Sophia’s POV: London
THE NEXT AFTER ARRIVAL.
“Bloody hell, I did tell your arsehole father it was Ivan all along, he acted shady and shit, he even threw me out of his office,” Daisy fumes.
After I got to London, she took me straight to her house from the airport. And I am thankful for that, I didn’t think I had it in me to face my father. This morning she had asked me to fill her in on what had happened to me in the past months.
“Also, are you sure you gave him consent and he wasn’t sexually assaulting you? Actually, fuck that because what we need to do right now, is to report your case to the police.” She added.
I knew she was going to say this, I mean it’s the logical thing to do, not everyone was fucked up like me. I tried for minutes to convince her that I willingly had sex with Ivan but she’s finding it hard to believe.
“I don’t want to report to the police, babes,” I said calmly, shocking her. “There is no need for that.”
She looked at me like I sprouted another head. “There is no way you mean that, right? Babes, this man literally kept you hostage for months!”
“Oh God, Daisy! Stop!” I snapped and she flinched at my outburst. “Shit, I’m sorry, okay? It’s just that I’ve been telling you what I want and you’re insisting on what you think is best for me. I don’t want to report any of this to the police, please. Ivan never forced me, okay? I gave myself to him willingly and I enjoyed it. Now isn’t even a good time for him, his mother was diagnosed with cancer, hell, she’s already been moved to a hospice.”
Her amber eyes scanned my face for a minute, searching for something… “What?” I asked impatiently. “Why are you staring like that?”
“You have feelings for him? Please tell me you don’t have feelings for a man who kidnapped you. That’s not even the worst part, he’d break your heart, you think someone like Ivan thought of you as anything more than a sex partner? That man is known for having several mistresses.” She facepalmed.
I know she is right, but it doesn’t make me any less upset that she was pointing that out. I don’t have feelings for Ivan, it’s just something temporary, just Stockholm syndrome and perhaps… what do they call that stuff again? Codependency? I think. C’mon I was with the man for three months, of course, I’d get attached to him. But I have everything under control, I thought we all agreed worldwide that sex doesn’t equate to love.
“You’re thinking really hard over there, you definitely are fucked,” she said interrupting my thoughts.
I shook my head. “No, I don’t have feelings for him. This thing I feel should definitely be Stockholm syndrome, I need a therapist.” I said firmly.
She inhales sharply, “I guess that makes sense too, could be just because you spent way too much time with him, I know a therapist we-”
“Now who the fuck needs a therapist?” A familiar male voice interrupted.
Nick? I turn to find Nick standing by the doorway.
“Soph?” His voice filled with surprise.
“Oh my God Nick,” I squealed as I ran over to him and he pulled me in for a tight hug. “Oh God, it’s been so long! When did you get back?”
Nick was our childhood friend. He, I, and Daisy had always been inseparable. We are the best trio ever.
“I came in the morning before,” he said excitedly as he placed a kiss on my cheek. He pulled back abruptly. “Wait… what happened to you? I tried calling and texting, then there were rumors that you’d gone missing but it died down quickly, and when I asked Daisy she kept ignoring the topic.” He threw Daisy a glare at his last statement.
“Whoa don’t look at me like that! It wasn’t my fault.” She raised her hands in surrender.
“Okay, okay, enough about me,” I said. “I thought your tour around Europe was for six months, it’s barely been four months if I’m correct?” I raised an eyebrow in his direction as we went to sit on the couch.
“Tragic story, Brandon cheated on me during our tour, I dumped his ass and came right back,” he said casually like he hadn’t just told us his boyfriend of one year had broken his heart.
“And you don’t care? You told us you loved him and wouldn’t even shut up about it,” Daisy said, rolling her eyes.
“Daisy, honey, I love you, but you can be annoying,” he huffs. He stood up and spun around, “Like have you seen me? I can get another man, a far better one at the drop of a hat. I don’t need to cry over Brandon.”
We all burst out laughing, even though he’s being ridiculous. Nick is drop-dead gorgeous and I’m not saying this because he’s my friend. He’s really very good-looking, with grey eyes that complement his very dark hair and cupid bow pink lips. He was all lean muscle but ripped. Let’s just say he’s the type that can pull anyone he wants.
So yeah, Brandon fumbled. Hard.
He scoots over to me, “Now, I really need to know what went on with you, what really happened, Soph?”
“Uh… she was…” Daisy trails off, searching for the right way to explain things to him.
“I got kidnapped,” I blurted, deciding to just hit the nail on the head. That earned me a loud gasp from Nick.
“Like, are you okay? You weren’t harmed, right? Oh God,” Nick bombarded me with questions as he fussed over me.
“Of course she is fine, she fell in love with her captor,” Daisy added dryly.
Nick’s eyes widened even more. “No way,” he gasped.
“Shut up, Daisy! We’ve been over this, I’ll see a therapist.”
“So that’s what the whole therapist talk was about,” Nick said thoughtfully. “Alright, I need you both to fill me in. I need to know what happened.”
And just like that, I narrated my whole ordeal from the beginning for the second time today.
“You slept with him? I need to know what this guy looks like.” Nick said once I was done, trust him to point that out from the whole story I’d narrated.
“Oh, he’s good-looking, that’s for sure,” Daisy added.
Daisy’s phone chimed as a text message came in. Her face morphed into a look of worry as she took a glance at the screen. She hands me the phone and I read the text.
+44 XXX XXXX XXXX: Miss Daisy, this is Rosie. Mr Smith’s Secretary. He’s been informed that Miss Sophia is back in London and he requests her presence immediately.
I knew staying silent wouldn’t last long. Anyway, if I was going to see him eventually, it wouldn’t be that hard going earlier than planned.
I sent a reply. Telling her I was going to see him tomorrow.
THE NEXT MORNING.
I felt uneasy and small being in his presence. Well, it’s always been like that. I’ve forgotten how inadequate he makes me feel. He might be getting old, with grey hairs on either side of his temple but he’s still as scary as he was when I was a child. He hasn’t asked about what went down or if I was okay yet. Maybe he would eventually.
“Well, you would have to give your statement to the police. You have to let them know he’d kidnapped you and they will inform the British intelligence and get him locked up in his country,” he said calmly.
“Please let this issue go, Dad. It’s an old story, I’m back home and safe aren’t I?”
“What do you mean by that? Never mind I’ll set up the date for you to go give your statement,” he said in a tone of finality.
“No! Dad! Drop it,” I insisted.
He shot me an incredulous look. “Why on earth are you protecting such a vile and evil man? He kept you hostage for months!” He snapped.
I stood up and paced about. I was seriously done with this conversation. Everyone keeps asking me to report to the police, I get that I should under normal circumstances but I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to hurt Ivan, I couldn’t. I’ve returned and will never see him again, there was no need for all the fuss.
“What about you, Dad? I was gone for months, you did nothing!” I countered.
“Bollocks!” He barked. “I sent some men to attack him and release you about two months back! You ungrateful little shit, I went through all that trouble just to get you out of the mess YOU created by yourself!”
“Okay, let’s say you did do all that. But why did you call off the search party? You spoke to Ivan, why didn’t he release me?”
His face blanched.
“Yes, Daisy told me she suspects that you were in contact with Ivan. What are you hiding Dad? Why did Ivan want to haunt you down so bad he had to kidnap me? Ivan never does something without a reason, he’s not like that, you must have provoked him.”
His face morphed from shock to amusement and soon he let out a deep chuckle. He studied me and I watched his expression change into disgust.
“Foolish girl,” he gritted out. “You let that bastard fuck you, you spread your legs for him, didn’t you?”
“Dad!” I yelled. Trust him to turn the situation around to blame me.
“Shut up! Dirty whore! That’s how you women give yourselves out loosely, like a fucking bitch in heat.”
“Dad…” I trailed off as pain clogged my throat, tears streaming down my eyes. “So what? I can have sex with whoever I want, it’s my body.”
“You are a woman! I should have known you’d turn out like your whore mother, who tried to trap me with a baby. Would have been better if you were a son,” he snapped. “Get out of my sight! I’ll have to find a way to fix this.”
I left not bothering to ask what he meant by ‘finding a way to fix this’. I was hurting way too much to even care.