Stuck between two bad boys

EMILY’S POV

Every minute I stayed locked in here makes me want to throw up. It feels like I’ve been kidnapped for years, I already lost count of days but I knew it was already weeks. My head split in pain as I tried to recall the incident. I was arguing with Xavier when I got pushed into a moving van. The details of the kidnap were blurry and I couldn’t remember much.

I still have no idea how I survived the first day ’cause panic attacks made me nauseated and disorganized. Their faces all scared life in me, I thought they were going to kill me because of how fierce they looked. The highest punishment I got for kicking one of the guy’s balls was a hard slap.

It was hard enough to redden my face but not kill me, I wondered why they were being so careful with me till I overheard their discussion saying they sold me to a rich man and he didn’t want me bruised.

I threw up hearing it and the rest turned out to be blurry vision and a bad headache. When I opened my eyes, I found myself in a different room, still enclosed but a lot neater and more spacious than where I was.

I raised my head to the squealing sound of the door that opened and flinched when I saw James. He saw my reaction and moved closer to me trying to calm me down.

“It’s okay Emily, I got you. You’re with Daddy now, you’re safe.”

I scoffed at his words but could not talk, I had no strength left to fight James.

I sat on the floor reminiscing the night James assured me I was safe with him. I knew I couldn’t be safe with an abuser but I barely had the strength to fight him. I packed my hair with a strand I found on the floor and applied cream to my face. The slap the gang leader gave me was hard and it still hurt whenever I touched it. I used the mirror in the drawer to examine the blemish when James walked in.

He was holding nylon and a small smile crept on his lips. I felt the urge to question him now, I needed answers to questions I’ve asked myself for long.

“Why did you kidnap me?” I asked, not taking my eyes off him.

He paused for a moment and then smiled like he was expecting the question to come in sooner than it did. I waited for a reply but the only thing I got was silence.

“Here, I got you ice cream,” he said and stretched the bag to me. I looked at him in distaste, he was trying to change the topic.

“I asked a question,” I reminded.

“You’ve not been kidnapped, Emily-”

“Then what do you call getting locked in an enclosed room against your wish?” I flared.

“Take this,” He said firmly, forcing me to take the cup of ice cream.

“I don’t want anything that comes from a monster!!” I yelled and heaved.

“You have to take it.”

“Sure,” I said with a smile and grabbed it from his hands. I opened the cup of ice cream and spat it inside. ”

“Don’t get on my nerves, Emily.” He warned me with his eyes flashing anger but I barely cared, he could go to hell with his ice cream.

“Why the hell are you doing this?” I managed to ask although my voice had gotten shaky. “Is this to make me go with you? James, I’ll rather die.”

“You think so?” He asked inquisitively. He turned to his jacket and slid out a photograph. He turned it to face me and my eyes caught the people in the photograph, I recognized my Mom as the young lady, James, and another man I could swear I’d never seen in my entire life. They were standing in front of a mahogany table and smiling at the camera.

“I can no longer keep this from you, you are no longer a child.”

I scoffed and he turned his eyes to the photograph.

“I met your mother in a club,” he began.Exclusive content © by Nô(v)el/Dr/ama.Org.

My eyes rolled as I wondered what he wanted me to do with that information, he was wasting my goddamn energy.

“I offered a contract and she agreed to be my contract wife for an agreed period. It went on like that till I eventually fell in love with her, breaching the agreement. I no longer wanted to continue the marriage base on the contract but on terms that I was in love with her.” He paused for a moment and continued. “I asked her to marry me the right way but she refused and asked that the contract be terminated. Her request could not be granted when she found out she was pregnant with my child. I was mad that the mistake of getting pregnant happened, we both saw you as a mistake we could have avoided till we were ready.”

I listened to his story and twitched my lips when he called me a mistake he could have avoided.

“We however decided the contract had to continue after your birth so you could get the love and attention you needed from your parents as a kid. We still didn’t want you till you turned four and you caught our hearts in ways we couldn’t imagine. All of a sudden she ran out of the marriage with Charles.

Hearing him call Charles made me wish Dad was around to pull me in a hug. I felt no emotion as I listened to his part of the story, it made no sense and still didn’t answer my questions. I raised my brow when he looked at me.

“Why are you telling me these?”

“Because I need you to know.”

“Another failed task ’cause I already knew about the contract marriage.” My face left no expression told, he had no idea how ridiculous he sounded for trying to justify his damn actions.

“Don’t try to paint my mother as a bad person,” I warned with so much irritation on my face.

“She is a bad person because she never loved you.”

“If she never loved me then why did she beg you to be present in my life? Didn’t you just call me a mistake you could have avoided?”

“Listen to me, Emily.”

I blinked twice trying to dab the tears welling in my eyes. I didn’t expect it to hurt hearing him call me a mistake but the more I repeated his words, the more I felt the intensity of the sentence.