Set Me Free

'...and the end of life as he knows it'

"I finally understood what true love meant...love meant that you care for another person's happiness more than your own, no matter how painful the choices you face might be."

Joseph's POV

There were three things that Joseph was the most ashamed of in his life.

Number one, the breakdown of his marriage. It was mostly his fault that the marriage didn't last. He was too impulsive, too anxious to settle down. Too late he realised that marriage wasn't for him, that the family life wasn't one he was destined for. He never regretted the family he had created, but he regretted the haste in which he did it. When his girlfriend of a year fell pregnant, he believed that marriage was the obvious choice. He proposed on a whim, a decision he would later regret. They weren't ready for that kind of commitment and ultimately that was what destroyed them.

Number two was his career choice. Joseph was never good at staying in one place for too long, something that hinder him when it came to job prospect. When someone offered him freelance work with a hefty pay check, he saw it as the ideal choice. How wrong he was. He never thought he would ever break the law, live a life where the fear of being arrested was a daily hazard, but it was the one that he settled with and one he regretted with everything in him. In his shame he never told anyone what he did for a living, instead making up lies of being a general handy man who moved from one job to the next. Being a drug dealer wasn't something that Joseph would ever admit out loud, the idea of that title repulsed him and ultimately, that is why he rebelled against it.

Regret number three was rebelling against it. He never imagined the length that his employer would go to, never imagined that his family would be the one in danger. Joseph had accepted the risk of his job and that it may one day end with him in a body bag. He never expected that it may be his daughter that would be in the body bag. Elizabeth was his pride and joy, the only good in a life of despair. He didn't see her as much as he would like, didn't put in as much effort as he maybe should, but he loved his little girl with all his heart.

And he had put her in danger.

It was because of him that his baby girl was out there somewhere, beaten and abused, awaiting his heroic rescue. One he wasn't sure he was able to perform. He no longer had the money he stole, no longer had the merchandise either. The ransom that was currently Elizabeth's only hope of freedom was long gone, and he had no plan on how to get the money.
£50,000 wasn't something that was easy to obtain, and he had no idea how long he had to get it.

Elizabeth's life hung in the balance, and Joseph had never felt more pathetic.

When his daughter was born, Joseph took a vow to protect her. He knew that even if he failed at everything else in his life, the fact that he had a healthy and happy daughter would be all he needed to feel like he had accomplished something. Somehow, he even managed to fail at that. She was in danger and there was nothing that he could do about it.

The video sat on repeat in front of him, his daughter's eyes pleading with him, begging him to save her. He couldn't look away from the blood pouring from her nose, the fear that lay behind her eyes. Tears rolled down Joseph's cheeks as he watched his daughter, broken and terrified, plead for her life.

And then his eyes would appear.

Dead and emotionless, Paul, his former boss, spoke to the camera to reveal the conditions of Elizabeth's safe release. He had never really got on with Paul, finding him far too detached to ever feel comfortable in his presence. He knew that he was cold hearted, he knew that he only thought about money, but he never imagined the lengths that Paul would go to get back what he claimed was his.

He knew that there was only one way that he could achieve the impossible, only one way that his daughter may be found safe and sound. It was a decision he never would have imagined he would ever have to make, but to save his daughter, he would do anything.

Joseph stood before the police station, dvd in hand. He knew that once he walked in, there was no going back. He was risking his freedom, once they saw the tape they would know what he did for a living and eventually arrest him.

He didn't care.

This would save her. By adding the police to the search, he was adding to the man power needed to find his baby girl. He didn't care that he would be behind bars when it happened, he didn't care that he might not see her safe return home. He only cared that they would find her, that she would be okay once again.

She would never forgive him and he had accepted that, he didn't expect her to. He knew there was a possibility he would never see his daughter again. However, he deemed it a small price to pay to know that he had managed to save her. He would risk everything he had, everything he was for Elizabeth and he was proud to say that.

Joseph was never sure he would ever feel that strongly about someone, to love them so much that you would sacrifice yourself so that they could live. He didn't even think twice about doing this for his daughter, she was his world.

With a heavy sigh, he takes the first step towards the police station and the end of life as he knows it.