“Oh, did I spoil the surprise? Did you do that for me, honey?” He looked at her as if he completely believed what he was saying. “You are such a good wife.”
“Why don’t you sit down, it’s almost ready,” Camila murmured, giving him a tight smile. And then she had a thought… maybe she could get him to drink and pass out… “Or, you know, maybe grab one of those bottles for dinner?”
Adrien’s eyes lit up. “Oh, that’s a great idea.” He kissed the top of her head and stepped away. “I’ll be right back.”
As soon as she heard him on the basement stairs, she breathed a sigh of relief to have him away from her. She plated the steaks, green beans, and mashed potatoes and moved to the table. She took the seat on the left side and waited. While she sat, she said a silent prayer to heaven that Samuel was searching for her and would find her soon, because she had no idea how long she could keep this charade up.
* * *
Daysat the farm moved at a crawling pace. Luckily, he had yet to attempt to force himself on her. She prayed every day that he wouldn’t. So far, he’d used his injury as a reason for keeping mostly to himself.
“I’m sorry, honey, I want to be one hundred percent when we’re together. And this shoulder wound just doesn’t seem to want to heal,” he bemoaned.
“You really should go to the hospital,” Camila answered. And then maybe I could get some help and away from your psycho ass!
Adrien’s expression darkened, his eyes turning cold. “No,” he refused. “You will take care of me, like a good wife should.”
Camila didn’t say ‘of course’ fast enough and he pressed the button on the shock collar, dropping her to her knees in pain. She still wore the red lace night gown, he hadn’t allowed her to change out of it, but now, as she convulsed on the floor, she threw up all over it.
“Now look what you’ve done.” His voice was cold for a moment and then his expression changed, becoming soft and caring. “You know how I hate doing that, Cami, sweetheart. Now you’ll have to go change and clean this up. And then you can change my bandages, all right?”
From her position on the floor, Camila nodded. “I’m sorry, yes I’ll change and clean up,” she choked out.
“Take a shower, you’ll feel better.”
He looked at her tenderly, as if he really cared, but Camila knew, it was all a game. He was insane. She hurried to the bathroom, thankful that she could remove the red lace night gown, but now she had no idea what she was going to put on. It wasn’t as if he’d kidnapped her with a suitcase filled with her clothes.
She made quick use of the shower, washing her hair and body and then dried off and returned to the bedroom. As creepy as it was, she opened the dresser to look for something she could put on. She found a pair of sweatpants and a tee shirt and put them on before returning to the living room carrying the red lace and the clothes she’d been wearing when he’d kidnapped her.
“May I wash these?” She held them up.
“Laundry is a good idea, I don’t like you in that. You look like a slob.”
“It was all there was.”
“Then you had better get to it.” He was back to his cold persona. He had a beer in his hand and he took a swig of it. “And hurry up. My shoulder hurts.”
Camila nodded and went into the kitchen and opened the double doors to the ‘laundry room’, which was more of a closet. She was so glad that it wasn’t in the basement. She put the clothes in and set them to wash. Once that was done, she pulled out the cleaning supplies and cleaned up her mess from earlier.
“Are you finished yet?” Adrien asked from the couch grumpily.
Camila glanced at him and noticed he was on his fourth beer. “Yes.”
“Then get your ass over here and fix this.” He gestured at his shoulder.
With a sigh, she joined him on the couch and undid the bandages. The wound was looking worse and it made her smile even as her stomach rolled. She’d been fighting nausea for days now. It was always worse after one of the shocks. As she ‘cleaned’ the wound, which was just her dabbing at it and not really doing much to it, she thought about everything that had happened so far. She’d not seen signs of the gun he’d used on Tansy, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have it. By now though, she figured his plan wasn’t to kill her. For some psychotic reason he wanted her as his wife. She shook her head as she rebandaged the wound.
“I’m going to lay down,” Adrien said as he stretched out on the couch. “Do not even think of leaving this house. I will know.” He waved the remote at her.
Camila nodded. She didn’t feel all that great herself. No matter how much she ate during the few meals he allowed her to make each day, it never seemed enough. Especially since half the time she puked it up whenever he shocked her. Mornings were when she felt the worst though. Waking up to find herself still captive had a way of turning her stomach, and each day that passed seemed to be worse.
She hadn’t been doing much, but she always felt so exhausted. Especially in the evening when she wanted to wait Adrien out, so she could look around while he was asleep and use the chance to find the remote to the collar, or the gun. Or both. But she would always fall asleep and wake up after he was already up.
What’s wrong with me?
Was the exhaustion because everything was taking its toll on her more than she’d thought?
The worst moments though, were the nights.