1. GEORGE HAS A PERFECTLY WRETCHED TIME

Chapter 16 - GEORGE WAKES UP TO A SHOCK

George woke up with a painful head. He sat up feeling confused and dazed and was startled to find himself in what appeared to be some dark, cold dungeon-type room. To his alarm he wasn't alone in the room, there was someone else there too.

''Who is it?'' he asked nervously ''who is there?''

''It's me your father'' Quenton told him grimly

At once George forgot his terror for a moment and was overcome with joy. He tried to move closer to his father and his father tried to move closer to him they were both chained to the wall but just managed to reach each other to hug

''It's so good to see you dad'' George said with joy

''It's so good to see you too'' Quentin replied ''But we're both in serious trouble and I don't know how we will ever get out of this''

''What happened? I don't remember coming here, all I remember is being outside Roland's mansion keeping guard, and then I don't remember anything else after that''

Quentin explained everything about how Joanna took him at gunpoint after he left work on the day he disappeared. She made him drive to the mansion and locked him in the secret room under the house. Then she drove his car to a well-known suicide spot and left it there. Roland was behind it all, he set Joanna up to be fired because he wanted her on his side to help him and look after Quentin for long periods of time when he was away from the mansion.

''It turns out he even planned to scam me and make me bankrupt so I'd end up in debt'' Quentin said grimly after he had finished explaining the rest ''he set up the bogus company to set me up. Anyway he caught Liam here today and I have no idea what he did to him but after he knocked you out he tied you up and brought you down here to join me ''

''I knew you were still alive'' George said ''I knew Roland was keeping you captive in this mansion. But I do not know why he is doing this. the man is mad''

Quentin wasn't sure whether to tell George about what Roland had said about the affair and Anne being his daughter. He decided not to

''Well Roland was always jealous of me'' he said at last ''And he was always very fond of Fanny and wanted her to be with him when we were younger but she chose me instead and that always bothered him. He did this to get rid of me so he can have Fanny for himself''

''I thought so, it is a very drastic way to do it, he is very sick and desperate. It's strange though he seems obsessed with Anne too. One time he even told me that she is a daughter he should have had but refused to explain more when I asked him what he meant. I know he is dangerous and he is obsessed with mum but I don't get the obsession with Anne '

''He says that Anne is his daughter'' Quentin blurted out without thinking, he really hadn't wanted to tell George but suddenly he couldn't help it he wanted to share it with someone. He needed to share it ''He says that he and your mother had an affair around the time she was conceived and they had tests done to confirm it but that they kept it to themselves''

''Do you believe him?'' George asked surprised by how calm he was but what was the point of getting upset?

''I don't know, I don't want to but he sounded pretty sure about it. Like you said why else would he be so obsessed with Anne? The only reason I can think is that she is his daughter as he says. I didn't want to tell you about this but I need to share it and talk about it''

George could see that his father was very upset and he wanted to comfort him and talk more about it but he was suddenly hit with overwhelming panic and concern ''Father I'm sorry to seem like I don't care because I do and we will talk about it but first I need to talk about Liam. Where is he? what did Roland do to him?''

Quentin shook his head sadly '' I honestly don't know and Roland wouldn't tell me'' he said ''Liam found me in here but Roland found Liam and he had a knife and he said that he was going to kill Liam. Liam got away and ran back up the passage and Roland chased him. After that, I don't know what happened but if Liam had escaped he would have gone to get help''

''And if he was alive he would be in here with us...''

''I guess so yes...''

''He's killed him then''

''We don't know that for sure''

''He has, He took my father away from me, he took my dog away from me, and now he has taken my boyfriend away from me. Poor Liam, he never should have been involved in all this''

''Timmy? what happened to Timmy?''

George told his father what Roland did and Quentin suddenly couldn't control his fury any longer ''George, I hate talking like this in front of you or any of my children, but I swear if I wasn't chained up like this I would kill him with my own bare hands right now and I wouldn't even lose a nights sleep about it''

''I'd help you. Maybe we can try and get out of here? there must be a way''

Quentin shook his head ''Don't you think I've tried, the chains are too secure to get out of, and even if we did that door is too strong to break open. This room is like an underground prison cell or something, it's designed so that whoever is inside it can't get out''

''But there has to be something we can do. We can't just sit here and wait until he kills us or whatever''

''If you have any idea what we can do please tell me, I've been trying to think of something for weeks and I have come up with nothing''

''What about Joanna? You said she helps Roland to look after you?''

''Yes, she brings me meals and water and makes sure I'm ok while he is away. She thinks Roland has taken me prisoner so that he can get a large sum of money for my release and then once he has the money he will share half with her and set me free. I told her he wants to kill me but she thinks I am lying. But Roland is just using her. There is no ransom demand, he is just keeping me here to torment me until he is ready to kill me and now you're here that's all he'll do to you too. Once he's finished with us and kills us he'll kill Joanna too, the stupid woman has no idea that she is going to die too''

''Then we have to convince her, don't we? Once she realizes that all three of us are going to die she will stop this, even if she doesn't care whether we die or not she will care about herself dying''

''I haven't been able to convince her yet and believe me I've tried and tried'' 

''But once she sees me here she's bound to realize how serious this is, I'm just a teenager. She will have to understand and stop this once she sees me''  

Roland was sitting in the lounge upstairs with Joanna, who had now returned to the mansion

''I have to tell you something'' he said to her cooly ''and I want you to keep calm. We now have another hostage''

''Really, who?'' Joanna was very intrigued by this latest development

''It's with regret that I had to kidnap one of Quentin's children too. I took one of the girls, the one called Georgina. I had no choice, those idiots aren't taking my demands very seriously at all and I thought maybe once they see that a child's life is at risk unless they pay up and fast then they will hurry up and pay us!''

''I have to agree Roly, they are taking far too long to pay. I agree it's a good idea to kidnap one of the kids, and especially one of the girls, to hurry them up a bit. I think Anne would have been a better choice than Georgina though. So much cuter and girly, she would have tugged at their heartstrings the most''

''Well, perhaps but I decided to take Georgina. It's better that way since she was already snooping around and making a nuisance of herself. Anyway, I hope you are not too startled by this latest development in the project?''

Joanna shrugged ''No not at all, I understand we need to do something to hurry them up''