The other woman

One week later....

⚠️ A little warning that this chapter does contain some violence!

At an unknown location.
The door flew open and bright light streamed in, making her squint as a welcome blast of daylight assaulted her vision. Dust hung thickly in the air creating the effect of a beam of light and she moved her head to try and see what was outside, still desperate for any little clue that would tell her where she was. All she'd managed to figure out so far was the obvious, she was being held in a large wooden barn, it's array of old rusting tools, including pitch forks, scythes, saws, rakes and shovels hanging from the walls, untouched for years, and the couple of pieces of dust and cobweb covered, rusty machinery that looked like they'd not been used for at least fifty years, telling her that she'd been bought to a farm - somewhere. That was the thing, she wasn't even sure what country she was in.

She had no idea how long she'd been here, what the time was or even what day of the week it was. She only knew when it was night or day from the glints of light that were visible around the doors and the sounds of the wildlife outside. At night she could hear the bark of foxes and the noises of owls outside while inside she could hear the awful, skin crawling sound of rats scuffling and scurrying around her. The skin on her wrists felt sore from where the rough nylon rope chafed and bit at her flesh and her whole body ached, especially her ankles where they were bound too. In her mouth, a piece of vile, dirty old cloth tainted her tongue with a taste that she'd never forget, her face felt sore where small cuts and scratches had been left unattended and her skin and scalp itched from being unable to shower or bathe.

His large, strong figure loomed over her, blocking her line of vision, making it seem darker than it actually was and he squatted down in front of her, making her immediately begin to tremble.

Having already suffered one severe beating that had left her unconscious for a time, she'd been as compliant as she could be to try and avoid another one and only the thought of seeing Seb again was getting her through every sick touch of this man's hands and every slap, punch or kick. But now she felt like giving up; if she had no idea where she was then how would Seb know or even the police? Was there a ransom hanging over her head or did Soren have other plans? She hoped that the police were searching for her, surely Seb would have got them involved by now.

"Here." Soren dropped a small brown paper bag down by her side, gruffly adding, "foods here."

At first she cowered as his hands reached for her face, whimpering as his face contorted with an angry snarl.

"Bitch!" He slapped her, making her cheek sting, "don't fucking look at me like that!"

"I'm sorry!" She cried once he'd removed the gag from her mouth, fresh tears stinging her skin.

His expression softened and for a second he actually looked remorseful, "Alex," he sighed, tilting his head to one side as he took in her beautiful but battered and terrified face, "I've brought you some food, it's time to eat."

She watched quietly as he proceeded to pull out a pre-packed cheese sandwich from the bag and tore open the wrapping. Summoning up what little courage she had left, she meekly uttered, "I'm not hungry. I just want to go home."

Dropping the empty wrapper to one side, he rose his free hand to her cheek, tenderly stroking where he'd just hit her. His voice sounded soft and yet sinister at the same time, "I can't let that happen I'm afraid and you need to eat." He offered the sandwich to her lips, arching a brow as she pursed them together and turned her head away. He quickly snapped. "Fucking ungrateful little bitch!"

She was punished with another slap to her face, so hard that it made her scream.

"Fucking eat it!" He yelled, grabbing her by her chin and shoving the sandwich into her lips, squishing the bread against her and smearing cheese and butter all over her face.