The Cunning

63

Madison didn't see Jase for a few days after the showing. Her food was left on the desk by either Adam or Sam, neither of them saying a word as they deposited fresh food and removed the old plate and cup. If the door had a hatch, her life wouldn't be dissimilar to prison. Like father, like daughter.

She'd stopped crying at some point, the tears running dry. Numbness had unhinged its jaw and swallowed her whole, hours fading in and out with no way to tell what time of day it was. It took everything for Madison to stay sane.

All she could do was stare at the wall or her reflection, wondering whether the girl she had been before would ever come back, or if she would remain a ghost of the fearsome woman her dad had raised her to be. She didn't feel very fearless in that moment. She felt like a child that needed soothing. The closest she got were her own hugs, wrapping her arms around her knees and squeezing until it felt like the blood in her limbs stopped flowing.

She didn't recognise herself. There was no colour to her cheeks, she was a sheet of off-white paper. And her lips were dry, appearing larger from the severe weight loss. She had to be down at least a stone. Her cheekbones were sharp and the lack of flesh filling out her face made her eyes seem larger than they were, which would have looked Disney-Princess Esque if it weren't for the bluey-black bags they adorned beneath.

"You need a shower," Jase said, walking in and over to the wardrobe.

"Is there another showing tonight?" she asked. Her voice crackled out, the volume of it made her jump. It was the first time she'd spoken, unbeknownst to her at the time, for five days. Her eyes remained fixed on the mirror, and then on the back of the wardrobe when Jase opened the mirrored wardrobe doors, and then on the mirror again.

"Yes." She nodded but didn't move. Jase looked at her over his shoulder, breathing a small laugh. "I knew it wouldn't last." Again, Madison didn't move.

"What?" she asked, not because she cared but to humour him. He'd made the remark for a reason and she didn't need him trying to push more and more of her buttons in an attempt to get a rise. Better to get the scene over and done with.

"The fight," he said, pulling his white t-shirt off, "it never does. I'll give it to you mind, yours lasted a lot longer than most but," he pulled a black t-shirt on, "it's all the same with you girls. You have a little bit of bite, and it doesn't take much to put you in your place."

He was goading her, to see if there was anything left to watch out for. Trying to tell if she was really done, or if she was recharging. They both knew Madison had more than a little bit of bite and it had taken quite a bit to put her in her place. If she had it in her, she'd have laughed, wondering who he was trying to convince. But she didn't, staring at the mirror blankly instead.

Madison shuffled to the edge of the bed, grazing her socks over the grey carpet. Jase's socks came into view, his hand cupped her chin with a surprising tenderness. Bringing her eyes to his, he frowned.

"Such a shame. I had expected more to be honest. You're as disappointing as the others-" she jerked away from him, and he raised his brows, that devious grin resurfacing, "or maybe not. I guess we'll have to see how you come out the other side after Peter's had you for a night."

Madison glared at Jase from the corner of her eye. She'd had a hunch. Ever since he had asked why no one was looking for her and she'd mentioned her boss being the only one that would notice, the clogs in her brain hadn't stopped turning. It made sense. He knew where she lived, Jase had been in his shop, the way Peter had sped off the night he'd given her a lift. At the time she'd been grateful that he had left so fast.

This previous hunch did nothing to still the unease of Jase's half confirmation, half revelation. It was strange, the hindsight. The regret and the weight it carried. If only she had... the list was endless.

Yet, it was reassuring to know for certain who her buyer was because it meant she still had a full hand to play. She was her dad's daughter, and it was glaringly obvious, now the unnamed buyer had been identified, that her dad had nothing to do with her being abducted and they had zero inkling of who he was. In short, a fucking dangerous man.

Jase grinned, eager to squeeze any reaction out of her he could. "But you already had that figured out, huh?" He held her chin again, "because you're so smart." Once more, Madison jerked her face away, only encouraging his taunting. "Can't be that smart though. What kind of idiot accepts a ride home from their very obviously creepy boss?"

Madison would spend the rest of her life cursing herself for growing complacent and naive because her world had been quiet for so many years. She knew men like Jase and Benny existed, her dad had rubbed shoulders with them at her birthday parties, she should have been more in-tune with her instincts, more aware of her surroundings. Jase continued, his voice funnelling through her exhaustive inner-scolding.

"That fat pig paid twenty bags to fuck you. I'm still trying to decide what to spend my cut on. What do you think?"

Twenty bags to fuck you.

Madison's throat was still shredded from the dry heaving her crying had caused, and she'd barely touched the food being left for her over the past few days yet her insides still convulsed aggressively, two snakes wrestling for dominance. The thought of Peter thrusting between her legs, his gelatinous rolls slapping against her malnourished body with each hoggish grunt. Saliva coated the inside of her mouth; a warning.

"Excuse me," she whispered, taking herself to the bathroom. Her footsteps quickened, the bathroom got closer and she was spewing her stomach lining into the toilet, trying to deny the walls closing in, spiralling around her. A glossy sheen of cold sweat licked her forehead. Ringing echoed in her ears from the straining and spluttering. Once the ground stopped rolling beneath her she managed to pull herself up enough to sit on the toilet seat.

Her eyes flickered over the razors on the edge of the bath once more. She picked one up, turning it over in her hands. The plastic was flimsy. Madison snapped the head off.

It would be so easy.