“These are going to be big on you, but we don’t have anything else right now. When we make our monthly run, I’ll be sure to get you some things,” Trey tells me, and I wonder how long he expects me to stay here.
“Has my father contacted you?” I repeat my still unanswered question from earlier.
“Why don’t you get dressed, and then we can sit down and talk.” Wes grabs the towel and starts to dry me off, while Trey grabs a T-shirt and pulls it on over my head. I’m too busy being dried and dressed by them to respond, so I simply wait until I’m fully clothed in a T-shirt, and a pair of boxers.
“I’m dressed now. Please tell me what’s going on. You guys are worrying me, even more than normal. I’m so confused. Yesterday it seemed like you guys hated me, and now today you’re different,” I admit, knowing that I sound weak, but I suppose that’s a good thing. If I make them think I’m weak, that I’m submissive, then they’ll never see it coming when I escape, if I can manage it.
“Your father hasn’t responded to us,” Trey starts to explain while ushering me into a large living room area. I’ve only ever seen this space, but was never allowed to use it. He gently pushes me down onto a couch with a laptop on the coffee table in front of me.
“He must not have gotten the messages. Did you really send him those videos? I can’t imagine how he feels after watching those videos, he might be in shock. Yeah, he’s probably in shock. He’s my father, he loves me.” The thought of my father seeing me like that has my stomach churning, then again, the thought of him not responding at all, that’s even more terrifying, because without a response I know I’ll never escape them. They might as well let Declan shoot me.
“Yes, we sent him emails, including the videos,” Trey continues. “I’ve also been monitoring your father’s online activities, as well as all phone conversations. I know for a fact he has gotten the messages, but he is not responding. I’m worried that maybe he doesn’t care for you as much as we had initially thought.”
I shake my head, my fear spiking. “This has to be a mistake. This whole thing is a mistake. Of course he cares about me. I’m his daughter.” I find I’m yelling now, consumed with anger and pain. Nothing makes sense and what he is saying is not giving me any answers, it’s just giving me more questions.
“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.
I try to make sense of the words. Maybe I misinterpreted them, maybe he meant something else. It just can’t be. There must be some kind of explanation. My father told me all my life that I was his only reason to live. Why would he toss me away like garbage? Why would he protect me for so many years only to have his own men kill me? It makes no sense.
Has my life been nothing but a lie?
“We’ve shown you kindness that your father never showed our family. We didn’t beat you, or rape you despite what you think.” Wes speaks, frustration marring his features. “I want to show you a video. I want to show you the man that you think is your father. If you think this is as bad as it can get, then you have no idea. You being here with us now is your only chance at survival.”
“No.” I shake my head and get up from the couch. I’m not sure where I’ll go, but I don’t want to see anything or hear anything else. I need to digest all of this, come up with a logical reason for why this is happening. My father isn’t the man they’re making him out to be. I know it. They’re lying, they have to be.