Chapter 7: Love and Hate in Captivity

This was my third day being held captive by Marcus Evans. In a small, pitch-black room. The air was stale, thick with sweat and fear.

He still liked to beat and humiliate me, just like before. His voice was always too loud in the dark.

When he drank, his temper got even worse. The whiskey burned his throat and my skin.

I laughed at him recklessly, and he hit me harder. Bruises bloomed across my skin, purple and angry.

When I bled, he splashed cheap bourbon over my cuts, the burn making me see fireworks behind my eyes.

I writhed on the floor in agony, and he laughed:

“Look at you. Wouldn’t it have been easier to just live quietly with me? Why’d you have to drag me down? Tch, trashy woman.

“Are you thinking about Derek right now? Too bad—he’s got a girlfriend now, young and pretty too.

“Did you think that bringing me down would get you two back together? Natalie, oh Natalie, how old are you now, huh?”

My eyes glazed over, staring holes in the cracked drywall—just trying to disappear.

In front of me, I saw flashes of my twenty-fifth birthday, when Marcus drugged me under the pretense of talking business. The memory hit me like a freight train.

When I woke up, I was in a hotel bed. My phone was gone, my clothes folded at the foot of the bed.

He said, “Nat, I really like you. Why don’t you come with me?”

Even now, it still feels like a bad dream. The guy who’d always seemed so nice and trustworthy, suddenly showing this side. The monster was always hiding, just waiting for the lights to go out.

He flipped through photos on his phone, showing me one after another. Each one worse than the last—proof, blackmail, leverage.

“Should I send these to your boyfriend?”

The emotions I’d tried so hard to bury finally broke: “Go to hell! Go to hell!”

He sat there, sure he’d won. Back then, if those photos got out, the girl was done for.

I trembled with rage, but I wouldn’t give in. I’d read enough law to know my rights, but in that room, they meant nothing.

As a law student, I knew how to protect myself with the law. But you can’t file a restraining order in hell.

When the cops took Marcus away, he gave me a meaningful smile. The kind that said he’d be back, one way or another.

A few days later, Derek disappeared.

I got a call from Marcus:

“Break up with him, and I’ll let him come back quietly.

“Or, I can make him disappear for good.

“Natalie, I’m forty-four. With my power, dealing with you kids is nothing.”

He chuckled. “Don’t piss me off.”

I refused to give in and tried to fight back.

Threatening suicide, constantly reporting him to the police—

I tried everything I could think of. But nothing worked. The justice system was slow, and Marcus was always one step ahead.

But in the end, the one who got hurt most was Derek.

He worried about me constantly, but never knew the truth.

That year, he’d just started working—still too young, nowhere near as sharp as he is now.

We couldn’t beat the old, sly wolf. The deck was always stacked against us.

So, I gave up.

...

Bitterness and resentment surged inside me. The kind that seeps into your bones, leaves you cold even in July.

Marcus reached for me again.

I used all my strength to bite his finger. Blood welled up, metallic and hot. I spat it in his face.

How could I hate someone this much? The fury was electric, burning through every nerve ending.

Marcus slapped me. “So what if you love him? You still have to do what I say.”

I screamed, hysterical: “But I still love him! I love him! He’s the only one I love!” The words echoed off the walls, raw and broken.

Marcus didn’t even get mad.

He smiled. That cold, chilling smile. The kind you see in nightmares.

He took out his phone, his tone taunting: “Officer Shaw, did you hear that?”

On the other end, there was only silence—just the sound of someone barely holding it together.

I desperately tried to grab the phone. My fingers scraped his wrist, nails breaking.

He stepped on me, his face full of twisted pleasure.

“Does it hurt, Officer Shaw? Bet you didn’t see this coming, did you? She never betrayed you—she only ever loved you. She’s about to die for you.”

He said coldly, “I want both of you to suffer for the rest of your lives.”