*****
Bianca struggled to open her eyes, they felt crusty and swollen. Her headache was almost blinding and the small amount of light let in by her barely open eyes made it throb even worse. She tenderly ran trembling fingers over her head and found the large lump above her ear that was throbbing in time with her heartbeat. Every part of her body felt sore and bruised. Her insides felt tight and they churned. She stopped trying to move for a few minutes and let her body go limp. She was exhausted and she’d barely even moved.
As minutes slowly passed Bianca took in where she was. She was no longer in her condo, that was obvious by the smell alone. Stagnant air with stale cigarette smoke invaded her nostrils. She forced her body to cooperate and sat up looking for a window to let in some fresh air only to find there wasn’t one. It was a single room with a gross looking bed, toilet and sink. No sheets. No pillows. No comfort at all. Her chest tightened as her situation dawned on her. She tried to regulate her breathing but a sob crept up and she couldn’t hold in her feelings any longer. Wrapping her arms around her bent legs attempting to hold herself together, she cried and rocked herself with her eyes tight shut.
Of course she knew what this was about and who was behind it. She’d known Dane had some questionable business acquaintances but never contemplated that they extended beyond that. Bianca wanted to kick herself. She should have thought of this as a possibility. Stupidly she hadn’t. She’d allowed herself to forget that the man was void of any humanity.
Having no idea who now held her life in their hands, she tried to prepare herself to expect the worst. She didn’t try to imagine the horrors she might soon face. Dane wanted information and as long as she kept schtum Maggie and Brandon would be safe. She pictured her nephew and sister and firmed in her mind that she wouldn’t talk, no matter what. She’d never willing or knowingly put her sister in danger and whatever they did to her could never be as bad as what Dane would do to her sister if he ever got hold of Maggie again.
She’d threatened to leave him once and his response was to hit her until she was black and blue and could hardly move. Of course, he didn’t hurt her bad enough that she couldn’t cook, clean and do his laundry. God forbid, she couldn’t perform her ‘wifely duties.’ Bianca had always suspected that Dane would force himself on Maggie. She knew Maggie wouldn’t be receptive to him of her own accord or welcome his bullish advances. She refused to admit it when she’d asked and Maggie always denied it, probably because she was afraid of what Bianca would do – she’d sure as hell have tried to kill the bastard.
The first time he’d hit her, Brandon was only fourteen months old and Maggie was terrified that Dane would soon turn violent towards their son. He hadn’t but then last week Maggie found bruises on Brandon’s arms in the shape of hands and one large bruise on his back, it looked like he’d been kicked. It was what finally tipped her over the edge. She knew from experience that the violence would only get worse.
Bianca had been begging Maggie to leave Dane for months. She had come close to doing it a couple of times but always ended up backing out at the last minute. One afternoon Dane had returned home early and had overheard her phone call pleading with Maggie to see sense. Dane took his hand to her again and banned them from communicating. Maggie was forced to sneak in quick phone calls from her car when she saw Dane leave the house. She didn’t ever want to risk going to the house in case Dane returned unexpectedly.
Other times Maggie would ring Bianca’s cell and hang up before she answered, leaving no trace of her activities on the phone bill. Then Bianca would call back, blocking her number, so they could talk. Bianca knew it would be up to her to rescue her sister and nephew when the time came, so she set about making a plan. The last thing she would do was ruin it now.
The way she’d planned their escape would mean that in little over two days she’d have no idea where Maggie and Brandon were headed. The first two days were planned so that Maggie could put the greatest amount of distance between her and Dane. After that, they were to keep their movements as random as possible to make them harder to follow. Any information Bianca had after the two days had passed would be irrelevant and worthless. She just had to keep herself together and not crack, regardless how bad things got.