The telephone kept ringing but Georgie stayed in her chair, looking too frightened to move. Robert got up to answer it.
"Hello?"
"Robert!" It was the bark again. "You leave tomorrow morning at ten! Write down an address where you want to be dropped off. Choose a public place where you can have someone pick you up. Wear the clothes you came in. You will be searched! Don't make things difficult by trying to smuggle anything out!"
Robert asked, "What about –?" but the line was already dead. He suddenly felt sick.
He hung up the receiver and looked at Georgie who was standing in the kitchen doorway with her hand over her mouth, looking stricken.
"Ten tomorrow morning," he said. Two days had just turned into twenty-four hours.
She started sobbing and he went to her and held her tight, crying into her shoulder, overwhelmed with pain knowing how close he was to possibly losing her. They stood for several minutes until he led her to his bedroom. They laid on the bed and held onto each other, crying until the tears ran out. While they laid there quietly, Robert concentrated on her slow steady breaths, feeling her warm body nestled next to him, running his fingers through her silky hair, trying to be in the moment of each second he had left with her.
Later they moved into the sitting room and he lit a fire. He leaned against the couch and she sat between his legs but sideways, leaning against his chest with her face buried in his neck as they held each other. While he sat there, Robert kept going over every second of his time with the bastard, examining everything that'd been said and done, trying to figure out what was going to happen. He kept going back and forth, between Georgie going home with him and not.
"Robert?" Georgie said quietly, interrupting his thoughts.
"Yeah?"
"Do you remember when I told you the day my family died, I was sick and had to stay with a babysitter?"
"Yeah, I remember."
"The woman who was babysitting me, she was a really good friend of my parents. She used to be a school teacher in Chicago but she was retired by then. She was so close to our family, she was like a grandma to me and Frankie. We even called her Grandma May. After the accident – I lived with her and she helped me so much. If it wasn't for her, I don't think I would've survived losing my family. She was the reason why I was able to live again – and be happy." Robert immediately remembered the passport photos of Georgie, how truly happy she looked.
"I loved her a lot and then – and then – I had to leave her. I didn't want to leave her!" she cried out suddenly, and then burst into tears.
He held her tighter and shushed her, feeling a terrible ache in his chest, imagining how terrible it must have been for the young girl with the sweet face in the passport photos to lose yet another person she loved. Georgie struggled to stop crying, wiping her face with her fingers.
"She thought I was going to a have good life but – but –," and then she broke down crying again, unable to continue and he knew this was when she'd lost her freedom.
"I know," he said gently, as he held her. She forced herself to stop crying, taking deep breaths and wiping her eyes.
"I don't want to talk about what happened," she said with her voice breaking. "It's just too hard but –," and then she took a steadying breath and continued. "I know she doesn't know what happened to me. I know she's worried about me." Then she pulled away from him so she could look at him.
"Do you remember? You swore to me you'd go to Chicago?" There was something about the intense look in her eyes that made him feel wary.
"Yeah."
"If you –." She stopped suddenly as she started tearing up and took another deep breath, steeling herself. "If you can't find me, you have to go to Chicago. I need you to find her. I need you to tell her you saw me. I want you to lie to her. I want you to tell her I have a good life so she doesn't worry about me anymore." He didn't like how this was sounding.
"But, Georgie – y'know I'm going to find you, right? You can tell her yourself when you're free, yeah? Then she can see you're truly alright."
"I know, but you have to promise! This is really important! I want her to hear that I'm okay! You'll do that for me, won't you? You'll promise?" she pleaded, fighting back tears.
"I promise I will, Georgie. But you're going to tell her yourself, yeah? Y'know that, right? I will find you," he said firmly.
"I know," she said quietly, blinking hard. Then she looked at him with determination. "You have to memorize her name so you can find her," she said firmly.
They spent a while having Robert repeat the spelling of her name and the city she lived in until Georgie was certain he'd committed it to memory. Then they were quiet as she leaned into him again with her face buried in his neck. He held her, stroking her hair and watched the fire, feeling so sad for that young girl with the sweet face, knowing what happened to her.
Later Georgie started crying again and he tightened his hold on her, shushing her and stroking her hair while she clutched him tighter, pressing herself into him. He knew how she was feeling because he felt it too. Every hour that passed brought them closer to the time when they might be forced to leave each other. He desperately wished he knew if the bastard was going to honor the agreement. He despised him for torturing them like this.
"Robert, I have to tell you something. Something – really bad," Georgie said quietly, wiping her eyes.
"Alright," he said gently.
"Remember I told you about that boy who killed himself?"
"Uh – yeah," he said, momentarily shocked by her use of the word 'boy'.
"He – lived here a few years ago. He was young – like me and – he got hurt – really bad. I saw it. It was – it was –." She started sobbing into his chest, unable to continue. Robert held her tighter, shushing her as images of what Georgie might have been forced to see came into his head even though he didn't want them to, knowing how horrific it must have been for her.
After several minutes, she recovered a little, and said through her tears, "He thought I was part of it. He blamed me. That's why he made sure I was watching before he jumped. Sometimes – I think – maybe he's right."
"No! Don't believe that, Georgie!" he said fervently, suddenly holding her away from him so he could look at her. "You could never hurt anybody like that! Never!"
"I think that's why he keeps coming back to me in my dreams," she said through her tears. "He still blames me – he's still mad at me!" He wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight. Would there ever be an end to the horrific things he learned about her life here.
"Georgie, he's not coming back to you. I know where he is right now he knows you didn't have anything to do with it. It's normal to have nightmares when you see something terrible like that, yeah? I know you could never hurt anyone. Look at the way you helped me and tried to –."
"That's why, Robert!" she cried, suddenly pulling away from him. "I didn't want the same thing to happen to you! That's why I did everything I could to protect you!" He couldn't bear to see the look of desperate pain in her eyes and pulled her to him again.
"You did protect me, yeah? You kept me safe. I'm going home like you said – not hurt, yeah?" he said gently.
"I thought – maybe – he wouldn't think I was a bad person anymore – if he saw how hard I tried to protect you," she sobbed. "Maybe – he wouldn't be mad at me anymore. But he – still –." She sobbed into his chest, unable to continue.
Robert's heart ached for her, knowing she really believed this. It was one thing for her to be consoled and comforted, believing her family came to her in her dreams, but this was just too terrible.
"You are a good person, Georgie! I know you're a good person!" he said fervently, willing her to believe him.
As he held her, he thought how cruel it was that she was tortured night after night, thinking she was responsible for the evil things the bastard had done. Now it made sense why she'd been willing to go to such lengths to try to keep him safe, even taking that terrible beating from the bastard to do it. He couldn't believe she'd been carrying around such an incredible burden of guilt, thinking she was responsible for that poor boy's death.
She was such a sweet, caring girl, it wasn't fair that she was forced to live this hellish life, he thought as he felt the seething hatred for the bastard burn through him. Why wouldn't he let her go? Why couldn't he just acknowledge the requirements had been met and he was going to honor the agreement? Why did he have to drag it all out, torturing them like this? While Georgie sobbed against his chest, he held her, stroking her hair and shushing her, but it was a long time before she stopped crying.
When it started to get dark, he suggested they should eat something since she'd only had coffee and he'd had a little bit of cereal since the morning. They went in the kitchen and made sandwiches, both of them quiet and subdued. They brought them out to the sitting room to eat in front of the fire, sitting apart for the first time.
Robert ate as he sat with his back to the couch, looking at the fire, still trying to figure out what was going to happen in the morning. After a while, he happened to look over and saw Georgie sitting closer to the fire, staring into it steadily with her plate on her lap, the sandwich untouched.
"Georgie, you should eat your sandwich," he said gently.
She looked down like she was surprised she hadn't eaten and picked it up. She took a bite out of it and he shifted his eyes back to the fire, consumed with his thoughts about what the bastard was going to do.
After a while, he heard Georgie say, "Robert?" quietly.
When he looked over, she was looking at the rug, the plate with her uneaten sandwich next to her. She looked like she was fighting back tears.
"Yeah, Georgie?"
She said even more quietly, "Maybe – maybe you shouldn't come back for me."
He was utterly shocked. "Why would you say that? Of course, I'm coming back for you!" he said loudly. She didn't say anything, keeping her eyes on the rug and blinking hard.
"Georgie, what's wrong? Why would you say that?" He started to go to her but she scooted back, keeping a distance between them, not looking at him. She was starting to scare him.
"Tell me! What's wrong?" he demanded.
"I'm afraid!" she cried, looking up at him finally, tears rolling down her cheeks.
"What are you afraid of?" he asked, completely bewildered.
"I'm afraid after you leave here, you're going to – you're going to change your mind! I'm afraid you won't come back like you say you will!" she cried.
Now he understood. "Georgie, I'm not going to change my mind about that! I would never hurt you like that! I love you!" he said fervently.
"But what if you do?" she wailed.
It suddenly clicked in his mind – this was why she'd brought up him going to Chicago alone. She'd been thinking this most of the day. It was like she'd already given up thinking he was coming back for her, and he suddenly became terrified.
"Is this because you're planning to kill yourself?" he shouted. "Is that why you're saying this?"
"What?" she said, looking confused, then said, "No, Robert! That's not it at all! I promised you I wouldn't do that!"
"Then what is it? I said I was coming back for you! You trust me, don't you?"
She suddenly slumped, staring at the rug again, the tears streaming down her face.
"Don't you trust me?" he asked faintly, suddenly feeling sick to his stomach. Maybe she didn't want him to come back for her. Maybe this was because of what he'd made her do in that room.
She wiped her tears with her sleeve, saying quietly, "I do trust you. It's just – it's just – I think when you leave here – you're going to figure it out – and then – you won't want me anymore. I'll be waiting forever and you won't come."
"Figure what out? Georgie, what are you talking about! You're not making any sense!"
After a moment, she said so quietly he could barely hear her, "Didn't you ever wonder why it was okay for you to have sex with me?"
He was shocked into silence, not understanding why she would bring that up. He didn't need to wonder why, the bastard was sick and cruel.
When he didn't say anything, she asked quietly, "Didn't you wonder what that room was for?"
He stared at her as it started to dawn on him what she was trying to tell him.
"Don't you get it!" she suddenly shouted, looking up at him, her eyes full of pain as she started crying again.
"He likes it! He likes seeing me with other men!" she shouted, and then leaned over, crying into the rug.
For a moment Robert sat there, too stunned to think while he heard her cry, "So – many –."
And then he fell over sobbing as his heart shattered into a million pieces. Because in that moment, he knew – he had lost Georgie forever. In that moment, he knew there had never been a bargain. The bastard had never intended to give her up. It had all been just an elaborate ruse to trick him into being filmed having sex with her. And he'd been the one to set his own trap. As he laid there with his heart completely broken, it slowly came together in his mind how badly he'd fucked up.
That sick bastard must have thought Christmas came early the day he'd walked in and practically offered him and Georgie up on a silver platter. How hard could it have been for the bastard to gather up a mix of phony and real documents to make it look like he was giving him everything he'd asked for? And he'd completely fallen for it.
No wonder the bastard had insisted on doing it right away. He didn't want to take a chance Georgie would tip him off. And that room. Why had he never questioned how permanent the set up was? The bastard had fucking told him she'd done it before. It all made perfect sense to him now. Why had he been too thick to figure it out before it was too late?
My God, he thought suddenly, feeling sick with horror. What had he done to Georgie? He had absolutely betrayed her, convincing her to trust him using her dead sister's words. Making her have sex with him when she didn't want to. And that would be the last thing she'd ever remember about him – that he'd fucked her in that room so that sick twisted bastard could get off watching them.
He felt Georgie lay on his back as she continued to cry. "I'm so sorry, Robert. Please don't cry. I'll always love you. I'll never forget you," she sobbed.
He immediately felt an intense rage like hadn't felt in months surge through his body. He struggled to get up and she got off him. When she saw the expression on his face, she cried out, "No!" and tried to get away from him, but she wasn't fast enough and he managed to reach out and grab her wrist, keeping her with him.
"Now you listen to me!" he choked out, wiping the tears off his face with his other hand. "I don't care what he made you do! I love you and there is no way in hell I'm leaving you here! D'you understand?"
"Yes, Robert," she sobbed.
"I don't care how long it takes me, or where I have to go! I'm going to find you and get you the hell away from that fucking bastard! And you're going to be alive when I find you! Yes?"
"Yes," she sobbed.
He gently pulled her and she went to him, climbing in his lap. He shushed and rocked her a little as she cried, the seething rage for the bastard boiling through him. Every heartbreaking thing Georgie had told him today and all the other days he'd lived with her, ran through his mind – all the cruelty she'd been subjected to, all evil things she'd been forced to do. He would make that fucking bastard pay for all of it. Maybe he'd thought he'd beaten Robert, but somehow, someway, he'd find the bastard and make him regret everything he'd done to her.
While Georgie slowly calmed down and relaxed, molding her body into him, he began making plans with a grim determination. As soon as he was released, he would contact the authorities in the States and the U.K. And he would fly back to the States as soon as he could arrange it, going directly to the west coast and participate in the search before the bastard could get too far away. He would never stop looking until he found him. Whatever it took, he'd beat the bastard and free Georgie.
When they went to bed that night, they settled under the covers, holding each other. Robert tried to memorize Georgie's face, tracing it with his fingers. The exact shade of blue in her eyes and how long her lashes were. The shape of her lips, and how the bottom lip was a bit larger than the top one. He ran his fingers over her eyebrows, trying to memorize their exact curve. He didn't want to forget a single thing about her, not knowing how long it might be before he saw her again. She seemed to be doing the same thing, tracing his face with her fingers as she looked at him intently.
He slept very little that night. When he did manage to sleep, he dreamt continuously but his dreams were disjointed. The only one he remembered clearly was the one where Georgie watched him while he slept and he kept feeling like they weren't alone in the room. When he woke up, he was lying on Georgie's chest and it was early in the morning. When he lifted his head, he was surprised to see she was awake and looking at him. She looked exhausted with dark circles under her eyes, and she was more pale than usual.
"I dreamt you were watching me sleep," he said as he moved up a little so he could kiss her.
"Probably because I was watching you most of the night," she said quietly, before she kissed him.
She stayed with him while he bathed, shaved and got dressed in the clothes he'd been kidnapped in. Then they went to her bathroom. She handed him her comb so he could comb her hair. He took his time, trying to memorize exactly how smooth and silky her hair felt in his hands. Then she braided it and dressed in her ugly clothes.
When she was finished, he was overwhelmed with intense pain seeing her dressed like that. It suddenly became a reality – he was leaving – and she wasn't. When he started crying, she pulled him into her arms and held him until he was able to pull himself together.
They went to the kitchen, and he made tea and she made coffee. They sat silently while they held hands across the little kitchen table, looking into each other's eyes, not drinking anything. She looked so heartbreakingly beautiful as she looked at him intently, her sad eyes the familiar purple shade. Her hands were cold in his and he stroked the backs of them with his thumbs. He felt a terrible ache in his chest, fearing these might be his last moments with her.
It seemed like time was moving way too fast. The minutes seemed to be flying by and before he knew it, his time with her was almost all gone. They went to the sitting room and sat on the couch together, hugging tightly. He tried to make an imprint of her body on his, concentrating on how warm and solid and comforting she felt in his arms, not wanting to forget a single thing about her.
"I love you so much, Georgie. I love you so much," he murmured into her hair, breathing in her special smell.
"I love you, Robert. I'll never stop loving you. I'll love you forever," she whispered back, her face pressed into his neck.
"I'll be back as soon as I can to get you. If he moves you, I'll find you. I'll never stop looking, Georgie. I swear it."
"I trust you, Robert. I'll wait for you. No matter how long it takes. I promise I'll wait for you."
Then Robert heard the locks on the door to the outside being thrown open and he suddenly felt fear, his heart racing. The two of them stood up still holding onto each other as they listened to the last lock click open, both of them shaking. There was a moment of silence and then the door was thrown open and hit the wall with a bang making them jump.
The first thing Robert saw was a guard with a gun pointed directly at him. He immediately pushed Georgie behind him for protection and she wrapped her arms around his chest, clinging to him as they watched guards pour into the room. As far as Robert could tell, the first guard was the only one with a weapon and he stayed by the door. As they fanned out, some of the guards looked at Robert with cold expressions, their eyes hard. Some of them looked excited, like they were eager for what was coming. The bastard came in last, his smug smile plastered on his face.
As soon as Robert saw him, he could feel rage boiling through his body. He'd never hated anyone with such passion in his life. If it wasn't for the fact that he wouldn't leave Georgie unprotected, he would've gladly thrown himself at the man and attempted to kill him with his bare hands, no matter how many guards were standing there. When the bastard saw the expression on Robert's face, his smug smile broadened with delight.
"It's time, Robert!" he exclaimed happily, clearly enjoying himself.
Georgie cried out "No!" and the guards began advancing on them, spreading themselves out even more.
Knowing what was coming, Robert immediately turned and wrapped his arms around Georgie. The two of them clung to each other as tightly as they could, Georgie wrapping her legs around him just as the guards reached them. Hands grabbed onto Robert's arms as Georgie started crying, "No!" over and over.
It seemed like every single one of the men was surrounding them, so close Robert could hear their heavy breathing as they pulled on them. Georgie's plaintive cries of "No!" were more desperate and mixed with sobs as her arms were pulled off him.
Robert's strength was no match for all the men pulling on him and he could feel the ache in his chest growing as he knew he was going to lose his fight to keep his arms around her. It wasn't long before he was pulled off her, but she still had her legs around his waist. The men pulled in opposite directions in an attempt to tug them apart, but Georgie's legs were strong. He could hear them grunting as they worked to pry her legs apart.
At the exact moment she was finally wrenched off his body, Robert felt the ache in his chest turn into a crushing pain and Georgie screamed a heartbreaking, "No!"
The men holding him started dragging him away from her as he fought wildly against them, shouting, "Georgie!"
Two guards held onto her and she thrashed her body violently, desperately trying to free herself from their hold as she screamed, "Robert!" over and over mingled with sobs.
No matter how hard he fought to keep from losing her, he was being taken further and further away, her piercing screams for him breaking his heart. When they reached the door to the outside, he wrapped one of his legs around the door frame in a futile attempt to keep from being pulled through, but more men grabbed him and he was yanked out of the flat.
The guards holding Georgie threw her backwards to the floor and ran to the door while she struggled to get up. She ran after them, frantically trying to get to him. He saw the desperation, fear and sorrow in her vivid blue eyes as she looked at him, knowing she wasn't going to make it, burning an image in his heart he would never forget. Then the door was slammed shut and the locks quickly turned, trapping her in the flat alone.
Robert heard Georgie's long tortured screams of anguish muffled through the solid door as he was wrestled away from it by the guards. He tried to call out to her, but he was sobbing too hard, his heart utterly broken.
****
I'm not going to lie. I'm not entirely happy with the first half of this chapter and I don't think it's my best writing. I struggled over it for months and nearly tore out all my hair over it. In the end I think it turned out merely passable. I hope that part doesn't suck for all of you as much as I fear it does. At some future time, I will rework it and figure out a way to make flow better.