Page 3 of Wanted

Thankfully, Samuel had not sexually assaulted me the first timehe kidnapped me. But would this time be different? Had his fascination grownover the years he was locked away? I shuddered at the thought and prayed hewouldn’t have enough time to even contemplate such an act.

My body didn’t care what havoc was swirling around inside mybrain. Once I sat on the toilet, my bladder sighed in relief. In truth I should’vebeen thankful he hadn’t made me use a bedpan like before. Although humiliating,this was a bit more dignified.

Once finished, I tried mybest to stand on my own, but it was more difficult than I’d imagined.

Witnessing my struggle, he immediately grabbed my arms to helpsteady me. He reached for a nearby rag and pressed it against me, drying mebefore he pulled my underwear and jeans back up. There was nothing sexual inhis eyes or touch when he wiped me, even though his hand was essentially coveringmy most intimate place.

My stomach revolted from his touch, though. I had to take a deepbreath to make sure I didn’t throw up all over myself.

Leading me back toward the bed, he gently placed me on the oldmattress and made quick work of reattaching my chains. His actions were gentle,telling me he didn’t really wish to cause me harm. Maybe I was reading too muchinto a simple gesture, but it was all I had. It gave me hope, and I wouldclutch on to it for as long as it remained true.

He disappeared from the room only to return not long after,carrying a bowl of food which smelled pretty good. Fortunately, I had the senseto know he’d probably drugged it and thankfully, I was nowhere near starvation.

The bed dipped from his weight. I stared into his eyes, trying tosee if I could gauge anything, trying to catch a glimmer of what was to come. Butthere was nothing. His vacant stare was glazed over, as if he wasn’t evenpresent.

His eyes locked on mine so long I would have sworn we wereengaged in some sort of contest. Finally, he broke the silence with his gruffvoice.

“I’m sure you’re hungry, Sara. I brought you beef stew.” When Ididn’t make a move or respond, he pushed the spoon closer to my mouth, lettinga small amount of it hit my chest as it fell from the utensil.

It was lukewarm at best.

My lips locked up tight and I tried my best to shake my head. Ididn’t want to anger him, but I didn’t trust I wouldn’t fall sick because ofwhat he was trying to feed me.

As I struggled to back away, he reached forward and painfullygripped my chin, pulling me closer. Prying my lips open with his dirty fingers,he slipped the spoon inside my mouth.

I instantly started coughing, spitting out the small amount ofstew he’d managed to feed me. But he kept at it, shoveling the warm food pastmy lips. Because I had no other choice, I swallowed a portion of it. It waseither eat or choke to death.

I chose to stay alive another day.

After he was done, he simply disappeared back upstairs, leavingme alone yet again to ponder how long my future would be.

~3~

Alek

It’d been two of the longest days of my fucking life. The trackerI’d installed on Sara’s phone right after I found out Samuel was released keptfading in and out. She had no idea I’d put the damn thing on there, but I wassure it would be the one and only time she wouldn’t argue with me about invadingher privacy.

I’d alsoplaced a device on her car, but finding the vehicle abandoned in a busy parkinglot was a huge setback. But had I really thought it would have been easy?

The need for discretion was of the utmost importance because Ididn’t want to alert Samuel, fearing he would move her, taking her away from meforever. Every time I’d been close to where I thought she was kept, it was afalse alarm.

Thankfully, I had many connections and a lot of people who owed mefavors. Calling in one such service, I’d had a local realtor run the names ofall the people who’d either purchased or rented a place within a hundred-mileradius of Seattle. I knew it was a long shot, but I was hoping he’d taken hersomewhere nearby.

Taken.

I still couldn’t believe he’d been able to snatch her away fromme so easily. Thinking I’d taken every precaution, I’d gotten lazy. I shouldhave been with her. Twenty-four-fucking-seven. No one could protect her like Icould, or so I’d thought.

Guess I was wrong.

I prayed I could make things right again, bring Sara back homeand dispose of Samuel once and for all. What did that mean exactly? I had noidea. I figured we’d see how things panned out, but I wasn’t above getting myhands dirty in order to secure her very long, bright future.

None of the property searches turned up anything, so I’d have togo off the unreliable tracker. Its signal waned the further north of the city Idrove, leading me to a more generalized area.

Driving around side streets without my headlights proved to betreacherous. The dark of the night threatened to swallow me up if I wasn’tcareful. It was funny because if I’d really thought I lost her forever, I wouldhave run screaming into its steely cold embrace.

But I had hope.

Never mind my intuition was heightened. The chemistry which typicallyflowed between us was faint, but still present.

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