Held by Kimberly A. Bettes Read Free Book Online Page A

she’ll take no part.”
    My appetite was fading now, and I ate slower as I listened to him talk.
    “I do miss good conversation. It gets so lonely around here with no one to talk to. I have so many ideas and no one with which to share them. I’m so glad you’re here.”
    “If you long for companionship, why don’t you marry?”
    “I was married. To a wonderful woman. But she didn’t understand me. She wasn’t a very good conversationalist anyway. Not nearly as good as you. She wanted to talk about shopping and hair and clothes. I care nothing of those things, and I certainly don’t want to waste hours of my day talking about them. Not when there are far more important matters at hand.”
    The woman in the basement, Stephanie, screamed louder and louder until Ron couldn’t take it anymore. He threw his fork onto his plate and stood. As he stomped his way out of the kitchen, threw open the door to the basement, and pounded his way down the steps, I wished there was a way I could warn her that he was coming. Better yet, I wished there was a way I could help her escape.
    Moments after the screams abruptly stopped, the doorbell rang.
    My heart pounded and I opened my mouth to yell for help. That’s when Ron’s hand came from behind me and clamped down over my mouth. He whispered into my ear, “If you say one word, I’ll kill your husband and child. Do you understand?” Slowly, he took his hand from my mouth.
    “You don’t know where I live,” I said with the fire he liked so much. “So how can you kill anyone I know?”
    He smiled, and in an even voice said, “In your purse is a driver’s license. On that license is an address. At that address resides your husband and child.” He went through the kitchen and into the living room to answer the door, leaving me at the table where I sat silently until he returned. I would do nothing to jeopardize my husband and son. He knew that. This was how he was going to hold me here.
    When he returned, I asked, “How do you know I have a child?”
    “Seriously, Nicole. You’re a smart woman. I find it very unattractive for you to pretend to be dense.” He washed his hands at the sink. While drying them on a paper towel, he turned to me. “You really don’t know how I know?”
    I thought for a second, but I couldn’t find a way he could’ve known.
    Tired of waiting for it to come to me, he said, “In your purse lies a pacifier. Either you have a bizarre obsession or you have a child. I choose to believe the latter. Am I wrong?”
    I shook my head.
    “I thought not. I believe I’m right about you, Nicole. We are going to do great things.”
    I was afraid of what he meant by that.

Chapter 9
     
    For the next month, my days were filled with the same routine. I was released from the bed, allowed to shower, fed breakfast, and spent the day trapped in conversation and cards. Sometimes we played board games, but mostly just cards.
    Ron had changed the way he handcuffed me to the bed. My arms were no longer straight above my head. Instead, they were angled outward toward the corners of the headboard. It was better, but every morning, my shoulders and neck were stiff and sore, and ached for the biggest part of the day. I didn’t complain about it. After all, I was being held captive. If that’s the worst thing I went through, I’d consider myself lucky.
    On days when Ron had to leave the house, he handcuffed me to the bed. He put my arms in the usual position, and he even stretched my legs out and handcuffed each ankle to the footboard. He then used a pink bandana to gag me, saying I sure did look pretty in pink. He would stroke my hair and tell me that he hated to do it, but he still couldn’t trust me while he was away.
    Ron watched my every move. When I asked him about it, he told me he was studying me for the book. When I asked how that was coming along, he said he hadn’t started it yet, but was close. I was close too. Close to losing my mind. I was trying to