Their Captive

“It’s not a mistake, Jessa. Your father has everybody at his disposal. He is trying to find us and where we are hiding you. He even went as far as to hire a private investigator, but if he was smart, he would know there is no way he’ll ever discover where we are.”

“So, he is looking for me.” I almost sigh. “Just let me go then. I swear I won’t tell him anything. I don’t even know where we are…” Trey shakes his head, and somehow I know there is more to the story than they’re letting on.

“He’s not trying to save you, Jessa. He is just trying to find us. He’s trying to—” Wes’s words cut off mid-sentence.

“What? What’s he doing? Why am I still here?” I’m freaking out more and more with each passing second. I can hear my pulse pounding in my ears, my heart’s beating out of my chest. Am I ever going to escape them? They’re being nice today. But what about tomorrow? Next week? I can’t stay here. I won’t.

“Calm down. You’re going to give yourself a panic attack if you don’t calm down.” I almost laugh. Of all the things that have happened to me, of all the things they’ve done to me, how they’ve used me they’re worried about my mental state now?

“Just tell me.” The words come out on a whisper. I feel defeated already, and I don’t even know what’s happening yet.

“He is sending people to kill us…all of us, including you.”

I let Trey’s words sink in for a moment before I let out a humorless laugh.

“That’s just ridiculous. Stop lying and tell me the truth. You guys are either lying your asses off, hoping I’ll believe you, or you are absolutely delusional. Nothing you say makes sense right now, and I can’t believe that my father would want me dead. I’m his daughter.”

Neither one of them responds, in fact, they look at each other, a silent conversation taking place right before my eyes. Seconds tick by and then Trey flips open the laptop in front of me. Multiple folders are open on the desktop. I take a closer look, even though I don’t want to and find emails sent from my father’s email address confirming all the things they are telling me to be true, but of course I still don’t believe a single word. This has to be a setup. They’re mind fucking me, trying to break me down, now that they’ve broken me physically.

“Sorry, but I’m not that stupid. It’s not that hard to create a fake email,” I tell them completely unimpressed. My response makes them both roll their eyes, and heavy sighs fill the air. They must really think I’m an idiot.

“We knew you’d say that, and we have more proof, so just hold your tongue princess and open your ears,” Wes orders as Trey pulls up another file with a voice recording and presses play. The first voice that comes through the speakers I recognize as my father’s head of security. A man I’ve known since I was a small child. A man that’s protected me, from everything good and bad in the world.

“I just got your email and I wanted to be certain that I understood this right…You want us to take everyone out? Even Jessa?”

I blink, not fully grasping what I’m hearing. My father’s voice fills my ears next, “Yes, that is exactly what I want…” I’ve never heard my father sound so cold and detached. His voice sounds foreign to me, but it’s definitely my father’s voice I am listening to, there is no mistaking it. “I can’t give these thugs what they want. It would cost me my career, everything I’ve worked for, and even if you could bring her back now, she is already damaged goods and I don’t want to deal with that.”

The recording ends as fast as it started and Trey closes the laptop, the sound is deafening as the silence between the three of us continues.

“This… it’s a lie…” I shake my head, a damp piece of hair clings to my skin, making me shiver, but I don’t care. About being cold, broken, or even the consequences of what’s to come.

“It’s not. Truly, I wish it was a lie, but we know your father. We know what makes him tick and we thought he loved you enough to want you back. Clearly, he doesn’t, and so things have changed.”

I twist in my seat, afraid of the answer to my next question. “What are you planning to do to me then? Kill me? Use me? Tie me up and leave me in that disgusting room? If I’m no use to you now, then why keep me alive?” Tears sting my eyes. I don’t want to believe that my father would have me killed rather than brought home to him, but there is no denying the voice recording. That was my father’s voice, those were his words. I can lie to myself all I want, but it doesn’t change what I heard.