When next I woke, I felt like throwing up - more so when I discovered not only was I in the back of the Kombi, tied hand and foot, but Dad was also there, watching me with a flat expression. Oliver was at the wheel, and I swore. "What the hell?" I demanded. "Do you really think kidnapping me is going to get me to agree to your insane demands?"
Dad hit me hard across the face, making me see stars. "This is for your own good," he said, his voice as flat as his eyes. "I don't know what that young man did to enslave you to his ways, but you're with us, and with us you will stay."
"You forget, dumbarse, that this thing sticks out like a dog's balls," I said, my voice just as flat. "We'll have police on our tail within the day."29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDCOiiJoJlF
"No, we won't," Dad said, triumph now underneath the flat tone. "I threw your phone out of the window, and made sure Oliver drove over it repeatedly before we left. No one's coming to find us, and if they do, well..."
"I'd rather see us all dead than let you go again," Oliver said, glancing in the rear view mirror with an expression of fierce, obsessed determination. "You belong to me, Charlie, in life and in death."
"Why are you so obsessed with me?" I demanded. "Seriously! I let you go ages ago, and if there was anything left, it's dead now. Just let me go, go marry some other poor girl - God help her! - and leave me the fuck alone. I don't love you anymore."
That turned out to be a mistake; Oliver gunned the engine, while Dad struck me across the face several times until I could barely see straight. "You're a stupid bitch," he said, wincing as he nursed his hand. I savagely hoped he'd broken it. "You can't just stop loving someone."
"You stopped loving Mum," I reminded him. "Oh wait, no. You were 'forced' to marry her, because you couldn't keep it in your pants. And anyway, people's feelings change. Mine did, and nothing either of you two cunts do will get me to agree to whatever dumbarse scheme you've got going on."
"You'll do what we say, or you'll lose everything," Dad warned me ominously.
"We're driving to Oxford," Oliver told me. "We're going to go to the first legal place we can find and getting your sham marriage annulled. Then I'll take you away where no one will ever be able to find us again, and we'll have our own little family. You won't lack for anything, once I've gotten you away from those who want to take you from me."29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtvkiIi9s6R
"Like hell I will," I said angrily. "We can go to the arse end of nowhere, but I won't sign anything you two clowns try to force on me. And if you try it, I swear to God I'll make the biggest scene this side of the damn Thames!"
"Try it," Dad said. "I'll make damn sure you pay for it." He laughed mirthlessly and stroked my thigh. "Maybe I'll have a turn at you when Oliver's done. Now that'll be interesting. Hell, you may end up giving birth to your own half sibling."
I met him with a flat stare. "Over my dead body," I said.
"Keep up, and that can be arranged," Dad snapped. 29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNI6EpD8P7y
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By the time we reached Oxford, I was hungry, thirsty, and in desperate need of the loo. Dad, deciding to be a spiteful arsehole, made me wait until he and Oliver had had dinner before finally letting me out. Any chance I had of escape or causing a scene were firmly shelved when Dad pressed a gun against the small of my back. It was clear by now he and not Oliver was in charge of this mission, and I thanked my lucky stars any legal places in Oxford were shut, it being well into the late afternoon.
I was given only a handful of moments of privacy to visit the loo once we reached a cafe, but it was enough to give me a chance to compose my thoughts, and when I stepped out to meet Dad, I chose not to acknowledge him at all. Instead, I looked at Oliver when we got back to our table. "Tell Dad I'll speak for myself when it's time to order," I said coldly. "If he tries to talk over me, I'll make a scene."29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtyMt9p8q6f
Dad looked furious as Oliver miserably relayed this message to him, but he blessedly kept his mouth shut when the waitress came to take our order. Something in her stance told me she sensed the grim mood, but with Dad's gun (now in his pocket) jammed against my leg where his thigh was pressed next to mine, I kept my mouth shut, apart from thanking her when she brought my soup and toast. I ate in silence, hoping for some sort of intervention that would get me out of here, and indeed, I did spy the waitress talking to an official looking man in a business suit. He frowned, giving Dad and Oliver the hairy eyeball, and Dad tensed. "The hell you looking at?" he demanded.
The official looking man cleared his throat. "I'm just wondering if that young lady is with you by choice," he said, and dead silence fell. Heads turned, and all eyes landed on Dad, who got angrier.
"She's fine," he said shortly. "Mind your own business, you dumb lump of lard."29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ43RSSwVnBI
That drew shocked gasps. The man was a bit on the hefty side, but not enough to justify the use of derogatory language. His nostrils flared as he took a deep breath, and I revised my initial assessment; the heftiness was muscle. "Say that again," he said in a deathly quiet voice.
"We're leaving," Dad said, grabbing my arm and hauling me upright. I tried planting my feet, but Oliver shoved me in the back, and I stumbled, swearing as I collided with Dad, who wrapped a menacing arm around my waist, while he produced his gun with the other. "We're walking out of here," he said, his voice loud and furious. "Anyone tries to stop us, I shoot this stupid little bitch right between the fucking eyes. Anyone calls the cops on us, I'll make sure the same damn thing happens!"
I wanted to be angry as the shocked patrons stood down, but I couldn't blame them - I'd have done the same thing, were I in their shoes. But even as Dad tied me back up and threw me into the back of the Kombi, I knew someone would do something, if not here in Oxford, then somewhere else.
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