Heartless People |Book 2|

Chapter 36

"Imagine trying to live without air. Now imagine something worse."

—Amy Reed

JENNIE

"Five days ago, my wife Jennie Kim Manoban was kidnapped only hours after giving birth to our son. I want her back. My son and I need her. My family and I are offering one hundred million dollars for her safe return. Jen, if you're watching, I'm not giving up. I won't ever give up until I have you back. Our son and I miss you and love you so much..."

"I think that's enough for now." Scarlet's voice grated on every nerve in my body.

My hatred for her continued to fester each moment spent in her presence. She turned off the television, and rushed from the kitchen to place a plate in front of me. "Giant meatballs and spaghetti. Your favorite, right?"

I just stared at her, doing nothing to hide my hatred and disgust for the woman who gave birth to me.

"A hundred million? You should be insulted." She took a seat at the other end of the luxurious dining room table before spreading her napkin and dropping it on her lap. She had chained me to every fucking chair until we reached this place, which, from what I could tell, was on the edge of a beach. Then, I was upgraded to a wheelchair. The last two days had been more of the same rhetoric about how she was trying to save me, how she only did this to protect me.

I didn't know who she was trying to convince.

All this time I thought she was some cold-hearted mastermind, always plotting, always one step ahead of us because she was just that good. But I was wrong. She was delusional; I wasn't even sure if she really understood what she was doing. Part of her still saw me as that little girl she left in the middle of the ocean, while another part of her understood I was grown.

I thought she was strong; I'd admired her tenacity and her tactics in getting what she wanted done efficiently and effectively, but the moment she spoke of her father, Ivan, she became weak. Whatever he had done to her had broken her. She was at his beck and call—his lap dog—and it disgusted me. She was no better than the low-level sycophants that worked for me.

Every day she washed and combed my hair and even dressed me, all while keeping me chained. She treated me like I was her own personal doll. The second day I tried playing nice, today I tried not speaking. There was something seriously wrong with this woman.

Despite my tactics to evoke a reaction from her, she acted as if nothing fazed her. The only time I got a response from her was when I "misbehaved." Other than that, she gave no indication that she was here in this space other than physically. I needed to get out of here but I didn't even know what country I was in.

"Do you need me to get someone to help you, sweetheart?" she asked, cutting into her food with her finely polished silverware. She nodded over at the soon-to-be dead rat's rail thin frame at the door. Nelson came over, and like a robot, he cut into my food before bringing it to my lips.

I guess even sycophants can have sycophants.

Opening my mouth, I took the food into it and chewed it briefly before I spat it into his face.

"JENNIE!"

He took a step back as Scarlet walked forward. Nelson wiped his face slowly before glaring at me.

Scarlet grabbed my face, forcing me to meet her eyes. "I am trying here, Jennie. I want you to be happy with me, okay? I love you, but you have to let go of her and that child. They are your past, a past you would never have had if we could've been together. I love you, so please behave, because I don't want to hurt you."