the door behind him.
She wanted to hurl the chair towards the door, show some act of defiance, but thought better of it. Testing his patience was not conducive to her survival, she knew that. She’d pushed boundaries with him in ways she’d never have done with Cigarettes, but she’d be wrong to trust him when he said he would let it pass.
She’d done well. She was still alive and unhurt. Now, all she had to do was stay that way.
***
Elena snapped awake, her senses on high alert. The wind howled outside her window, blowing icy gusts of air through cracks in the glass. Although it was spring, a frost still descended on cloudless nights and a cold chill penetrated her bones. She was agitated and jittery, feelings she couldn’t shake since meeting her captor. Things were taking too long; she should have been released by now. She shivered. A running vest, a light hooded top, and calf-length leggings offered no protection in the frozen room.
She sat up and readied herself as footsteps climbing the stairs punctured the silence. The key turned and her captor walked into the room. He locked the door and she stood, not wanting to feel vulnerable on the floor.
‘Hello, Elena,’ he said as he approached her.
If there was one thing Elena was familiar with, it was quality, and everything about this man smacked of expense. It was clear he had money, lots of it. She just had to look at him to see it. His clothes, although casual, were well made, and the exclusive, chunky wristwatch at the end of his arm removed any sense of doubt. But it made perfect sense to Elena that someone in the game of demanding huge ransoms from London’s elite would have a lot of cash to spend.
‘What’s happening?’ she asked. ‘Are you here to release me?’
‘No, not today,’ he said as he pulled out his phone.
‘Then what’s going on?’
‘It would seem that your father needs a little nudge in the right direction.’ He held out the phone and snapped a picture of her, blinding her with the flash. ‘This should be enough to focus his mind.’
She blinked until her vision returned and hoped that in her current state, with her unkempt appearance and decaying surroundings, her father would be given ample evidence that this was as real as it gets. It didn’t surprise her. Nothing did as far as her father was concerned. Of course he’d want more proof before he’d even consider giving away a slice of his wealth. But she couldn’t bring herself to think of what trinket Cigarettes would painfully cut away from her body if her father still refused to believe this reality.
He tucked his phone into his back pocket and although he didn’t seem to be deliberately staying with her, he didn’t seem in a rush to leave either.
‘If you’re here to take me to the bathroom, I don’t need to go,’ she said as she folded her arms tightly, nerves creeping in. ‘Just so you know.’
‘Well, thank you for sharing.’
Embarrassed, she continued. ‘I mean, I just need water. Please. I’m so thirsty.’
‘Water will be brought up to you shortly.’
‘Shortly?’
He nodded and the air was filled with silence. After a moment, realisation hit her. She held her arm across her body, in a pathetic attempt at protection.
He cocked his brow as he figured it out. ‘It’s okay. I’m no thug. Forcing myself on a woman is not my thing.’
Relief made her legs falter, but she managed to stand firm.
‘It’s a shame your little ‘kidnap buddy’ doesn’t feel the same way,’ she murmured.
Suddenly, a thought occurred to her. An interesting and potentially life-saving one. Maybe he wasn’t a thug. Maybe there was a part of him, a good part, that she could appeal to and she considered the option of negotiating a way out of here. She could test him out, try her hand. It was worth a shot. She moved a little closer and looked up at him, leaning in ever so slightly, an action designed to make him look down at her, bringing them closer together.
‘Look, I understand what you need to do here. You want to show me who’s boss, especially with the others around. But we could make this easy. I could make it easy,’ she said as her mind raced. She wasn’t even sure where this was going.
He listened without speaking and, unable to read his expression now, she continued on.
‘If you let me go, I would persuade my father to pay you. But this has to be just between us. Don’t you see, you’d still get your money and I would get my freedom – unhurt.’
He folded his arms. ‘I understand your desire to leave, I really do…’
‘So let me go. You don’t have to discuss it with the others. We could work together, perhaps you could sneak me out.’
He raised his eyebrows at her suggestion, but the hint of a smile never left his lips. ‘It is a mess,’ he said, seeming to entertain her request. ‘I hadn’t expected it to take this long.’ He sighed, running his hand through his
hair.
A tiny glint of optimism flashed inside of her. ‘Well, you can change it. There’s still time. You can do the right thing if you want to.’
‘I don’t know.’ He studied her again. ‘You’d still be able to convince your father to pay me, even if released? You think he’d do that?’
His tone was strange, but she ignored it, blind to what it meant and hurried on. ‘Yes, yes, absolutely. I would get the money somehow,’ she said, knowing she was making promises she couldn’t ever keep.
He began to laugh, a deep, resonating laugh that gave away what was really going on here. ‘Nice try, Elena.’
Humiliation radiated through her and she took a few steps back to separate herself from him and this moment.
‘You… you… pig!’ she snapped.
‘That’s better,’ he said with a dry smile. ‘I much prefer your true colours. They shine so much brighter when you’re angry,’ he said as he moved closer, not allowing her the distance. ‘You can try to play me again if you want. I’m not going to deny that I enjoyed it, but it won’t get you anywhere. Do you understand? Because I see right through you.’
‘Leave me alone!’ she spat, angry with him, but furious with herself.
‘Have it your own way,’ he said as he strode to the door, locking it behind him.
She was alone again and worked hard to calm herself and her pounding heart. With clenched fists, she screeched with frustration and sunk to the floor, pulling the blanket close to bury her face within it in an attempt to block everything out.
Chapter 5
Elena had scratched ten new lines into the wall since her pathetic attempt at negotiating a deal with her captor. Time dragged so slowly she was sure it had stopped completely – herself and her captors suspended in their strange little existence together – while the outside world continued on without them. She’d had little or no contact with any of the men apart from receiving her daily dose of water and a little bread. She spent her time pacing the room, trying to combat the negative energy that seemed to surround her since she’d made that embarrassing error.
It was dark, the day done, but no stars peeped through the gaps of the wood at the window. The key turned and the man who had sedated her, the doctor, appeared. He approached, carrying his messenger bag and, as he did, all other thoughts of why he was here faded into insignificance as she fixed her eye on the open door behind him.
Careless.
She watched him, slowly taking a few side steps to keep the doorway in her view.
‘What do you want,’ she asked as she paused, her body still but ready for flight.
‘I’m here to check you over.’
‘But I’m fine. I don’t need checking over,’ she said as she balled her fists. ‘And you don’t need to come any closer.’
Another step.
‘Well, I have my orders,’ he said, eyeing her cautiously as if she was a dangerous animal, observing, waiting, trying to predict her movements.
‘I don’t care. I don’t want you anywhere near me.’
She glanced at the door as his eyes did the same. The mix of realisation and panic washed over his face as she shoved him hard and lurched forwards, straight out of the door.
His shout echoed in the empty room as she willed her fatigued body into action and used the finial of the top bannister to turn and launch herself down the stairs. Thudding against cracking wood, she jumped the last four stairs and tore across the hallway. Ignoring the dim light that shone from the room to her right, she only focused on the old front door and the freedom it would provide.
Cigarettes appeared and she shrieked and backed up, turning towards the corridor adjacent to the stairs. They rushed behind as she hurried on, hoping to find another room, a window, anything to break free. Finding another door, she pushed it open and slammed it behind her.
Darkness surrounded her. ‘Come on, come on,’ she whispered through panicked breaths as she shuffled around the room, running her hands along the walls, willing herself to find the cold smoothness of glass. A window that wasn’t boarded, that she could smash and climb through. But there was no time to do a full circuit before she heard them, just outside the door. So, using the thin light that shone through the frame of the door to guide her, she darted back to crouch into the corner of the room. She waited, listening to their quiet voices and the pounding of her heart as the door swung open and Cigarettes’ shadow loomed in the doorway.
‘There’s nowhere to go,’ he murmured. ‘I’m gonna find you and then we’re gonna have a nice little chat, and we both know how it’s gonna end, don’t we. How itchy my hands get when I’m angry.’ He stalked the room, taking his time; predatory. ‘And right now, I am so fucking angry.’
His statement caused fear to prickle her skin. She understood exactly what was coming her way, but once he was farthest from the door, she leapt to her feet and snuck out behind him, back into the hallway. The doctor appeared and lunged at her, but, somehow, she managed to avoid his grasp and pounded on towards the front door.
She grabbed the old, battered brass handle with both hands and yanked it hard. But the door wouldn’t budge. The door was locked, and frustratingly solid for such a derelict place. She sobbed, rattling the handle in her hands, and banged against the old wood as she glanced behind to see the doctor striding towards her.
‘No, no, no!’ she cried as he grabbed her and wrenched her away from the door.
The sight of Cigarettes forced a scream from her throat as he wrapped his hands around her waist and lifted her from the doctor’s hold with such savage force her feet didn’t touch the floor.
‘No!’ she shrieked as she clamped her hands over his in an effort to release his hold. ‘Somebody help me! Help me!’
‘Keep screaming, bitch,’ he said through heavy breaths as he carried her thrashing body back up the stairs to her waiting prison. ‘No one can hear you – except the druggies and whores outside. Do you think they give a shit about what’s going on in here when they don’t even know what day of the week it is?’
‘No, please! Don’t put me in there!’ she cried out as she struggled hard against him, unable to combat his furious strength. ‘Please! I can’t go back! I can’t go back!’
‘You are going back,’ he thundered as he dragged her to the room and dropped her to the floor, not giving her any time to react before wrapping his hand around her throat, squeezing hard. ‘And if you try and escape again, I’ll kill you myself. Do you hear me!’ he roared.
Hot pain gripped at her throat. Unable to breathe, and eyes wide with terror, she could only whimper as she readied herself for the violence she knew was coming.
He released his hold to grab her hoodie and gave two sharp backhands to her cheek with a force that knocked her to the floor. She cried out and sobbed uncontrollably, unable to take any more.
‘Shut up!’ he bellowed as he stood over her, panting with anger and exertion, appearing to consider doing more but holding back. After what seemed like forever, he moved away, slamming the door behind him.
A strange throaty cry escaped her mouth as she dragged air into her lungs.
He hasn’t locked the door. He’s coming back. Oh God, he’s coming back.
The sound of multiple footfall confirmed her fears and with anguished sobs racking her sore body and echoing around the empty room, she scooted back away from the door as it swung open.
‘No more. Please, no more,’ she cried, her voice hoarse.
Cigarettes shoved the doctor into the room and threw his bag at him. ‘Sedate her,’ he barked as he strode to Elena and grabbed her wrist.
‘Wait… No…’
‘I’ve had enough of your games!’ Cigarettes snapped as he watched the doctor pull out another syringe from his bag. ‘You will learn not to fuck with me.’
She struggled against his vice-like grip that kept her hand immobile as breathless pleas escaped her lips. But, watching the doctor hurry, and unable to stop what was about to happen, a strang
e acceptance descended on her.
Now, she turned to Cigarettes and fixed him with a cold glare. ‘I hate you,’ she spat as the doctor hurriedly pricked a vein in the back of her hand. ‘I hope you rot in hell.’
He laughed as the drug took hold and it echoed in her mind as she succumbed to the sedative.
***
Lying awkwardly against the hard floor beneath her, Elena awoke, just as she had been left the fateful night before. Exhausted and stiff, and with the musty scent of the floorboards beneath her, she stretched out carefully and stared at the soft dawn light that had begun to creep into the room. She imagined herself a bird, soaring through the morning air, free and unrestrained.
She sat and held her cheek, her skin smarting and eyes sore from crying. She was even more dehydrated from it. Slowly, and with much effort, she pulled herself up and made her way to the pathetic blanket.
The lock turned and she froze, preparing herself for more torment. Her captor walked into the room. Not Cigarettes or the doctor, but the man in charge. He made his way to her.
She groaned. ‘What now?’ she asked as her eyes began to fill with tears. ‘Are you here to punish me too?’
‘Jesus,’ he said as he caught sight of her.
‘Oh yes, that,’ she said as she turned to face him, watching him wince. ‘Does it make you uncomfortable, to see the violence inflicted on me? That I discovered the hard way that old blue eyes down there does not take kindly to me leaving this room.’
‘I think running for the door is a little more than that,’ he remarked.
‘Whatever,’ she muttered as she shuffled to her blanket. ‘Anyway, what do you care?’
She eased herself down carefully, placing her hands to her side to steady herself, still dizzy from the effects of the drug. ‘You’re a monster, just like him.’
‘I’m no monster,’ he said as he walked towards her. ‘And I get no pleasure from seeing you in this state.’
‘So, why didn’t you stop it? Stop him? You’re the boss, aren’t you?’
‘I was not here last night.’
‘Of course you weren’t. How convenient.’ She raised her head to him. ‘Well, you need to keep your guard dog on a lead. He bites when he’s angry.’
When I Know Your Name Page 4