Sweetest Torture (Sweetest Kill Book 2) (16 page)

Alfonso comes back with the results
of my blood test he took the morning before

“You are indeed pregnant.”

“No! NO!”

 I start screaming. He leaves.

No one tries to come in.

I tear all my clothing out of the
drawers. I tear the bedding off my bed. I smash my bedroom window with a snow
globe that Max bought me of the Eifel Tower for Christmas.

Alarms start blaring. Of course my
windows were alarmed.

Mark comes rushing in.

He sees me, and sees the status of
my room.

He grabs his radio and tells
someone that I am okay.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m pregnant.”

Mark looks shocked

“What didn’t your bosses tell you,
that’s why I am here? I am here to make Max lots of babies and to marry him. I
am his baby cooking machine. I lost my son, I lost my life and now he will have
his fucking baby.”

I start crying. But Mark hushes me

“Sit down, we need to talk.”

I look at him. He looks concerned,
but he is in a rush to say whatever he needs to say

“My brother got me this job. His
boss talked him into getting me on board.”

He stops for a moment

“Do you know who my brother is?”

I look at him.  “No.” nothing about
him is familiar

“My brother’s name is Marco.”

I gasp. Mark nods his head “Mark
and Marco. Your parents really went on a ledge with your names.”

He laughs but then grows serious
once more “I am working for Ryan and Dean. I am here to make sure you are safe
and wait until you are ready to get out of here.”

“Dean knows you are here? I thought
he was with Stella, I didn’t think he would care if I was let go or not.”

“Dean and Stella are not a concern
right now. I might add that Stella is a snake and that is not something that
has ever been forgotten. The point is, I can get you out if you are ready, but
when we decide to do it, we must work fast. Max is out of town, but I have a
feeling Alfonso is probably alerting him as we speak to your condition which
means you will officially be in deep shit if you don’t leave now.”

“Max loves me.” I manage out

“He does.” Mark says “But he is not
going to ever let you go Olivia, he is obsessed and it goes far beyond love. I
can’t get into all the details, but you have a choice.  You get out with your
child now and go home to your boy, or you stay here for forever because once
Max knows you are pregnant he will never let you out of his sights again. Your
child is all he has wanted this whole time, and a child is also a key to more
money and power for him.”

“But he will get mad. I don’t want
him to be unhappy.”

“Do you want to go home?” he cuts
me off

“Of course, more than anything.” I
reply

“Then I will be back in 2 hours and
we will leave. Don’t overthink it. Don’t bring anything. But once we walk from
that door, you better be prepared do everything I tell you to do.”

I nod. I don’t know what this will
entail. I don’t know how we will get out from the front gates, but I do know
that I am going to trust Mark.

This might be my only chance.

Dear Max

By the time you or someone
else finds this letter, I will hopefully be back home with my son. I know that
you may be angry, but I need you to understand a few things. You stole me. If
you had been anyone else, I wouldn’t have sat back for so long and allowed
myself to be sucked into this web of mess we have created. I know you love me.
On some level I love you too, but seeing you with someone else secured my
lingering doubts that I was giving up a life with my son for a life of
heartbreak and pain. I deserve better than that. You want a queen. That can be
anyone. Stop trying to form your perfect person and just go with it. Use one of
the women you have had since we met and make her your queen. It can’t be me. I
can’t live a life locked in a big house with shiny things when I have a family
on the other side of the gates. Let me go. Let us go. Let me raise our baby in
a happy normal life. I belong with my son. I want you to be happy, but holding
someone captive is not the way to make that happen, I think you know that. Be
happy. Make yourself happy, be happy with what you have, and don’t become like
your father. You are already so much like him. I think that’s part of what
scares me about you most. You don’t even know how dark you are going to become
in a life like this. I wish you nothing but the best, and I hope you can let me
go and don’t do anything to cause me further pain than you already have. You
were never my forever.

-O

I probably didn’t have to write him
a letter, but some strange nagging feeling was eating at me, that I owed him
that much. He had taken really good care of me. He had kept me safe for all of
these months.

As promised two hours later there
was a knock on my door. Mark was there with a smile.

“This might get a little rough, I
am going to pretend to take you hostage, and no one will shoot you because you
belong to Max. Just play along.”

I nod, he removes his gun from his
holster and takes me by the arm. When we reach the top of the stairs looks
around to see if anyone is below, he has the gun to my side.

When we reach the bottom and walk
out the front door no one notices. He’s a guard, no one would pay him much
attention. It isn’t until we get to his car that he leans in “start acting
scared, there are men on duty out here. Once we get in the car we are good.
It’s bullet proof glass and no one can stop us. He drives a freaking hummer, no
wonder.

I notice the other men, they are
now watching us. I start to cry. “Let me go” I play along with the charade

I hear yelling as Mark breaks out
in a run towards his vehicle.

When we are safely inside, he puts
the gun between us, never letting it go.

He starts the car, drives straight
forward. He pulls out his work radio “open the gates or she dies.”

No one does anything for a brief
moment.

“It’s not going to work.” I am
getting worried.

As soon as the words leave my mouth
the gates open. The men standing on the other side with guns drawn, aimed at
us, step back and put their weapons down. Mark opens the window and shoves his
radio outside.

“I worry about tracking devices”

When we reach the second gate and
Mark picks up the speed his phone rings.

He answers “yeah? Yup I’ve got her.
Let’s wait until we are out of Mexico before we start that.” He hangs up

“Ryan?” I ask

He nods.

It takes us 3 hours to hit the
boarder. He has my passport which allows us to get back through. I wonder why
no one ever stopped the big truck at the boarder when Hector had me?

“I hope Max isn’t mad at me. I hope
he is okay.” I say

Mark looks at me but says nothing.

A few more hours later we are
pulling into town.

Suddenly I start to panic.

“You can’t bring me home. I can’t
go there.”

I start to shake, I am crying.
Gasping for breath. I am having another panic attack. I haven’t had one in a
long time.

“Max is going to be so mad. I can’t
go home. I need to go back. Take me back Mark. Take me back before he gets back
and sees me gone.”

I know it’s not rational

Mark pulls out his phone “Ryan, we
need to go to plan C, she’s not ready.” He listens to whatever Ryan is telling
him on the other end.

Mark hangs up and turns his hummer
around. We drive a large building that I know houses condo apartments.

Mark gets out, and walks around to
my side and opens the door. He offers me his hand. He smiles, it’s genuine. I
accept his hand

“I had a feeling we might end up
going with plan C.” he explains

I don’t ask what plan C is. I just
follow him. We enter the lobby, it’s empty. We climb onto the elevator and he
enters the floor number.

When we reach the floor and climb
out, I smell cookies. It smells like home.

Mark knocks on the only door on the
floor.

An older woman answers, she must be
well into her 50’s. Her face lights up when she sees us.

“Mark!” she’s excited to see him,
he leans in and gives her a kiss on the cheek and a hug.

She steps away and looks at me, her
smile never faltering, “You must be Olivia.” She reaches out her hand for me. I
take it.

“I am Sarah, I am Mark’s mom.” She
explains

I nod. Sarah steps out of the
doorway, allowing Mark and I to enter.

We walk in, Mark takes my hand and
pulls me toward the couch and gestures.

He walks into the kitchen behind me
and I hear ice clinking in glasses, he brings in a glass of water I take it,
thanking him as he takes the seat beside me.

Sarah comes in and sits in the
chair across from me.

“So Olivia, we decided on Plan C I
see.” She’s still smiling. Her smile is relaxing, I feel weird in my stomach.
The emotion is welcome

I nod “I don’t really know what
Plan C is.” I admit

“Well, you were kidnapped, you were
sold as a slave and you were in a relationship with you captor. You are not
ready to go home correct?” She asks

Another nod

“Plan C is I am a therapist. I
treated Dean and Adam’s mothers. They lived with me, while they readjusted to
live outside of captivity. I helped them learn how to take baby steps outside
the door. I taught them how to be free again. In your case, I think we have a
slightly different case, I believe you are experience something called
Stockholm syndrome, have you ever heard of it?”

 I shake my head no I had never
heard of it.

“Well.” She crosses her legs.
“Stockholm Syndrome is a very common condition for those who have been
captured. Those experiencing it, have been in situations where they feel they
no longer have control over their own fates. They feel intense fear of
potential harm and they believe that all control lies with the person who has
captured them. They learn to survive by developing a relationship with their
captors which can be as simple as feeling sympathy for the captor, or
developing romantic feelings. “

“Now, I have been informed on your
case fairly thoroughly, I do understand that your captor did love you. He did
take care of you, but I also understand that he still did not release you, I am
privy to several situations that have occurred including the fact that you are
newly expecting.” She pauses

I put my hand on my stomach. In all
of this I briefly forgot that I am pregnant. I feel the panic rising again. I
start to cry and gasp

Sarah talks a little louder, her
voice is calm but it’s full of authority “Olivia, I want you to tell me exactly
what you are thinking right now?”

I look at her, I look behind her at
the Monet picture behind her. I gasp.

She looks behind her at my line of
sight “you know Monet?” She asks

“Yes.” I whisper “He’s my favorite

“Mine as well.” She replies. “Now
what are you thinking about?”

“Max, this baby belongs to Max,
he’s going to be angry. He will come back for the baby. I don’t want him to
hate me.”

I am honest with her. I don’t want
Max to be upset with me.

“Why did you decide that you wanted
to go with Mark and return home?”

“Landon.” I manage after several
moments

“You wanted to see your son, but
what else?”

“I knew he would never let me go if
he knew we were finally having a baby.”

“He never would have let you go
Olivia. You would have been giving him what he wanted so badly. I think one of
things that is important for your recovery is knowing exactly how you were
chosen. Did anyone tell you?”

“Stella told me she wanted Dean so
she made the arrangements.” I say

Sarah shakes her head and Mark
makes a noise beside me

“No, Stella did not have that kind
of pull. Although she helped to locate you, Max found out about you when Dean
was in Mexico looking for Connor and his mother. He and Max were friends as
children. Michael having been a friend of Matthew and all. Dean spoke of you in
high detail, Max wanted that. He choose to allow Stella to stay, but their
agreement was for Stella to find a way to lure you away from Dean.”

Max lied to me about all of that?

“Why would he lie?”

“Well, I personally believe that he
knew that you would not leave Dean on your own, and he became obsessed with the
idea of you based on how often Dean talked about you while he was there
securing the release of his mother and Adam’s mother. He saw pictures. He knew
how much Dean loved you and he wanted that. Max is not a healthy individual, he
has always been under his father’s thumb. Being primed for taking over his
father’s business. He thought you were beautiful, he knew you had a beautiful
son, and he wanted what Dean had. He could have found someone else, but instead
he took the easy way out and took what someone else had.”

“Were Dean and Stella really
together?” I ask

“No.” Mark and Sarah say together

“Oh.”

“Was that the only reason you
stayed, because you thought that Dean was with Stella.”

I think about her question

“No, I think that it made it easier
to give Max the control and let go of mine, because I don’t know that I could
survive feeling like I had somehow betrayed both Dean and Landon.”

“That makes sense.” Sarah says

“So how does this all work?” I ask
her

“Well, this works however you want
it to work. You will stay here, we will work together every day. I will be your
new best friend for the time being and as you grow ready, we will reintroduce
you to the people you love. I think that we should start small, Alexis, your
mom and brother and work up to Dean and Landon.”